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She blew!!!!

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Old Nov 23, 2011 | 08:26 PM
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Default She blew!!!!

So I bought a 98 z28 LS1/T56 she ran very good but had a slight tick. drove it bout an hour and then she blew. rod DID NOT seperate from crank, but the rod snapped in half and took out the block on the way out. now my question. how did this happen? i had two bent pushrods on that cylinder, could bad lifters have cause this? cause i cannot think of a solution to this for the life of me. looks like a foreign object got in the block and jamed the rod and snapped it but that is not what happened. so i do no no any info would be great. should i replace with the 6.0? or a built 5.7?
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Old Nov 23, 2011 | 08:40 PM
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What about the valves & springs on that cylinder?
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Old Nov 23, 2011 | 08:52 PM
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When you say ran it for an hour, what does this mean? Normal driving, racing, revving, mixture of any of those?
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Old Nov 23, 2011 | 10:20 PM
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I have a 55k mile short block 5.7 with your name on it lol.
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Old Nov 23, 2011 | 11:53 PM
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2500 rpm for an hour, normal highway driving, if that block has my name on it maybe you could send me a pm with your price

valves are still on the keepers and they are bent to ****
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 06:27 AM
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How many miles on it? Was the bearing spun too? Its not uncommon to see a Ls1 rod snap like that, they are not a standard rod. They are powdered metal cracked end rods<****** JUNK. Extremely cheap to manufacture.

Do youself favor while you are in there and replace the JUNK standard LS1 starter with the updated truck style that uses two long bolts. So you don't suffer from the cheap azz standard starter housing breaking off then twisting the outter starter bolt boss off the block.

Hell go buy a Ford!

Last edited by O2Form; Nov 24, 2011 at 06:50 AM.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 09:24 AM
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And dont listen to that guy ^^. Research will show you that and what leads to any rod failure. You said u just bought this car? Who knows how it was driven before. The weak point in these engines are the rod bolts. Most rod failures I've seen is running it hard on a cold start up.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 09:36 AM
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Originally Posted by O2Form
How many miles on it? Was the bearing spun too? Its not uncommon to see a Ls1 rod snap like that, they are not a standard rod. They are powdered metal cracked end rods<****** JUNK. Extremely cheap to manufacture.

Do youself favor while you are in there and replace the JUNK standard LS1 starter with the updated truck style that uses two long bolts. So you don't suffer from the cheap azz standard starter housing breaking off then twisting the outter starter bolt boss off the block.

Hell go buy a Ford!
Wow, just wow. Do not listen to this guy. Stock shortblock LS engines have ran single digit quarter times. The cracked end cap on the rods are very strong because of the way they mate up when bolted back together. 02Form go buy a Ford and tell us how those rods are.

Last edited by why87; Nov 24, 2011 at 11:40 AM.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 10:15 AM
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Stop your whinin! Yeah these guys know much more...listen to them.....
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 11:35 AM
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Stock ls shortblocks have gone 9's multiple times the rods are def not a big weak point its usually the rod bolts that let go. If cracked rod caps are so inferior then someone should probably go tell chrysler who uses them on their modern hemis, ford who uses them on their mod motors and chevy who uses them in the ls3 that they're crap and should be changed.
OP it sounds like a fluke thing which happens I'd throw a new shortblock in with a decent cam and have at it.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 11:42 AM
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OP did the car ever have the rev limiter changed?
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 02:56 PM
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Powdered rods are cheap to make and thats why they use um.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 03:08 PM
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everybody uses them now, so everybody must be cheap.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 03:27 PM
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rods don't just snap in half for no reason. You said the big end is still on the
crank but that doesn't mean that the bolts didn't stretch. When this happens
the bearing clearances open up and start wearing the bearing shells out real
fast. Each time the crank turns the piston travels further north until it hits the
valves and or head. Impossibly trying to compress valve heads(after breaking)
or the forces exerted on the rod when crashing the head causes the piston
and rod to part ways either in the beam or at the wristpin. Even at normal
cruising speeds this will obliterate an aluminum block. Very sorry to hear of
your misfortune and best of luck reloading.
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Old Nov 24, 2011 | 05:12 PM
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Powdered metal rod are like glass, nothing like a forged rod etc. They can break easily depending on the stresses applied. Don't let anyone **** you up otherwise THE ONLY reason they use them is because they are CHEAP to manufacture.
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Old Nov 25, 2011 | 06:18 PM
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Nobody is shitting anyone up here pal. Learn what TENSILE STRENGTH means
and then bring your "cheap junk" knowledge back to this thread.
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Old Nov 25, 2011 | 06:24 PM
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Sorry to hear that OP!
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Old Nov 25, 2011 | 06:48 PM
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Looking at that train-wreck of a thread on thirdgen.org, I can take a wild guess as to why your engine failed:

Glass in the cylinders??
i had this gut feeling that the motor had glass in it from that and of course took driverside head off and there is glass i do not no how it got there but it was there. so i am gonna tear my motor back apart lol and re due her all over again.

Working on the car w/ the intake off and the heads unsealed:
here is my theory. glass landing in the intake port. then when i turned it over with a wrench it fell in
Or maybe you installed the crank wrong...what clearance did you measure at the main and rod bearings?:
this is a ls1 with the crank that you had sold to me.
Used your new ARP head bolts as a lifting chain mount?
i put a chain in the head bolts holes with the arp headbolts holding the chain in and it bent. to me makes arp sound cheap
I realize you probably didn't end up using the ARP bolts on your engine, but it shows a lack of mechanical ability that makes the engine's failure nearly certainly your own doing.
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Old Nov 25, 2011 | 07:46 PM
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Didn't hydraulic the motor .... did you ?
Ring land let go, cracked cylinder wall letting in coolant...Boom.... all she wrote.
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Old Nov 27, 2011 | 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by Doug G
Didn't hydraulic the motor .... did you ?
Ring land let go, cracked cylinder wall letting in coolant...Boom.... all she wrote.
i dont no if it did or not. i cant tell if a ringland blew cause there is no piston in the motor it like blew out or something
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