Hey guys got a major issue goin on with my brothers car... as some may remember the car use to be mine, until lastyear when he took ownership.

The car is a 96 z28, m6, 43k mi...
mods:
-golen forged 383 shortblock, purchased in oct. 03. Motor has roughly 10k
mi.
-Ported stock heads by AL who works/worked for lingenfelter. valve job, full port, 2.02 1.6 manley valves
-ported lt1 intake, 58 mm tb
-comp xe 230 236 custom grind
-1.7 comp high tech stainless rr's
-patriot extreme spring kit
-comp chromeoly rods
-42lb injectors
-pacesetter lt headers w/ ory
- fm catback exhaust with electric cutout
-rpm built 6spd w/ spec 3 clutch
-moser 9" w/ 3.90 gears
-the normal suspension mods

anyways on to the problem...
Last saturday My bro Launched the car on the street at 4500rpm. Shortly after he herd a noise and saw the oil pressure drop to like 40psi(normally runs up around 60). So he pulled over and got out to hear this "knocking" sound coming from the back of the engine. Didnt sound good so he shut it off and towed it over to our dads shop. Today we push the car into the shop, pull the plugs and everything looks fine. So we proceeded to crank the car over with no plugs and the engine sounded smooth w/ no issues. Every cylinder had lots of air pushing out, so it seems all holes are alive... oil pressure constant 50psi aswell. Could this be a driveline issue with the clutch or flywheel? At this point were not convinced the motor is trashed yet... some opinions on this issue would be greatly appreciated!! Oh and it fires right up, but runs rough... Im assuming the knock sensor is being triggered and its pulling timing lol. Other than that the engine seems to run ok minus the horrible knock sound coming from the back of the engine. its only been ran for a couple of seconds since the issue occured... didnt want to cause anymore more damage.

 

Nobody?? I guess we will find out when it goes under the knife tomorrow lol.

 

Honestly if its knocking its probably something in the motor but theres only one way to find out

 

yup I agree... Its just wierd tho that the problem ocurred right after dropping the clutch at 4500 dead hooking. Although that could be irrelevant and the problem was going to show its face ayways...

 

it's the motor...Im guessing a couple spun bearings. shitz weak, This car has only been to the track once since the 383 was built 7yrs and 10k mi ago, so it hasnt been abused. The warranty paperwork shows this shortblock has a limited lifetime warranty from golen believe it or not( now they only offer a 3yr warranty), so we will see what happens there... oil was changed every 1k mi or earlier with valvoline vr1 20w 50 as per manufacturer specs...never has smoked or shown any signs of any issues. oil pressure was always excellent 50+psi, pulls 17-18 vacuum at warm idle, 24 on decel... Just had to rant, feel bad for my bro...

 

Another Golen casualty. Can't say I'm surprised. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

 

I know a guy locally who had a Golen 383 come apart too. It might have an Eagle cast crank in it.

 

yea its a definate possibility, although I did spend more money for all forged components and dynamic balancing... Basically it was golens "top of the line" shortblock at the time. It just pisses me off tho because any thread in this section over the past 5yrs about golen, I was in there posting "how well my mine had been holding up"... Then it lets go a year after my brother buys the car. He just had it to the track last friday and was running consistent mid low 12's at 113-115, on heavy azz 17's in the heat... I know thats not a very good time, but the da was really shitty 3300+... There was a heads/ cam ls1 that was running the same times. Not to mention a friend had his g8 gt down there and could only muster a 13.9 @ 103, when his previous best last fall was a 13.4 at 107, before the vararam intake. That tells me the car was makin decent power for being a boost built motor. Were going to make some changes, one being a cust intake similar to larry's @ speedinc and ditching the moroso... Big and skinnies, ditching the 17's... motor is going get a new custom grind bumpstick and different pistons(no dish lol), to get compression up into the low 11's.

 

Update: I think we found the culprit!! The little springs around the valve seals all popped off on the passenger side and went down in the motor!! Found some of the springs in the oil filter, not good... Anyways just wanted to update this thread because Golen is not at fault in this case.

 

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