Aceshigh

For peace of mind I'd like some professional opinions.
This 2004 GTO LS1 motor just got put into an early model Camaro.
It has 26,000 miles on it.......and this is the first real crank over.
I'll clear up a few possible questions I might receive right away.
1. Yes , it has oil.
2. No oil pressure (might be oil pump that needs to be reprimed) > Yes , gauge was hooked up.
3. Engine was sold "run tested and good".

What do you guys think??
Piston slap sounding or Rod Knocking??

My options at this point are to put a new oil pump in (why not??) and it will be the SLP one. Total cost is $500 or so. (Labor plus parts)
Or should I just begin a rebuild on the motor ??? $2500 isn't just really available to me right now.....

(It sounds like it smoothes out at the end, but that's not my car running , there's another car in the background)

Camaroz

iTrader: (2)

Ouch, that's freakin loud! I'd start with the oil pressure issue then if it still doesn't sound healthy with good oil pressure then it's time for a rebuild i'd say.

NBM2001z28

iTrader: (43)

I'd say there is about zero percent chance that its a piston slap, if it is, you're going to have the loudest one in history. We'll get the front end ripped apart, see if there's anything in there, and if not, we'll throw on the pump and see if it helps. I think it's going to be the same, but there's definately something wrong with no oil pressure.

Aceshigh

Well that much is obvious ....never goes easy does it....

I just wanted more info on this to see what other people think.
Gotta exhaust ALL my options first ya know.....

02WS6Bird

iTrader: (2)

def. not piston slap my man...SLP Pump i think is garbage..

IMO it is possible that that is Lifter ticking but that is awefully loud... dont run it again until you atleast TRY to do the oil pump... make sure the oil pressure sensor is plugged in and not broken or anything though

NBM2001z28

iTrader: (43)

No way its a lifter, if there's no pressure there's no way it could be ticking Melling makes the SLP, Melling makes most pumps that every engine shop uses. You just get the SLP name, they dont actually do anything except market and package them.

02WS6Bird

iTrader: (2)

I'm a fan of the SDPC pump myself, but aside from that... mike as i said its not likely to be lifter ticking but its possible ya never know.

Me thinks it will be in need of a refund for the motor or rebuild good luck bro

Aceshigh

Yeah, this is too loud IMO to be a lifter.....

Others totally agree so far it's a rod knocking because of how loud it is.
But then again they also said with ZERO oil pressure that's going to happen anyways.

Is there a way this can be done in the process Mike???
Or does this require yanking the motor to do ??

Dex

iTrader: (5)

So that was the first start up since the engine was installed right? You never let it build up enough oil pressure to know whats going on with it. If the engines trashed a new oil pump now wouldn't help now its trashed damage is done. But theres no one that can diagnois an engine problem with 3 seconds of video. Start it agian see what happens let it build up oil pressure first. You can't hurt it any worse.

KENS_SS_4

11,000 dollars to reach this point?

You should have worked with proffessionals before you got to here!

Where did you buy this engine?

What shop did the install? Did the shop caution you against installing an engine that was an unknown quanity? Did they offer to inspect it for you? Did the install shop also have engines that you passed on for this one?

I need to know so that I can stay away from both of them. I know this doesn't help you, but you are already fucked.

I'm not sure what I would do. My guess would be the following:
1 New crank
2 New bearings (rods and mains)
3 One new rod and piston
4 New oil pump
5 New mechanic that gives warranty

Good luck. Sorry that this happened. That paint on that Camaro looks beautiful.

NBM2001z28

iTrader: (43)

We did the work. He supplied the motor to us, saying he bought it after seeing it run. I didn't have any reason to doubt him, if it ran without any problems there should be no reason to tear it down unless, there was a reason to do so, which there was not. We NEVER NOT ONCE have or will supply a used motor to anyone, we will be more then happy to build one for someone that is in need of a new one though. $11,000 dollars is including his motor trans, and a lot of other things. How it is $11,000 dollars into this I'm not sure. The engine was bought off of ebay as well. He brought us everything for it, all we've done is buy the headers and a few hoses.

When a used part is supplied to us, we also require a signature stating that we are not liable for any used parts. We try to cover ourselves as much as possible when something is used and not from us so we dont kick ourselves for installing something like this. Lots of people purchase and install used motors, most of the time, its worth building new.

Aceshigh

Bought the engine from a place in Alabama that sells used motors from wrecked cars.

They are a professional shop, I did some research into MANY places before deciding on this. It's not quite their fault.

