Here are pictures of my damaged K1 rod.

They were in a 347 short block by Weber Racing Equipment, WRE. Rear Oil plug was missing from the short block but went unnoticed. WRE denied missing the plug at first then they stated it could've been missed but won't take responsibility what so ever.

Few cranking starts to check oil pressure, for few seconds, then the plug was installed. Engine seized in few days after noticing oil pressure fluctuation and drop. Initial start up after plug install, the oil pressure cold was 35 and hot 30 and below. WOT pressure no higher than 40.

Not sure if incorrect machining/rough finish scores bearing surface or oil starvation because of initial few starts with no oil plug.

It will need new rods, bearings and crank regrind.

What do you guys think went wrong?







Here is a picture of the rear oil plug I'm talking about.

 

No disrespect as this is a bummmer of a situation, but what went wrong is that whoever installed the motor did not check if all plugs were where they are supposed to be.
Never never take anything for granted and ALWAYS double check everything.

For expl: I bought a set of heads from a shop one time and I found a titanium retainer lodged in an intake runner. Immagine what would have happened if that thing made it past the valve On the same heads one water passage wasn't deburred and was almost completely blocked. (I never bought from this shop again)
Anyways, the morale is; hadn't I checked, I would have had serious issues.

 

Fully understand your point.

Does it look if it's improper machining tolerances or oil starvation?

Moral of the story, I ordered a complete short block with covers/cam plate and paid for the extras but didn't get the covers/cam plate nor the rear oil plug. WRE's invoice shows the item “engine covers/cam plate" but it's missing.

I wrote to WRE about missing parts but instead of they are on the way, my e-mail message was ignored.

 

Keep the invoice, for proof of missing parts, but install is your responsibility

 

I will post in the sponser feedback section and see if Mods can mediate since WRE is a sponser.

Will see if LS1tech will care to help or it will go down the road of sponser protection.

 

It's all in this link. Sorry for not typing it in here.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/ls1tech-sponsor-feedback/881134-damaged-k1-rods-addressed-sponsor.html#post8907027

Mods, can you mediate.

I didn't ask for replacement short block. Was expecting WRE to provide missing parts and repalcement rods for the damaged ones. I will take care of the rebuild at my cost. Is what I am asking too much for what I went through with WRE ignorance.

 

I have not got the chance to test their short block, to tell you the truth. Wait until it gets resolved. I will rebuild then put the pedal to the metal and will see how it comes out.

This was supposed to be a nitrous short block with specially preped rings for 300-400 HP nitrous. Now it's all going the drain.

 

well you can't always put the blame on the builder, you/the installer should have given the block a look over to make sure everything was in order before installing and starting the motor.

 

Faiz,
Please do not make it out that we lied to you and did not send the proper parts. We are not going to replace connecting rods on a sketchy story for something that is not our fault. I did however tell you that I would sell them to you at cost because you did purchase the engine from us.

1. We have not heard anything for 8 1/2 months since the order was invoiced out and shipped. We did not receive anything from you until now about any missing parts. You say you sent an email that I never received. Now the thing that bothers me is that if we did not send something that should have been in the crate, why would you only send one email if we did not get back to you? If you were missing covers, we would have had those out right away.

2. You have admitted that you started the engine without oil pressure. If the engine was properly primed with a mechanical oil pressure gauge confirming oil pressure the damage to the rods would have been avoided. You admitted already that you ran the car at wide open throttle after the car was started with no oil pressure. After you put another pump on discovering the USED pump that you installed was faulty. Why should we have to pay because you even CONSIDERED putting a USED oil pump on a $4k motor ? Bottom line, you started a motor without verification of oil pressure.

3. If you want to be picky about things, nowhere on your invoice does it state that you were charged for that rear plug. We do include that rear plug on ALL of our engines and are included in every short block price. Though those plugs do not constitute a complete short block.

4. If the rear cover was not on the engine as you claimed, your mechanic should have noticed that the plug was missing. Especially if he had to take the rear cover off of your old motor to put on the new one. It is pretty obvious to notice where that plug should be. We are not going to pay for a mistake and something missed by the installer.

