Alex in Houston

Dis-connecting accessories, draining fluids, separating tranny, Pulling the motor, breaking motor down - in hopes it's just the bearings (that could possibly require maching crank as well) - That's a lot of work for "300 miles" worth of use -and then you have to put it all back together.
Original Poster - I feel for ya as I've been there/done that and pretty much refuse to deal with anymore "Performance Engine builders" this life time.

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

Well Yes all of that would have to be done but if all it needs is that then I would say he got out easy. It could be a crap shoot or just a basic rebuild.

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

Good luck man. That really sucks.

MustangLS

iTrader: (5)

Looks like bearing material to me. Tolerances on the bearings being too tight would do that. What kind of oil pressure were you seeing before it wiped out the bearings?

Heavy H.P.

I hope you get that **** figured out cause that is a good looking car.

Bazman

Fingers crossed for you. My car gave me blue ***** for almost a year, missed every track event we aimed for, sometimes at 9pm on the dyno the night before when some little gremlin would poke it ugly head out. But in the end it was all worth it.

Hang in there, and if the engine builder will not be helpful, name and shame so others can be forewarned. Nobody wants to waste hard earned dollars on a crapshoot.

Seriously, if the builder owns a mistake that's one thing, but if not, you may wantt o consider paying a little more to go elsewhere when you can, because sometimes people just can't do it right. If the builder does not have a successful number of similar engines out there I'd be worried.

Wicked69

Man I hate to see that. Looks like you had a nice clean set up also. This is exactly why I use junk yard motors with a lot of miles that I can hear run first. 180,000 miles I don't care. As long as it starts, I can see it has good oil pressure, and doesn't over heat and I slam it in. At least I like the idea of doing this until you get all the bull **** weird **** out of the way and get the tune dialed in. This way when it blows you are out a $500 engine. You go grab another one and swap them out in a day.

Good luck man.

I8UR4RD

iTrader: (16)

while you wait throw a stocker in there! hate to hear all that man. i feel your pain i went through it all. if it COULD happen it DID happen. it all works out in the end just gotta be patient....of course im still being patient myself at this point. ill drive mine sometime in 2017

zapp109

iTrader: (13)

Thanks everyone for the kind words, unfortunately im away all week for work so probably cant get any good carnage pics but here is what was found so far. Main bearings are shot and the kicker being my eagle crank now has a crack where it was rubbing the bearing... So machine shop should have the block by now or tomorrow see if there is anymore damage. I tend to believe this was caused by not having main studs. I wish I would of known that stock bolts were used, but I didnt know and did not ask for studs so i can blame myself in a way. Hate to say it but ill be surprised if nothing else is messed up.. Also getting the heads checked to see why im losing coolant. I understand the heads lifting thing but I really didnt think it would be doing it on low boost.

MUSTANGBRKR02

iTrader: (91)

Stock bolts in the mains are not the cause of this problem.

vwdave

iTrader: (3)

I dont know of alot of people running main studs in a LS engine.

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

since their stock bolts, which are one time use and throw away (torq to yield)
could they have been reused?
agree it may not be a bolt issue, and something else could have led to bearing failure
having said that, I am using my old 6.0 shortblock in a diff car, when I built it I reused the stock bolts not knowing any better, still running strong and a whole lot of 6500 boosted revs, lol
a stroker will def add to the stress of a rotating assemb., now is the time to add them
hopefully it goes together and no more problems, gonna be some serious power

Exidous

iTrader: (11)

Mains and rods are NOT one time use. They are NOT torque to yield. They are torque to angle. Heads bolts and crank pulley are TTY and not reusable.

While both are tightened to a specific torque then a certain * is added, one will return to original shape after and one will stretch permanently.

To the OP, mains are not the issue here. Certainly not at 9psi. Either a tolerance was out or something happened with the oil supply.

OUTLAWZ RACING

iTrader: (9)

Looks like the motor was put together out side or nasty shop. To be honest Id get my money back and look at some good builders on here. We did a 5.3 s480 build, low milage dish piston. That thing has seen about 10+ track passes and a number of street races. The only thing we did to the motor was open the ring gap, arp rod bolts and studs with ls9 gaskets. We push 19 psi through in front of a 4l80e. I know if properly built your motor would rock.

RonSSNova

iTrader: (3)

Exidous is exactly correct. 100%.
Torque angle and torque to yield are often confused.

Ron

zapp109

iTrader: (13)

Oil supply has come up as well. I'm running a melling pump with fbody oil pan, oil feed for turbo is -4 line off the block above filter and return is -10 on side of oil pan about 4 inches from sump. I am not running a oil restrictor on the turbo.

Any tips or thoughts? The oil passages are going to be ported this time but I just can't imagine it starving for oil.

The builder said it was the number 2 main and thats where crank is cracked.

yenkomike

iTrader: (2)

no i dont think oil control was the issue. i'll bet it has a new crank in it that they just put in std bearings and put it together for you. and it was tight and overheated a bearing or two. have your crank guy check it and i bet it runs on the large side of std and was tight. and if they ran gm bearings they seem to be a little tighter than some aftermarkets.

with the bearing clearance set right all it needs is a stock pump and pan to live.

forcd ind

iTrader: (7)

interesting, I did use an angle meter on the mains, rods were aftermarket, heads got studs, so I never got into the stock torq values there
thanks for pointing that out, eases my mind when I hit boost, lol

Boosted One

iTrader: (6)

Sorry to see this man! Keep me in the loop with what they find when it comes apart. Have them take a look at where main cap bolts to the block. Mine was wiggling around there around 750rwhp when I had the aluminum block. I think you may have had another issue though. All your mains would have been tore up if it was the bolts. All my mine showed signs of moving.

zapp109

iTrader: (13)

Thanks Frank, I havent seen it since im out of town but sounds like its really just number 2 main, But I have a set of ARP main studs on the way to put on. We tried telling the distributor of the crank that something went wrong with the crank but they wont warranty it since it was over 1 year since we purchased the crank. But they are giving me a "few hundred dollars off" another one...... Block is at machine shop now along with the heads being checked..

And big thanks to Fran at Race Proven Motorsports for being able to get the main studs for me! ARP summit and jegs apparently was a 2 week back order.