BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

I am looking for some opinions regarding if this looks normal...

Brief story:

Built a 408, had the machine shop clean everything, then as I put the motor together I cleaned everything again and inspected everything before final assembly. Fired up motor till it heated up and burped it and changed the oil right away. Everything looked great and after 40 miles a new ls7 lifter started ticking. Opened it up and saw that the aftermarket rockers that 2 of them started chewing up the trunion and bearings and had bearing flakes in the head, so I got rid of the rockers, rebuild the heads and made them new, and upgraded the lifters. New oil and filter again.

Ran the car for 70 miles and then the reluctor wheel loosened on the crank and time went out the window, so I pulled the motor completely apart again and cleaned it multiple times. Bearing showed no wear anywhere except to mains that a rocker bearing flake got between the bearing and journal and made a slight groove. Had the crank polished, new bearings, billet relict or wheel welded in and re-balanced. Cleaned everything multiple times and put it back together, new oil and filter and broke the motor in for approx 400 miles, changed the oil and filter and ran it on the dyno. Made 450/430 to the wheels, great oil pressure etc.

So that was new oil, then put maybe 500+ more miles on it and decided to give it new oil again before I put it in for storage for winter, but this time decided to save the filter and take a look inside. I found flakes of what looked like bearing material, some for sure was since it was silver and bronze colored. Some long stringy metal shavings that were thinner than a hair but 1/4-1/2" long. Never anything on the drain plug except very minimal grey material like every car I pull a plug from. Pics don't show the crazy small ones in the filter but some main ones show up in the light. Does it look normal? I am thinking it may be since it is a brand new motor that spins at 6500 many times and all parts are still new to each other and haven't "synced" yet. Opinions? Wish I would have opened the other filters but I just didn't. Pics just don't show up all that is there, very small ones in there as well. Rod bearings, cam bearing and main bearing looked great after 110 miles minus the 2 mains that I replaced.

Thank you

-mark jr.

DietCoke

iTrader: (18)

run it, filter doing its job.

BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

That's is what I am thinking, just paranoid. I will check it after the next oil change. If it keeps getting worse, I guess I will pull it apart and go FI.

I expect that there will be something in there since every part is new and all need to find their "happy place" in the motor. Just didn't think that there would be so much after 900 miles overall on the motor.

Taxman20

iTrader: (11)

Looks ok to me as well. New engines always make gold dust in the pan that the filter doesn't catch. Its just everything seating it. The small stuff the filter caught may be the same stuff. Edges of bearings maybe. I would keep checking it as you are now and this stuff should go away.

gagliano7

In 2003 i changed the oil on a 2500 6.0 work truck with a 1000 miles on it and there was a lot of metal on the plug. I thought for sure it was in trouble but 140000 miles later still runs great and has great oil pressure.

zapp109

iTrader: (13)

looks good

BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

Well I am glad that this looks normal, I have had enough problems with this motor and just want to drive it instead of have it apart all of the time.

I will still cut the filter open at oil changes now and just watch it. It was very hard to take pics of the filter material to show all that was there, light made some bigger pieces show up and hid others.

If you open the pics up bigger you can see the flakes a lot better, especially in the filter housing pic, small pics like above make it look less.

My heart dropped when I saw all of that glitter though. I think I will open up the filters on my 2 6.0 trucks (84k and 55k) just to see what they look like out of curiosity.

Thanks again for taking a look

BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

Thought that I would share this pic since the oil drained out of the element and now the light shows it all better. This element is still in a loop so the flip side looks the same.

Thanks again for your opinions, I get rest better now

BlackDuk98

iTrader: (34)

Thought that I would share this pic since the oil drained out of the element and now the light shows it all better. This element is still in a loop so the flip side looks the same. Click the image for a better idea, shrunk pic hides some, at least for me.

Thanks again for your opinions, I get rest better now