We were willing to sell you the rods and the bearings at our cost to help you get the engine together because you did purchase an engine from us. Not because we feel that we did any kind of wrong.

 

This isn't so much of a post about k1 rods, but the fact the engine was run without oil pressure clearly burned up the rods.

 

Also for reference, here is proof that you started the engine without confirming oil pressure here is a link to your post (Post #5 in the thread): https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...527&highlight=

Here is another one (post #9):
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...092&highlight=

Here is a post that you put up saying that you put a USED pump on the engine to start that did not give oil pressure. After that you put on a new pump and got oil pressure. No mention of a missing plug here. I think that would be something you mention in the the post!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...170&highlight=

 

Mods, if you can change the title of this because it is not correct. This is 8 months after the engine was delivered all of a sudden that parts are supposedly missing.

 

you see that is the problem. From what I can gather the order was for motor with covers and plug, but the motor arrived without covers and plug. The Buyer then proceeded to install. That was the mistake.
The plug can easily be seen not being there by visual inspection prior to installing covers.

WRE hasn't chimed in yet, perhaps they will come forward and offer a deal, so we cannot jump to conclusions.
Some other sponsors like Patriot Performance (Gunnar) have proven that they can go out of their way if they so wish (and they have done that many times .
Perhaps WRE is ready to do the same. We just have to see how this develops.
I suggest further negotiations directly with the sponsor.

 

We have spent countless hours talking and e-mailing you about this situation that you have created. The bottom line is that you did not prime the engine properly and it was installed without the plug in the rear of the block. If the engine was primed properly you would have realized it would not build oil pressure and could have looked for the problem before you start it and destroyed it. You NEVER, NEVER, NEVER start a new engine without priming and verifying oil pressure FIRST. This is the reason for the disaster, PERIOD!
You admitted to starting a new engine with no oil pressure and you are trying to blame someone else? You have got to be kidding!
Also, we never recieved an e-mail or phone call stating any parts were missing until over 8 months after we shipped. Had we been contacted about the supposed missing parts right away that could have been delt with.
Even with all of this in mind, we offered to get you repair parts for cost which we did not have to do and we certainly now will have to rethink that offer.
The fact that someone can make a series of serious mistakes and then try to blame someone else for the consequences is baffling to me and to say the least is frustrating.

 

Also for reference, here is proof that you started the engine without confirming oil pressure here is a link to your post (Post #5 in the thread): https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iii-internal-engine/873527-just-about-ready-start-engine-what-should-i-do-first.html

Here is another one (post #9):
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iii-internal-engine/874092-oil-pressure-problems.html

Here is a post that you put up saying that you put a USED pump on the engine to start that did not give oil pressure. After that you put on a new pump and got oil pressure. No mention of a missing plug here. I think that would be something you mention in the the post!
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iii-internal-engine/869170-oil-pressure-drops-zero-wot.html

 

If we did indeed install the rear cover and did not install the plug we than would feel obligated to take some responsibility for this problem. No matter what this could have been caught if the engine was properly primed and oil pressure was verified.
If we do not build the complete short block we will not attach the covers. Even if they are ordered and there is no camshaft, timing set, and oil pump installed. We would just put the covers in the box.
This was not the case here. The customer decided to install his own camshaft and use his USED oil pump (Which was referenced in the previous post).

 

I'd just suck it up and consider it a lesson learned. That's one of the benefits of taking it to a place that can build it and install it, then you know where the blame lies.

 

There is no problem on our end here. We have done everything we can to make sure that all engines that leave are properly machined and assembled for their intended use. Unfortunately we cannot be there to hold everyones hand through the installation process. Though we are always a phone call away and I have been known to give my cell number to customers that were worried they might have problems when installing the engines over the weekend.

 

...and this situation is exactly why I'm gonna have my new engine broken in on an engine dyno before accepting delivery.

I commend the original poster for trying to drag WRE's name through the dirt. Good job. Way to pin the blame on someone else.

******* internet people

 

We do have an engine dyno