svede1212

iTrader: (3)

I've been reading a lot of of the stroker threads here so I thought I'd add my experience as it progresses. First a little back story. My GTO had CNC'd 243s w/oversized valves, FlowTech Streetsweeper HT cam, Lunati Street link bars, 42# greentops, FAST 102 w/ NW 102 TB, SLP LTs, SD tuned and my Svede OTR intake along with a lot of little stuff and full suspension.

I'd added the Lunati's as a "while I'm in there" for peace of mind the last time I had the heads off less than 10,000 miles ago. My stock lifters had run 24,000 with the same setup. Big mistake. I had only had the car to the track with those lifters for one pass (another "upgrade" disaster story) and had the rev limiter set at 6,500. I took my car to the doctor's office last Oct and on getting back in and starting it it immediately went BANG and quit within 2 seconds.

I flat bedded it back to my house and imagined I'd broken my timing chain. Yup, sure enough. I also found 9 valves were bent so off came the heads to get those fixed and I ordered a new Rollmaster chain and Melling pump. In degreeing my cam I found the engine would not do a full rotation without locking up. Further investigation and I found that the #7 and #8 lifter pairs would not come out. I pulled the valley cover and saw the cam chewed, the cam sensor end broken and metal on my magnet. I was so disgusted that I dropped everything and walked way. I did not have the time, money or patience to do anything. It was a very bad winter here (122" of snow) and I also didn't feel like working in the cold.

Fast forward to this spring and I had been saving up my money for fixing the car. The car only has a total of 51,000 on it and is still like new. 5 pistons took a whack, two of them pretty good. I knew the whole thing needed to come apart. I was really discouraged in all the work I needed to do (I'm going on 65) but decided that if I was going to do this it was going to be better than it was before (She was at 435/415) and building my own stroker would save me $1,000 over buying a short block or switching to a larger iron block.

The Lunati link bar lifter roller pin had come out, jammed into the bore on the upstroke, broke off the roller, that went around and broke and jammed the lifter opposing it, trashed the cam and sensor and broke the chain causing the valve and piston damage. On tear down I had to grind the links off and pound the lifters down and out. The casings on those BTW are brittle and I snapped the top off #8 tapping that one out. A call to Lunati got me a shrug and the recommendation that he wouldn't run those to 6,500.

The block is at the machine shop getting the lifter bores fixed, cylinders honed out to 3.903, crank bore line honed, Magnafluxed and cleaned. They are also going to balance from the harmonic balancer to the clutch. There's been a delay from TSP on the rotating assembly but it should be here next week and then I can get that out to them for balancing.

I've done everything on this car from mods to tuning so far so I'm forging ahead with this too. It will have Callies LSc 4" throw crank, Callies rods, Wiseco -8cc pistons, Clevite bearings and a Flowtech Hellraiser cam (229/236 .631/.631 111) recommended by Ed. It should be a street beast. I'm pretty much done dragging her as I'm tired of the breakage and down time although who would have thought doctor's parking lot. . .

You can see the circular impression in the block where the roller embedded itself while breaking the cam sensor. You can see that the lifter bore on the right has a nice witness mark of the roller pin the jamming of which started the mess.






Shiny new pistons:

RezinTexas

Damn, that sucks. Nothing worse than bad customer service.

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to more pictures

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

I'm looking forward to her running again!

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

BTW I spent a chunk of the afternoon reading your build. My kitchen counter isn't as clean as your work area and the attention to detail makes Sheldon Cooper look normal. Nice work. My build will end "Yea! it works" or "Crap it broke again".

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

Good luck and hope you get it back up and running real soon. What happened to you sucks, but I'm glad you stuck it out and are going to come back better, and stronger, than ever. While taking the car to the track has it's place, I think it's better to just have a bad *** street cruiser that makes a ton of power and is fun to drive. Too much can go wrong at the track for poor guys like me.

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

You got that right especially once you bump up power. The reason I only got one run in with that setup was my "improved" gForce axle stubs I got for peace of mind sheared on my second launch.

Rise of the Phoenix

iTrader: (27)

With my luck, my first pass at the track would result in my stock 10 bolt grenading like none other.

Always2Slow

iTrader: (8)

Few questions for you to offer some insight on your old build to help you in the future. You mentioned that you put the lifters in your setup after running the same cam, springs and heads? If this is the case did you remeasure for pushrod length on the new installation and what did you use for preload? Second, did you check the spring rate to see how much life the springs had left in them with the new lifters. That cam requires 140lbs on the seat according to the cam card. I would want no less than 160 in a setup like that. Ed claims those lobes are rather aggressive. If what I listed is true you could have lofted your valvetrain into destruction especially with these cheaper valve spring kits. Valve springs don't last as long as you would think and need to be measured on a regular maintenance schedule whether its every 10,000 miles or whatever you derive as a number that would be safe. If you hardly drive your car I would check them yearly regardless of mileage.