$11,000 breakdown

$4700 for trans and LS1
$750 Speartech mods to ECM + Harness
$750 into new tank + in tank fuel pump work done
$150 for Fbody oil pan + windage tray (GTO one wouldn't fit)
$400 4" Sidepipes for this new engine.
$400 labor for sidepipes install (Old exhaust thrown away so I had no choice)
$375 Sidepipe turbo baffles
$220 ~ in fuel fittings and hoses
$65 for 99+ Corvette fuel filter / regulator
$70 Lokar throttle cable .....which is too damn long anyways...
$70 Engine mount plates
$500 for CS130 Alternator relocation kit from Street and Performance
(GTO alt sat too low + hit pittman arm found out upon install ....yeah that sucked)
$550 for Street and Performance headers since the F-body one's wouldn't
work in my 2nd gen > found this out after engine was in already. No choice....
$200 for an LS1 radiator
$200 for a Procharger fan since the LS1 fan wouldn't clear my steering linkage
with the LS1 radiator in there. (Stock one would have worked but it was
thrown away so there wasn't a recourse there)
....some other various small stuff I'm missing.....
So far that's $9400 in parts for this project and the rest is close to the labor charges I'm sure since they had some minor stuff to fab like my trans lines and maybe 1 or 2 other small things above and beyond the estimate.

So I roughly estimated @ ~ $11,000 out of my pocket so far into it.
The stuff highlighted in red is stuff I found out about AFTER the shop got into it.

I'm not just talking "Engine" ......
A built engine PLUS all those parts I'd be weeeeeeeellll above that amount.

5_02ls1

iTrader: (20)

its not piston slap i dont think an oil pump will fix this

KENS_SS_4

I am sorry if my post offended anyone (Mike). I tried to craft my post to not be a flame (maybe I didn't do so well). I suspected that a waiver of some sort might have been involved (this is still unexceptable to me).

I am reminded of my first project when the people at Lunati talked me out of the cam that I tried to order. They spent some time with me on the phone asking questions and steered me in the right direction. Thanks to them all my hard work paid off and I was very happy with the results. Without any extra money or time.

To be at this point. After this much time and energy to fire up and have an immediate problem. Seems like such a waste. I hope all will learn from this bad experience.

It is time now to move forward. It sounds like something in the bottom is bad. Fix it and move on.

Good luck and smiles to all.

neoakira3

The sound is intermitant making me think it is neither piston slap or vavle problems. What is sounds like is ther eis a problem in the bottom half of the engine like somethign is broken in the oil pan. Bad news for LS1 owners the oil pan is machined to every engine. The way the pump is itegrated into the pan is very expensive and not a easy fix. I do hope you transferred the gto skid plate with the engine? But it sound slike the engine has suffered and impact to the bototm of the engine and there is a problem with the bottom half of the engine. This requires a full rebuild. Good news is the ls1 is a 6 bolt bearing cap system so that isnt hard. More bad news this is a aluminum block. Aluminum is a very very soft metal low flash point. If you have a oil or cooling problem you dont drive it. Also it is an 04 gto engine it is stil lunder warranty unless you voided that gm usually will warranty it under normal conditions. But my diagnosis would be there is broken component in the oil pan tha twas sucke dintot the oil pump and halted it and burnt out the rotors or some moving part. More bad news if that is the case it most likely damaged the camshaft as well.

NEW 2 THE F BODY

iTrader: (3)

How about a washer going down the intake runner into a cylinder? I did this on a BB chevy boat engine and it sounded JUST LIKE a rod knocking. Of course I had to keep firing it up to convince myself I did something wrong when I built the engine. Had to replace the piston and both valves. 3 seconds probably isnt enough time to build pressure but you probably ran it longer right? If you have a magnetic oil drain plug that might tell you your direction to go. If you have metal on the magnet I think you know what is in store.

If you did drop something into a cylinder there is a way to tell. Crank the engine by hand with no spark plugs. If the cranking stops with resistance, like a piston without enough head clearance, it might be something in the cylinder. I know we might be shooting in the dark here, but trying something simple like a crank rotate might find the prob.

NEW 2 THE F BODY

iTrader: (3)

I just noticed your in the Chicago area. So am I. PM me and we can talk. Stacey

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

Sounds like you are arm chair quarterbacking here you may be able to turn the crank, you also should not need a new piston there should be nothing wrong with it.

But you will not know what you need until you get the motor apart and inspect it.

Do what the shop thinks you should do.

NBM2001z28

iTrader: (43)

I have no idea what you're talking about the oil pump being integrated into the pan. I hope you're not serious at least, it is located on the front of the crank, which I can assure you is not part of the oil pan

Also, if the motor is out of a 2007 vehicle and put in a 1978 Camaro, it IS NOT under warrenty. If there was something broke in the oil pan, that is bigger then the tip of a pen, it is not in the oil pump, there's a screen on the pick up tube to prevent this.

What GTO skid plate would transfer to an engine? If you're talking about the one that you have to take off to change the oil on a GTO, thats probably the funiest thing i've ever heard.
Have you ever seen the inside of a motor?

NBM2001z28

iTrader: (43)

Just thought I'd throw up the follow up on here:
Swapped Oil Pump, old one looked good, nothing visually wrong with it that I could see, the o-ring came out fine as well. However, we swapped to the SLP HO pump and started it again, 60 PSI. So the oil pump was indeed bad, however, motor still has a rod knock so, it needs to be rebuilt...