Hello Everyone,
The other day, getting into the throttle, something went in my motor. Pieces of the motor went flying under the car, and oil everywhere, up in smoke. Today, I finally managed to get the motor out and onto the engine stand. Its late, so I did not get the motor completely torn down, but I did take some pictures of results.

A few months ago, I had gasket sealing issues, so i pulled the heads to swap gaskets. Turns out that i had piston to head contact, i didn't think it was anything major, so I did not get the motor rebuilt. Sadly, this was a LARGE and COSTLY mistake. I believe this is the reason for the destruction. On the cylinder with the worst piston to head contact (or most visible contact) the piston twisted and seized in the bore and as a result, the rod snapped, and did a whirl wind of damage inside the motor.

So far, the following things where taken out/no longer usable:

LS2 Case resleeved with Darton LS7 sleeves (3,000)
Main Caps (not sure on price)
ARP Main Stud Kit (300)
ARP LS2 Head Stud kit (180)
Diamond LS1 4.125" pistons (900)
Callies Compstar 6.125" rods with ARP 7/16" 2000 Rod Bolts (800)
Custom Comp Cam (400)
Oil Pan/Windage Tray/Pickup Tube (320)
Starter (180)
Crank Position Sensor (~50)


Like i said, I still have to tear down the rest of the motor. I hope my LS7 heads are still good, and my Morel Lifters. JRP Double roller timing chain/ported oil pump appear to be good. Crank appears to be OK, but won't know for sure until i get the rods off and have it inspected.

Enjoy....cause I'm not.

 

Man that is F'n JACKED UP! I been there, try to think more of what u can save.....yeah I know, that don't fuggin help. But ya know what does? I betcha it's faster when u put it back together, in the meantime, might I suggest

 

Holy wads of cash, Batman! This totally sucks.

 

You're gonna need a new block for sure......

 

Ouch!! I felt pretty bad when I spun a bearing in my first 427 build.............this doesn't even compare! Step back and have a brewsky. I know it doesn't help but it'll taste good anyways!?

 

I've been drunk since last Wednesday.

 

Haha, man that is messed up. Sorry for your loss

 

DO you have all the parts that broke off? Block looks pretty jacked up id say you looking at having to buy a new one Are the sleeves fine
Ive welded some pretty messed up alum blocks. post a few more pics with good lighting If you wanted to maybe take a shot at me welding the block i wont charge anything sadly i have alot more free time not by choice.

Are you going to go 427 again? Whats your new block plans?

 

Holy ****!!!

 

Man, I don't blame you!!

 

Holy ****..

 

OUCH!!!! I'm sorry to hear/see that.....

 

Damn that sucks hard!

 

Woha.. that must have been a heart wrenching sound...

 

The block is completely destroyed, I do have all the pieces of the block, but there is no chance of ever recovering it. Its scrap.

To everyone else, yea, it does suck terribly. Not sure what I'm going to do, but I've already been in contact with Bryan at LME about a replacement LsX something . Today I will be pulling the rest of the motor apart and hopefulling my heads/lifters are still ok. I'll also post pics of all the bearings/parts as I get them apart.

 

The power of inertia against an immovable object= real destruction.
Somewhat like speeding train hits car.
Condolences offered.

 

Thanks.

So, got the motor torn down. This is what i believed happened, well actually, there were several problems.

First and foremost, I believe the piston to head contact caused damage to the top portion of the rod/pin, which eventually caused the rod/pin to seize together onto the piston, which cause the piston to seize in the bore, snapping the rod. The rod obviously flung around and grenaded what it hit. It blew out the side of the block, damaged part of the cam, blew out two sleeves, damaged the other piston.
Secondly, the coolant leakage that I was getting from the head gaskets obviously damaged the bearings, as you can see in the pictures below. They are totally trashed. Luckly, the crank journals are near perfect, with a few minor scuffs and would just need a polish to brighten them up. Thats about all that came out ok from this.
The cylinder with the seized piston had piston to valve contact and clearly bent the exhaust valve, and hit hard enough on the intake to prompt its replacement as well, which means new guides on top of that. Given this, the lifters I would BELIEVE are now suspect, but given that they're morels, I would think they're ok. Not sure what to think about them though.

Clearly this was a poorly built motor with very expensive parts. I'm very disappointed, as this motor was just running on borrowed time its entire life.

A few quick questions

Can ARP Main Stud Kits be reused?
How much can be safely milled off GM LS7 heads?
Anyone have a spare crank position sensor they're willing to donate to the cause? haha. Also, where would I get a replacement harness connector for it, mine was smashed to pieces along with the sensor.
How can I tell what type of Callies Crank I have (I can't remember what version it was as I bought it from another member over 3 years ago... there is a serial number on it.)

 

Pictures cont....


In the second picture, on the main webbing on the bottom right side...what would cause that dent? I have absolutely no clue, maybe flying debris?

 

I remember posting when you had your coolant leakage issue..........those bearings were already running on borrowed time back then.

 

What cylinder is that picture your asking about on? The main with the ding?