Meissen's LT1 Rebuild Thread

[98blackbeauty]

nope, waiting!

[bigjon88]

not like u do any work any how larry!!!! and thanks again for the help for larry so can i hiring you for my pit crew now?

[Kwazrollinz28]

nope, waiting!

they give you any updates atleast?

[meissen]

not like u do any work any how larry!!!! and thanks again for the help for larry so can i hiring you for my pit crew now?

he's getting around town man. He helped you on Monday and went over to JC's today to help him.

they give you any updates atleast?

We haven't called asking for any updates. We're just letting them do what they do best.

[99SSRhodes]

WOW i dont know how I missed this thread. Im realy sorry to hear that Brian, I've only read the first page so far but im going to start reading it lol to catch up.

[Kwazrollinz28]

he's getting around town man. He helped you on Monday and went over to JC's today to help him.


We haven't called asking for any updates. We're just letting them do what they do best.

well im doing my cam swap next week, you guys feel like coming over to help?

[98blackbeauty]

Are you doing cam swap in car or pullin engine?
If its in car swap I'll pass on helping, back can't take bending over that much. Sorry! old age is the pits.
Plus I'm to big to crawl under hood and sit on engine like Liz. LOL

[Phantom409]

well im doing my cam swap next week, you guys feel like coming over to help?

Have fun doing that

With all the stuff you have to take off a few more bolts and you can pull the motor and make sure everything is sealed right when you are done.

[nascarnate326]

So whats the game plan Brian? I know you have to be going crazy right now.

[meissen]

No plans as of yet. It's in the machine shop and that's about it. They are going to have to bore the cylinder walls out because of two deep scratches and they're doing a 10/10 to the crank. Just waiting for a final estimate on how long it'll take and how much $$$ so I can start saving up... In my estimation, it will take me about 2-3 months to save up how much they estimated it will cost.

[ITSSLOW]

The dent in the bottom of the oil pan never crossed my mind as a problem, other than pan holding maybe 4 7/8 quarts of oil instead of 5 qts. Today Brian and I were talking and it came up. we measured the dent and its position it is 7/16 deep and right below where oil pump pickup would be. So this is what I believe happened: 1. started car without flashing pcm. causing a lot of gas in oil. 2. broken wire in engine harness prevented VSS data from gettting to pcm. This caused engine to rev higher than normal and not shift correctly. 3. because of insuffecient room between oil pickup and pan bottom, high rev's caused pump to not to be able to deliver enough oil through engine, especially oil being thined by gas and not having the proper lubricating properties. Therefore bearing were run dry or close enough, to burn them and so forth the destruction. So I believe it was the combination of these mis steps that caused the problem.
__________________

That's crazy but it all makes sense.

[SoulTerror]

That sux about your car. I was looking forward to seeing it at the M&G.

[tenpin842]

cant we stick a 2.5 Iron duke motor in so you can drive it to the M&G?

I hope you hear some good news soon!

[99SSRhodes]

Man B again sorry to hear what happened. Sounds like you guys figured out what had happened, let me know if there's any dealer parts that you need I can use my discount to get the parts. (nm forgot you can prob just get the parts through Angie lol)

well im doing my cam swap next week, you guys feel like coming over to help?

If im not doing anything when you do it Id have no problem coming over to give you a hand.

[meissen]

Thanks guys - I actually want to expand on dad's explanation...

Here's what I think we're realizing happened. It was 3 causes but 4 things we did wrong.

Cause #1: Piston Ring Seat (theory)
We used the 3 prong honing tool from Murrays to get rid of the little bit of a carbon ridge that was built up at the top of the cylinder wall. While I don't think we really "honed" the cylinder walls, it's now my belief that we roughed up the walls of the cylinder enough that it caused the piston rings to need re-seating. Maybe combined with the fact that the engine sat for at least 18 months. This explains why so much fuel was able to get past the piston rings and into the oil. I say that because everyone has seemed to be so surprised at the amount of gas that had gotten into the oil that it only seems logical that SOMETHING wasn't right with the piston rings. Well, between the engine sitting for a year and the "honing" job that we did... I think that's what happened.

Cause #2: Running 24# stock tune with 30# injectors
We knew it would dump a percentage more fuel into the chamber than we wanted, but it was our understanding that most of it would just be burnt and we'd run really rich. Due to Cause #1, it seems like whatever wasn't ignited just seeped right past into the oil. The reason I say this is because I do not really remember the car ever shooting any noticeable clouds of black smoke out.

Cause #3: Dented Oil Pan
As my dad said, 1/2" dent in an oil pan that only has 1/4" clearance for the pickup tube = disaster at higher RPMs. Probably was starved of oil each time I "got on it."


And now for things we did wrong...

Wrong #1: We didn't check the bearings while we had the engine apart
Wrong #2: We should have replaced the oil pan. I knew about the dent but didn't think about the clearance to the pickup tube.
Wrong #3: We shouldn't have ran the car until Steve came over to calibrate the PCM for the 30# injectors.
Wrong #4: We should have changed the oil after a few heat cycles. We probably would have seen the metal shavings and fuel in the oil and been able to correct the issue before the bearings were completely gouged out and spun.