I could use a little help with this one! Quite a bit of fine chips in the pan and filter. We haven't pulled anything apart yet. We changed the oil and filter and will run it gently for a couple of more hours to see if this repeats. It sure doesn't look normal to me!

This is a newly built engine, very little driving, just some part throttle test runs for the trans shift points. Maybe a couple or three hours total on it, mostly below 3000 rpm (nowhere near redline).

The engine was built locally by an experienced guy. Eagle forged 4" stroke, 6.125 rods, Diamond 3.905 forged pistons (Eagle had to fix the counterweight interference and rebalance the crank), Diamond rings, oil pump ported inlet and outlet, Patriot gold dual springs and SII LS1 heads with H-S roller rockers. Got hearable valvetrain noise and idle is a little jerky (224/228 on 114 - .581 cam), but smooth above 2000 or so. Keep in mind this engine was built and then stored for over a year before it was first fired. I can think of several possibilities, but I would like a little brainstorming. TIA.

 

Sounds like they didn't clean the motor out when they assembled it. I'd get 4 - 5 gallon jugs of oil and 4 filters. Start it up and let it idle for 3-4 minutes and drop the oil, repeat 4 or 5 times will clear it out. The only other option is take it back to the guy who built the motor.

 

I was kinda hoping that would be the problem. But we can't really tell until we run a few cycles. We just got this thing together and if we gotta pull it or rebuild it, so be it. We just decided to try the simplest thing first. We can't get hold of the builder until Monday anyway.

BTW, I got the PM and, no, I don't believe the oil had any unusual tint to it. I'll ask the other guy if he noticed anything like that. Thanks for the tips.

 

If it were my engine, I would need to inspect the innards.

 

I am the one that put the car together... Not the one that built the engine..

I have built alot of engines, just no LSx engines. This one however upon startup sounded fine aside from what does sound like lifter chatter. I had run the engine by driving it for about 1 hour time before I decided to converse with TeeKay about taking it to the engine builder to listen to. I loaded the car on the trailer and went there thursday. The builder listed to the engine on the trailer and said "typical roller rocker noise". No adjustment on the rockers. He rev'ed the engine to about 4000 and said it was good to go..

I have put about 2 more hours on the engine with nice gentle driving of 1/4 to 3/4 driving and no faster than 90MPH. The transmission is a 4t65eHD and I am dailing in a PCS Transmission Control Unit. I have the shift points very mild at this time.

Now I have decided to check the oil filter in the least with only about 10-14 total miles. I cut the filter open with a nice filter cutter that does not put shavings into the can while opening. I empty the can slowly on a paper towel and the metal sparkle is very clear to see. The pleats have alot of metal in them. I will get some pics posted on this.

I decided to remove the oil and check the drain plug.

Here is the pic of it.



I really dont like the amount on there with only 10-12 type miles, but I have seen this type of stuff on higher mileage engines before. There was NOT any bearing material stuck to the drain magnet. This material wiped off real easy wtih a paper towel and did not exhibit metal pieces that were very large at all. The oil was not very clean. With 10 miles, I would have expected it to be cleaner, but I had it in dark pan too.

The metal in the pleats does not appear to stick to the magnet. It is very shiny however.

That is about all I can add. This engine has so many custom parts bolted to it, it makes me wonder if the timing chain is clearing the front timing cover. This like the LS4 from cover and water transfer manifold.





As you can see, this is not your typical LS1 just sitting in a north south setup. These parts are very custom attached to the engine to get it transverse, but they are 1X project number parts from GM.

I have read the stories here on LS1Tech about the Eagle cranks, and this concerns me most. This crank is from the 1.5 year ago time frame. It had to be returned to Eagle for rework as it was. I believe the engine builder had to even clearance the pistons skirts to clear still. My concern was if the skirts are cut to much that there is piston rock, and maybe it is not the roller rockers making the noise.

Loyde

 

Same thing happened to a friend of mine. Put new rockers on and the next thing you know he was digging shavings out his pan too! Turns out the higher ratio caused the pushrods to rub against the head. Couldn't hurt to inspect those pushrods!

 

I would check the rockers yourself if you know how. The lifters are pretty noisy until they pump up with some oil. I don't think that is a rediculous amount of metal on the drain plug. Change the oil and run it some more to see what it looks like. Keep a close eye on the oil pressure guage.

 

Thanks for sharing, we are looking not only for normal (!) causes, but unusual things too. I hadn't thought of that. However the rockers are stock 1.7 ratio. Thanks!

FastFieros is right too, we had to put an adjustable timing set on it to get the cam degreed in. I had forgotten that.

 

Man, after taking these pics and looking some more at the pleats opened up, it just does not look good.

Some of these shavings are sticking to a magnet.

Not a hint of bottom end noise however.

On a sad note however beyond finding metal, I have found a hair fiber from the engine builder. He has blond/brownish hair, and there is hair fiber in the filter pleats.





Loyde

 

Clearance between your double(if that is what you have) roller timing gear set and front cover? Could be machining the front cover.

 

According to the engine builder, the front cover was taken into account for during the build to make sure clearance was there. The front cover is thinner just like it is on the LS4 today. If the cam can walk a little however, this might have not been taken into enough account for clearances.

Loyde

 

Hope you get it fixed soon!