Does anyone have thoughts on fixing the stock engine with the extra parts and such I mentioned earlier or would another engine be the proper way to fix this situation?

 

Do all full coverage insurance policies generally cover this kind of thing? Is it considered flood damage even tho you drove through it? If so Im rocking every single puddle I c and pray for flooded underpasses.

 

You'll have to check your particular insurance policy.

Doing damage on purpose is considered fraud. It's up to you to decide, but I know there are people out there trying to take advantage of Ins Co's. The old swoop and stop so you hit the back of their car. The person in the back is responsible for keeping a safe distance and for stopping properly. I don't know how crooks make money doing that, but it makes all our insurance rates go up.

 

If it was "unavoidable" then ur all good...lol

 

Dude, I would raise hell w/ the insurance company. No way I would go for fixing that engine. If they're going to flood title your vehicle (which I know doesn't matter to you, but it still affects the value of your vehicle), then I'd sure as hell make sure that I got a new motor. Otherwise, get your technician buddies at the dealership to fix the thing over a few evenings for some extra cash and leave the insurance co out of it.

 

If you drove into water deep enough to suck water into the intake and hydraulic #7 you most certainly have water(which turns into mildew) in other places you can't see or even know about at this point. You need to get the vehicle completely dried out. I'm surprised the engine ran with that rod bent like that let alone reved to 5K RPM. The bore on #7 is most likely being damaged as the engine is running since that piston is being shoved to one side by the bent rod. You can't see this damage, but once the big end cap is removed and the piston comes out you will likely see this result. It is unlikey that #7 is the only culprit. The engine needs to be gone over with a fine tooth comb if you plan to keep this car as long as you say you do.

 

I wouldn’t even bother going through the insurance company. You say you’re never going to sell the car, but things change. You might run into some crazy point in your life and have to sell it. You don’t know. Mine just blew up and I’m paying cash to get it fixed. Yeah, it’s going to take 6 months to get it all back together. The key things though are I’m not depreciating the value of my car, getting screwed by the insurance company, or jacking up my insurance rates.

If I was in your situation and not worried about having major power I’d just buy a used shortblock and put that in. Throw in some good rod bolts, cam, and some bolt ons. I’ve seen used short blocks go for $450. That’s less than your premium you’ll be paying to get your whacked out short block fixed.

 

Just an update, the car is not going to be considered a flood car nor a total. The insurance is fixing it and warrantying the work so I'm going to go ahead and replace the piston and rod.

I am however going to pull the other head so I can clean out all the carbon and gunk. I'm also installing a set of yellow LS6 springs for the baby cam I want to install later on once I have the money and want to void the 12 month warranty on the work being done.

I'm also changing the clutch slave cylinder while the trans is out. I'll replace the oil pump and timing chain during the cam swap.

I'm also taking this opportunity to swap new poly motor mounts in as well as clean everything up. I want to degrease the engine bay and clear coat the whole thing so the black paint shines. I've already cleaned and repainted a few things on the engine to make it look better than new.

 

So they are just letting you work on your car at the dealership or did I miss something? There is no way that the crank is balanced. If they are going to be cheap and not let you get what you want thats one thing, but that crank is no good IMHO you need to get that replaced too

 

I forgot to say that the motor looks nice and clean, good job there. Did you paint the rails or are those polished it's hard to tell.

 

I work at the dealership so I can come in after hours and weekends and clean and paint stuff. It's no big deal. I painted the FR silver, but I'm not sure I like it. Black may look and blend in better .

Do you really think the crank is damaged? It's such a stout piece and the mechanics have done these types of repairs before due to water damage and they feel confident the crank is all right.

I think the whole process works like this:
The Ins adjuster will ask their own mechanics what's wrong and they will only pay for the minimum to fix it. Lets say my engine died when the water got inside and would not crank. What the Ins would do is have the engine fluids flushed and changed and the plugs pulled to remove water, then have it cranked up to see how it runs. (This step was skipped on my car due to it still being able to run) Then if it runs fine that's where they stop. If it makes a noise then they will drop the pan and inspect. If it's a bent rod like mine, they will replace the bad rod and piston and redo the fluids. Install the engine and see if the noise is gone and if it runs fine. If it does, then they're done. My dealership gives a 12 month warranty on the repair. If it still makes noise or shakes whatever, I think the Ins. cuts their loses and gets a used engine of "same kind and quality". Supposedly by doing it in these specific steps the Ins. Co. minimizes their financial loses.

Once my engine is back in and running (assuming it runs fine) I will save up some money for headers and mufflers, then save up for the cam swap. Once I go into the engine for the cam swap the warranty will be voided, but hopefully 3 or 4 months will have passed and I will know whether the engine is in good shape or not. It might be 6 months or more before the cam swap, who knows.

I'm cool with all this as it's about my only choice. I wouldn't be able to get any cash because I'm still making payments on the car (3 more to go) and they wouldn't let me choose my own engine to put in so I'm trying to do the best I can with what I have. So far this is the best plan I can think of.

 

I'd say that you will be fine as long as you get the warranty as you stated. That way if it is bad, then you will get your motor fixed.

 

What makes you think you warranty will be voided if you swap cams? How will the insurance co. know? You can't tell by looking at the engine and insurance adjuster ears aren't that fine tuned to tell a lopey cam when they hear one if you instal a cam with a low LSA.

 

It's the dealers warranty I believe and I know they can tell a cam when they hear one. Who knows, maybe I can get one of the mechanics to help me install it and still keep it under their warranty. That's a ways off still as I don't have the money now.

 

There's always credit at your disposal would be a good time to install headers too....just install on the engine and then set the car back down on it....

 

I was just getting ready to order a set of headers when this happened. That money went the deductible plus more for my extra parts. Once the engine is running I will be able to save up for headers and THEN I'll save up for the cam, oil pump, timing chain swap.

Credit is good for emergencies, like the engine blows with no warranty so you have to buy another one right quick, but speed parts aren't that important. I'll wait and pay cash for them. That's the best way to do it if possible.

 

You have more self-discipline than I....good luck with the car, hate to hear that you're having to put off your mods b/c of the water damage.

 

It's just a delay, no biggie. I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly and I can put this rod issue to bed and get back to thinking about mods again.

 

Hmm... Id have one of your buddies re torque an old rod bolt to 0 ft lbs to finish the job in short order. Make your insurance pay twice for being cheap asses. Probably cant do that now that I wrote this though...

 

After about 6 weeks in the shop I got the car back. It was idling high and would vary from 1000-1800, but otherwise it ran fine. After 3 weeks of driving it the knocking is back plus the oil pressure is dipping real low.

The real ball buster of it all is that even though it is going to be covered under warranty, it's probably going to take a few weeks and the Insurance only gave me a certain number of rental car days which were almost used up last time. Now I'm going to have to wait who knows how long for it to be fixed this second time, but their not giving me the rental car days I will need. If they had swaped the engine in the first place I wouldn't need more rental car days. Damn, this pisses me off.