Ive got a fully forged motor...diamond dished pistons, callies dragonslayer crank, and callies compstar rods. i dunno if being an lt1 has anything to do with it, but i dont burn any oil.

 

Very interesting thread...it has shaped my future mods a LOT.

 

It can't be bore size, there's tons of all-bore engines that don't burn any oil.

Long stroke with short sleeves....100% guaranteed, no question about it, pure fact that it contributes heavily to massive oil burning. My engine is a perfect example.

If bore was than every one of them would have problems. Now if a builder ***** up the ring set, well then that builder will **** up any engine on earth and it'll burn oil no matter what.

So its the stroke/sleeve length.....FIRST...because even the best engine builder on earth can't help that problem, its a mechanical problem.

Then it goes to the builder..........SECOND...starting with the decision to not use a long stroke with a short sleeve in the first place, than just simply building the damn thing properly.

A properly built engine with a short enough stroke so the stroke/sleeve length issue is a NON-issue, there will be no oil burning from blowing by the rings, period. My friends 3 1/2 year old 422ci making 535 RWHP N/A and 850 RWHP (on spray) prooves that, and it helps that it was also built by someone who REALLY, TRULY knows how to build an engine properly. Not some cheezeball shop that makes 4 good ones, then one that blows up and they don't cover it, than they build one that runs low 10's and everyone says, Oh, they're the best shop now", than in a month they go out of business. So the builder is where it all starts, but noone can over-come the long stroke/short sleeve problem.

Other bad oil burning comes from bad valve seals in the heads, which I also had after my heads were 4+ years old. Besides oil leaks in the system (gaskets, lines, oil pan, etc) thats pretty much it for BAD oil burning problems.

The longer sleeves that Darton just made are 5.800" long, so even a 4.125 stroke is considered short and the oil burning will not happen anymore, at least not from the stroke/short sleeve issue. Your builder will have to **** up to have blow by. Or a abd tune in the beginning that washed the rings and they never seat, which also happened to my first engine.

Its so simple


.

 

I'm asuming you're running a 6.125 rod? If so that is your problem, not the fact that the sleeves are too short. You could have short sleeves as long as you used an adequately long rod.

I've been thinking about my next engine after this one and most likely it will be a 422ci iron block. 4.030 bore, 4.125 stroke, 6.200 rods. I've read up on them a lot on here and listened what to Sled28 has posted. He's built plenty of long stoke motors that don't have oil consumption problems. Granted with the longer rod, you now have less of a piston, because the pins are higher up.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iv-internal-engine/586580-4-1-4-125-stroke-possible-stock-ls2-block.html
Thread about long stroke motors

 

not bad at all with a stock cam

 

Besides what length rods, crank, sleeves and piston are used, the oil burn comes from one place. The piston is traveling too far down the sleeve and at BDC it "rocks" back and forth, which causes cylinder and ring wear. Then you have blow by.

No matter what combo of crank and rod you use, if the piston is almost coming out the bottom of the sleeve, thats the oil burning culprit.

Oh, BTW....Sled28 built my engine. Besides the oil burning, he built a great engine as far as I'm concerned, reliable and staying together-wise.


.

 

I am surprised to hear about all the people complaining about the driveability loss that resulted from forged motors and or large cam swaps. I have been daily driving a 67 Chevelle with a Carbed Gen I SBC with a healthy cam and I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure it sucks when its cold and it doesn't want to start, sure it doesn't idle well because of the cam, and even after all that it still probably only runs 14s but I love it and I have never regretted it. It is under the knife for a forged/cammed LS1 swap however, which should improve driveability but I did it more for power and weight vs. cost rather than driveability. Whatever driveability I do gain will be lost with the 800 lb springs up front I plan to install. It just seems to me that part of being an automotive enthusiast is seeking the most power safely out of your engine. Be it at the cost of idle quality, oil consumption, gas mileage etc. Sorry for the long rant but surely somebody here agrees with me?

 

All of those are reasons that many of us are picking a smarter/more balanced answer to our upgrade path (for a true daily driver, sitting in DC traffic with the AC and XM on....).

Even with all the good and bad experiences/examples from this thread I am pretty sure this May I will end up with a 402 (my AFR205s and a small cam...) in my C5....

 

Easy solution would be to get a GM LS7. That's what I plan on doing in a year or so.

 

Well, there's a few other causes, but others have said those. What causes the piston to travel too far down / almost out of the sleeve? Too short of connecting rod and inadequately designed / chosen pistons. With a longer rod you'll lose some piston and the pins will be higher up, but if a correct piston and rod are chosen oil burning shouldn't be a problem with concern to sleeve length. Granted having the older shorter style sleeves doesn't make it any easier either.

 

We have a winner. There are quite a few more reasons for burning oil than an improperly built shortblock lol

 

This is exactly what I said earlier, its a build issue either way. If the builder chose the wrong parts than the engine was improperly built. Thats what I was trying to tell 11 Bravo. If an engine is built properly it will not burn oil, fact. Choosing proper parts is the key to properly building an engine. Or am I missing something?

Its like we, as pilots say, sometimes the crash happens before the pilots even show up to the airport because of a bad decision to fly that day.........an engine can have an oil burning problem before the engine is even put together because of bad decisions.




.

 

Another issue that contributes to high oil consumption is having a bore finish that is too smooth. With too smooth of a wall finish, the oil rings will never seat well and you can have oil consumption, even with a good leak-down number.

 

Yeah... but you could build a bigger motor that makes more power for less money.

 

And would it be realiable as a daily driver to at least 100k miles?

 

If it's built right it would be just as reliable.

 

Again, a bad builder.





.

 

Lingenfelter forged motor here, no oil consumption.

Had a JPR forged motor for a couple years, had oil consumption.

As far as daily driving, and this opinion is after 2 forged motors and 5 different tuners, I believe a LOT of it has to do with the tune.

 

No doubt, my first engine was tuned pig rich and the rings were gas washed, oil burning was immediate and heavy. Had nothing to do with the build though.

My friend has a 422ci thats 3 years old and still burns nothing, it was built properly.


.

 

Yes, tune does have a HUGE factor on driveability. However, tuning cannot fix the poor driving characteristics of a large cam.