Iv had this car for like 3 weeks, i have not even had a chance to drive the car. Im getting really frustrated its one thing after another.

I'v had to rewire alot of the sensors, and change the fuel injectors and get a basic tune.

The car had 3 injectors cloged/stuck open on the passenger side and they where replaced with 28lb ls1 injectors, following that a oil change to castrol 0-30w euro formula. because the oil smelt like gas.

It was running very rich and I did not drive the car more then down the street during this time. I had a tuner come over and lean it out and start on the tune but we couldn't data log or drive the car because the TPS went out.

After replacing the TPS i went for a drive around the block maybe a mile or 2 and felt a loss of power and still idle issues, tune related im sure. Well when i was exploring under the car I found the motor was not bolted to the K-member.

After I bolted the motor down I went for another 1 -2 mile drive around the block. it felt ok it was surging and I was told that is tune related, I gave it maybe 35-40% throttle and heard a metal breaking sound. it turned out the starter blew up.

After replacing the starter I started the car up, and now its knocking. I pulled the valve covers and re-adjusted the rockers. Started it up and began listening some more.

After putting a large screw driver right above the water pump close to the cam you could hear the sound. You can also hear it below the water pump and in that general area, its not the valve train making this noise. It sounds like a rod knocking but its very quiet at idle, and you couldn't hear it if the hood was shut. If you rev the car it gets louder. I can't pinpoint the source of this noise.

The car has 45+ oil pressure at cold start and stays around 20-25 warm idle.

Its a shortblock with said 44k miles droped into the car and a CC306.
I did not build this car so thats all i can tell you. it has springs but thats all.

does anyone have any ideas? timing related maybe? like a gear being slightly lose? iv heard maybe lifter related? The HUB is missing 1 bolt.. and it looks to whooble quiet a bit but i don't think its enough to make the sound.

its got a new autozone harmonic balancer. assuming the guy before me installed it right.

someone bounce some ideas off my head please.

 

Oh and ill add this noise started after the motor was bolted down, i noticed the oil pan close to the drain plug is dented up but not very bad.. maybe enough to be hitting something??

 

Change the oil and see what you see in the old oil. You'll know fast enough it it's a rod.

 

can you take a quick video of it idling?

 

i tryed to take a video of it idling but you can't hear it. its very quiet at idle, you have to know the sound and be tuned in on it.

 

How loud is the knock if you rev it up and then let off the gas?

 

Ok, mine started all just like yours did. Went from a slight tap every now and then to a constant slight tick. Drove the car about 80 miles a day for afew weeks like this. Driving it to work one day all hell broke loose! Literally all hell. Broke the motor down to find that I had stacked the #8 main bearings. The damage to the crank was unturnable. Everyone was telling me it was probably a bad lifter or a bent pushrod seeing that it has over 200,000 on it. You never know how many times the motor was overreved or oil not changed till you start from fresh and do it all yourself.

Sounds like someone started a project with your car and couldn't afford to do it right or didn't have a clue. Id pull it and check it out. It sucks to tear down the top end and replace stuff to have it go to **** within months. Trust me.

 

themammer69, its not very loud.

94fixerta, this is the 4th motor in the car. the first motor was ran with no oil and a blown head gasket. when the motor came out and got to a machine shop it broke into 4 peaces.

The 2nd and 3rd motor spun the front 2 rod bearings. I beleave because of a bad balancer.

This motor, said to be 44k miles short block pulled from a camaro only had the CC306 installed and heads.

So heres a few questions

The cam is the same cam thats been in all 4 motors, the cam could be damaged im not sure.

The heads casting our 3230 and 3229, are they the same? just stating left or right?
Because one head is very clean and looks like it was just out of the machine shop. The other head has that oil tent to it.

I have the intake off, I found the headgasket is thorn where a pushrod comes threw. I checked the pushrod and its not bent. Is it the lifter? how do i check a lifter.

Im a little more worried now because the lifter try has metal on it, is it old or new idk.

here is a pic of where the pushrod tore the headgasket.

 

Well, i'm gonna say that maybe you are just hard on your motors. The CC306 is a cam that needs to be revved very high to work decent and this is just plain hard on a stock short block. Maybe in the future, going with a better cam that doesn't have to be revved to the moon may allow your engines to last. Just a thought...

 

well, i have not ever reved this motor over 5 grand, as i have said above. i only have drivin this car maybe 5 miles. and thats just to see how its running.

I found metal.. lots of metal. Its either a bearing or the lifters. The lifter bearings have alot of side to side play on 2 of them. The metal is silver not gold. I'll update later as i pull more lifters out.



sorry for the bad pic

 

No offense man but If your not spending the money in gaskets to tear these things down and look at what you have got Before trying to throw it in the car and run it, then what did you expect? I have bought plenty of engines that are " IN GREAT CONDITION" or "LOW MILAGE" Just to find when I tear it down and find that for some dumb *** reason the damn thing was run with NO OIL AT ALL or someone had spun bearings and replaced them and not run the engine since but "IT RAN GREAT THE LAST TIME I HAD IT IN THERE" I don't even bother with buying an engine expecting that it will run unless I buy it from a place that has a warrenty on it. Tear them down first.

 

I didnt buy the motor in the car. didnt build the car.

all im doing is rebuilding and trying to pinpoint all my issues so it can go back together right.

 

.....

 

Well you kind of just proved my point that it is someone elses problem he bought. And yes there have been people that just get it back together and never have a problem but most of my life the ratio is like 1 in 10. I don't know about you but I have never been that 1 time. 4 times now I have gotten burned because usually the reason they are selling is because they don't know what the hell they were doing to start with, or they get in over thier head. Every time I bought a project there was always something that required an engine pull or some sort of tear down on what ever they where working on. If it dose not run and someone says that it should be fine all I am saying is save your time and money and just take what ever is in question down and start over. I'm not trying to bash the OP for this I am just saying don't be like me and keep doing it lol. It took me 3 times to get it though my head that I should just start from scratch and it saved and engine and internals 1 time for me. At this point it is what he has to do anyway with all that crud in the engine. Take it down and start at the machine shop or if you can do it your self spec everything and rebuild with what ever is still good or repairable. Good luck with the project, I know it is frustrating as hell but in the end when you get it back on the road it will put a smile on your face 10 miles wide.

 

your in the same bolt as i am except i wasted money on a bunch of new parts.

 

tore the motor down, only thing on it is the heads and the cam is still inside. don't have a stupid t-30 to take the cam out here.. pretty sure its gona be the block. the harmonic balancer was hamared on at one point. looked to me like it was all bent up... probably caused a inbalance and spun the bearings.

I think im gona build a 355 now

 

Hind sight is always 20/20 but what did the car drive like before you bought it?

I can't imagine a car with an engine not bolted to k member would ride ok in a test drive.

Hope you get your hands around what is wrong and get it fixed with minimum $$

 

well if i said i traded a running ls1 for it you would all laugh at me

 

I think I talked to you about trading for mine, right? I'm doin the 383 stroker build with p&p heads and intake, cc306.

 

yea i really wanted your car lol. i wanted a white or black lt1 trans am, white first. black 2nd..