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

I changed pushrods after the lifter swap. They were 7.325 (heads are milled). I checked intake and exhaust on two cylinders using a pushrod checker and also counting turns from zero lash. I ran a .025 preload and the spring set was Lunati dual springs with around 8,000 miles on them put in at the time of the lifters. I had the spring pressures tested when the heads were redone and although I don't recall the exact numbers they were good. Ed sells that set. What's odd is that the failure was after a somewhat pedestrian drive to the doctor and the breakage was immediately on starting in the doctor's parking lot.

I wish I could put my finger on the blame as that would at least give me the direction of what to fix or not do. Right now it's switching to LS7 lifters. I could buy two pairs of Lunatis to replace the broken ones but if there was a manufacturing defect in that batch I'd be putting in 6 of the old ones and I can't chance that.

whatsa347

iTrader: (6)

How did you like the streetsweeper ht?

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

I'm thinking you're really going to like that new cam, as I had it in my Camaro with the AFR 205's at 59cc with a GM MLS gasket.

I ran LS7 lifters, 7.4 PR's, and BTR platinum Ti springs, shimmed to 1.750 which was roughly 160# on the seat.

whatsa347

iTrader: (6)

I've read that most people love this cam, especially in the GTO crowd. I figure if it's good enough to make a goat move out pretty well, then it should work well in a C5. But I'm at a toss up between the Tigershark and Streetsweeper HT.

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

I loved that cam. I could lug at 1,200 without bucking and the torque pulled over 300 ft/lb from 2,000 on up. I got about 395/380 with stock 241 heads and LTs and with 243s and a FAST/NW 435/400. I have a slightly used one with 15 good lobes for sale A lot of the threads I see get caught up in peak HP up at redline but this cam pretty much does it all with 25 MPG fuel efficiency too. Ed has suggested a little longer duration cam for my stroker build.

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

Good to know. I trust Ed's expertise. I just hope I can tune that one to run as well on the street as the SS HT did.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Shouldn't be a problem. My 346 wasn't very fond on idling around a parking lot, but that's about it.

I'm very curious though, with the increased cubes, and compression (I'd imagine the heads will be milled again) why you don't just go straight to the full-on Street Sweeper. Strictly curious.

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

That was the second of the two he recommended. The Hellraiser is a step between the SS HT and the full SS. I'm not interested that much in drag racing or high RPM HP and want it fairly streetable. I've seen and heard about what some others think is streetable and "occasional bucking" isn't to me. With the higher overlap it will mitigate the duration and bleed off some compression. My static compression should be about 11.2 - 11.6 depending on thickness of the gaskets. I'll have to measure how much above deck if any the pistons get and PTV before I decide.

herecomesboost

My post(s) on ls1gto were deleted (not sure why), but good luck with your rebuild!

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

Miffed at TSP. I ordered my stroker kit two weeks ago and was assured the crank was in stock. After several calls today I was told the Callies LSc crank I ordered was no longer made and they didn't have any. I understand they were moving but after two weeks of calls I just find out it was never coming? They proposed their TSP crank which was in stock and could be shipped and at this point being out the cash and waiting I'm taking that. What would have happened if I hadn't called? This kind of stuff always happens to me. Unhappy.

On a happy note my FTI Hellraiser cam is on the way. I can always count on Ed

svede1212

iTrader: (3)

After getting the crank issues delay behind me I got all the parts out to the machinist the block got magnafluxed, honed to 3.903, line honed, stroker block clearancing, cam bearings installed, all mains and rod bearing measured and sized and block cleaning I got it back home. I had some fits getting the oil control and expander rings installed but I finally got the whole bottom end built. Today I degreed the FTI Hellraiser cam (was dead on) with a Rollmaster timing set retarded 2*, LS2 damper, Melling oil pump, Lunati "Race" link bar lifters and both heads with .040 Cometics.

Then I got tired. Seeing as it broke last year and I thought I was putting it right back together I've been having to search around for some bolts and stuff but it's coming along reasonably well. Holiday coming up but I hope to have the engine finished next week and then the clutch/trans before reinserting it into the car. I'll have a cuple of days hooking everything else back up and then if I don't have more issues I can start tuning it.

It's starting to look like an engine again.

gagliano7

Just don't forget to take out those checker springs. Looks good.