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There goes my summer!!

vinny p.

vinny p.

Active member
Let me start from the beginning. This spring when I went to start my engine for the first time, I get it running and hang a timing light on it. I dont see any marks?? WTF!! Upon further investigation, I find that my harmonic balancer had spun its rubber hub. Now when I bought the short block kit from my local engine builder, I asked him to sell me an ATI Super Damper. He said they have used this other type of rubber sprung balancer with no failures. So, I went for it. I should have known better. This spring, when the balancer came apart, I pulled it off and went to his shop. He gave me credit for it towards the ATI I wanted originally. Now I am thinking to myself, how long has this thing been broken? I never heard any noise from it. I had not checked the timing since I first got the engine ready for use in the spring. At work, I have seen numerous cars come in with the balancers blown off. I just replace them and off they go. My engine shop said they didnt think a problem would come from it. I am thinking to myself, if this was the fall, the engine would come out and get torn down. BUT, its May..I want to get on the water. Hopefully, I can squeak the year out and tear it down in the fall.
With that said, so far this year, I have been running the balls off this engine. Not a hint of trouble. Until yesterday!! I am running along side a friend in his 35 Sonic with 575's. We ran 20++ miles along the coast in the ocean, get to the next inlet to the east and slow down to about 60 mph for some bumpy water. Suddenly, I feel the boat slow down, like I hit a sand bar. I turn to look behind me expecting to see sand and mud, nothing. Before I can turn my head forward again, the alarm goes off, zero oil pressure. Shut it down, call for a long tow back home. Good thing I have towing insurance.
The plan now is to pull the engine Wednesday, bring it home and tear it down. The engine shop said to bring him the short block. It seems he willing to inspect it. If it is determined that the faulty balance rattled the bearings out of the engine, he will cover it. Ofcourse, until I get it apart, its all guess work. However, my guess is that it spun a rod bearing, started to lock the crank up, but broke loose. The rod is still on the crank, but there is no bearing in the rod. We'll see..:sick:
 
Bummer man!! I feel your pain! I hope you can get rebuilt and back on the water again before the seasons over! You gotta bring that monster upstate some time and do some boating on the finger lakes, i'd love to see it! Good luck man, hope it all works out.
 
I was cringing over the phone when you were telling me the gory details. I will be keeping my fingers crossed that the machine shop takes care of matters. As you always say, everything will break, it is just a matter of when and where, just sucks that it is mid june, and not mid september. You are running AFR 305's right....Do you think if you hog them out they can support 588ci? The 305's might do okay with a intercooled blower sitting on them, along with some dished pistons...Can you get inches by turning down the crank, or will you have to buy a bigger arm? As far as the heads go, you could have Bob cut the cam for 325's, and just use the 325 cam with your 305's till the 325's show up...
 
Pete,
I have AFR 315 CNC'ed heads. Bob is crunching #'s to see how much bigger cubic inch the heads will support. I know I can build a 565 with them. That may be where I end up, not sure yet. One thing is for sure, I am not going for another $4k for larger heads. I will have to make due with what I have. I can proably get 725 hp from a 540. Maybe 760 hp from a 565. Much more than that will really turn into a Bravo eater.
 
That sux Vinny I hope you can get it sorted out. Im not having that much luck with my motor either so I feel your pain. The gremlins love giving me a hard time
 
Vinny,
that just sucks!! Im fighting a gremlin right now in my setup!! somewhere i lost about 10mph and 4-500 rpm. comp and leak down are ok, reset valves and put it back together, checked timing and spark...all good. dont know till i get it out again.
hey, send me that new lower unit so i can run it this summer!! LOL

good luck with the work, I hope I dont end up there too!!

b70
 
Don't port those afr's until you talk to Bob M. Seems the valve work is different than a normal Chevy head and most of the time uneducated but good intentioned machinists want to tell you the angles are all wrong and redo them resultiing in lower flow numbers.
 
SORRY TO HEAR THE BAD NEWS. I LOST MOST OF MY SEASON LAST YEAR TRYING TO GET FUEL ISSUES SORTED OUT WITH MY PROCHARGER. GOOD LUCK.
 
Vinny,

That really bites!!! I was just feeling good myself, I finally got the motor in and ran it for the first time last weekend. Right now everything seems perfect but I've only got about 1 1/2 hours on it. Between work and family issues I haven't had much time for the boat and its been killing me. I guess I shouldn't feel so bad now. Good luck.

Bob
 
That Sucks Vinnie. I hated to hear about your bad fortunes. I think on this site most everyone's worst fear is to see an engine go. You strike me as the type of dude to have it back up and running soon though, so good luck with the rebuild!
 
Thanks for all the good wishes. If this happened in the fall, I wouldnt care as much. The North East boating season is already too short. Losing time, sucks. Tomorrow I am taking off from work. I am going to the boat yard to pull it out and take it home. Hopefully, I'll have it home and apart by tomorrow night. If I do, I will post results and some pictures. Unfortunetly, my success relies on a few people. The fork lift operator and a friend with a pick up truck to get it home. I cant fit the engine in the back of my Tahoe too easily. Time to call in a few favors.

OldNavy,

You are 100% right about the heads. I would not give them to a local cylinder head place. If they are not damaged, I will just lap the valves back in, change the springs and put them back in service. I had no problems with them. I am upgrading my cam profile. I am going to a solid roller with tight lash lifters, Jesel belt drive and possibly T&D shaft rockers. The rockers depend on availability and affordability. I may just re-use my Comp Pro Magnum rockers for now. I'll post cam specs and all other information as I get them. Maybe we can all learn something.

I have to swap the vertical shaft in my new -2 lower. I just got a new shaft from Imco. I was planning on doing the swap real soon, before the old style shaft self destructed. May as well tear the drive down now as well.
 
Vinny, sorry to hear about this.

Hopefully things will get sorted and you'll get back out on the water this year.

I've had problems with my Check all season as well, so I know how you feel.

Hang in there brotha. :)
 
and you can also come to norway, to finish the summer its awsome over here.. but ya gotta have silent choice.. they a lil finikey
 
Well, I got the engine out and apart today. What a day to do it. 90+* no wind and in the sun. Anyway, if you look at the crank just behind the #2 main, it is in 2 pieces. The #2 main is spun as well. The question I have is what came first. My guess is the crank broke and took out the main. I blame the whole deal on the broken balancer. The rods, pistons and block look fine. The block needs to be line bored to repair the spun main. My concern is integrity of the apparent undamaged rotating assembly. Do I trust that the rods and pistons didnt get weakened after all these problems. I am leaning towards not trusting them. Tomorrow it goes to the machine shop. We'll see what they say. I may end up bulding a 572 when all is done.
 

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after the review of the pic, i'm not so sure id re - use any of it. its a tough call off a pic, but the cap is cracked for sure, and i thought i saw a crack in the block... sad thing is i dont have my glasses on, and i'm on a lap top.. so its hard to see.. how do the cam bearings look? and how fast you want to turn around?
 
Happy,

That looks like a crack in the picture, but it isnt. It apperas to be something in the casting. The remaining bearings look like new. They have a few scuffs from the debris that briefly got circulated, but they are not worn or spun. I have to agree, the rest of the rotating assembly is questionable. I dont feel comfortable re-using it.
 
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