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so i bought a z06 two weeks ago august 25th. drove it home and it ran great. oil pressure got to 32 at the lowest in stop and go traffic when oil was near 200-210*
RPM B3 cam
Vararam
Mamo MSD and NW TB
AI 280 heads
BC2 LVL6 t56
2” ARH
630/540 pump 93 at RPM
drove it 700 miles home no issue. oil pressure was 50 cruising and 32-36 @ 200* oil temps. took a buddy for a ride and heard a tick. got the heads off today to inspect lifters. rollers all look good. had some trailing marks and could BARELY drag my nail across one. got some 2126SL Johnson lifters and what not to replace. attached is a video of my findings. what would guys do next? oil was nasty and had some metal sparkle mainly in the filter. pulled oil lines by header and drained but didn’t really any sparkle more of a gray/milky swirl which is same as the pan i drained. had lunati signature series lifters in that failed.
i haven’t replaced anything. i have just disassembled the car to this point to better understand where i am at.
any advice?
what is ballpark on this to refresh the short block if i pull and drop off?
debating on parting this car out at this point
i have not swapped anything out. the heads and cam have 2k miles on them (pretty sure this is same oil or one change since work). glitter is silvery in color and i can not feel any grittiness. i poured through a black shirt and saw no remnants btw just to be more clear on my position
At 2K after a cam/lifter swap,, I'd expect to see some light metal off the bottom of the pan,
You r breaking in the cam surface lifter surface and the cam is mating to the cam bearings.
You said you heard a "tic" but you tore the heads off,, ?? How bad was the tic?
Unless there is major damage somewhere,, I can't picture the fresh up on the engine being that bad.
Bearings, rings, gasket set, maybe new cam bearings since the motor will be out.
Its all about your price threshold ,, hate to see a LS7 car get parted for a ~3 to 4K engine job..
I'd say the fine "glitter" in the oil is more from break in than a catastrophic failure.
If it were me, I'd put a set of lifters in it and flush ALL the oil, lines, pan, tank, etc. since it's a dry sump motor. Put the thing back together and drive it.
Depending on the cam and lifters, some are noisier than others. I would have done a little more diagnosis before I ripped it apart in the first place.
To part out a car for a cam/lifter issue is asinine. Hell, even if it needed to have the engine gone through, it's still worth it vs. parting it out. I just don't get it. Or was the comment made more out of frustration rather than seriousness?
I am extremely frustrated and disheartened. I bought this car as a turn-key 600+ rwhp setup and it makes me sick to think I have to dump another $4k into something i just bought. My knowledge on internals and the implications of this glitter/shimmer is not enough to make a rational decision so I am weighing my options so once I learn more I can pursue what is best for me. Here is some additional info
PO was a very mild mannered 50+ year old guy and the nicest person I've bought a car from. He said he only did 60-130 runs (he couldn't figure the clutch out to launch) with friends. He bought the car stock 38k miles did h/c/i at 38500 sold it to me with 40010 miles. I drove it back to FL 10 hours. No oil pressure issues no noises. Nothing. Did a 60-140 pull with my buddy (did maybe 2-3 total) and pulled home. Literally as we parked it started to tick. I shut it down and pulled valve covers. 1 rocker had play. Pulled pushrods all good. Rockers all good. Springs good. Valves good. Pointing to collapsed lifter body. Confirmed that when I pulled the lifters Saturday. The guy that owned the car spared 0 expense. The guy that built it is John McGhee who is very competent and well respected. He assures me to do as you all suggested and that the motor isn't hurt at all.
What does the oil filter media look like? The actual filter inside the can. I spend several minutes with a magnifying glass and plenty of light, as I roll it on my bench. If it’s fairly saturated with debris, as I feel like it should judging by the oil in the bottom of the can, I’d pull the engine. You can spend a little now rebuilding, or a lot later on a new engine. Choices choices...
What does the oil filter media look like? The actual filter inside the can. I spend several minutes with a magnifying glass and plenty of light, as I roll it on my bench. If it’s fairly saturated with debris, as I feel like it should judging by the oil in the bottom of the can, I’d pull the engine. You can spend a little now rebuilding, or a lot later on a new engine. Choices choices...
Originally Posted by Che70velle
Plus you got the same basic advise over on Corvette Forum as well.
The media on the filter? It looks clean. I couldn't see any sparkle or metal on it. I cut the can open and will roll the media on my clean kitchen counter with my shop light and a magnifying glass. I could not see anything on the material at first glance with a LED light and my naked eye. Thank you for giving me advice even after seeing I had gotten some sound advice already. I am trying to tap all resources
The media on the filter? It looks clean. I couldn't see any sparkle or metal on it. I cut the can open and will roll the media on my clean kitchen counter with my shop light and a magnifying glass. I could not see anything on the material at first glance with a LED light and my naked eye. Thank you for giving me advice even after seeing I had gotten some sound advice already. I am trying to tap all resources
That’s good news. The oil is forced under pressure into the filter element, and the element is designed to filter AND HOLD the debris. The element is what your going through all of the trouble of cutting the filter open to see. If the element looks clean, I’d throw a set of lifters at it and put it back together.
Speaking of lifters, what are you looking at going back with?
i bought johnson 2126SL to replace the failed Lunati lifters. i see specs on the filter media as you can see in the video and nothing MAJOR like whoaaaa
Check your valve springs before you put back on. The reason the lifter might have failed is the springs are bad and can not control the sequence of valve events. In fact do this first and check the valve that had the bad lifter to make sure no damage there too.
That filter doesn't look terrible. I've seen worse.
Is the gold tint in the filter pleats the oil shining in the video, or is it really have a gold tint? If it is gold tinted, I'd start looking at all the components that have brass/bronze material in them, specifically the rocker trunions if they were changed. May need to disassemble/press out a couple of the bushings to see if the ID is worn/damaged. If trunions are worn, the preload will change and can cause ticking noises.
Cole thanks for the understanding of my frustrations. That material is silver in color just gold from the oil on it. Once I got the filter stretched it was silver specs the size of grains of sand at most but flat
09-10-2018, 09:15 AM
did i get rekt. LS7 with a collapsed lifter 
