Basicaly, the engine has not been right since built. Been chasing problems ever since day 1, now i just want to know what the damage is. Iam guessing broke/not seated rings or a hole in piston(s).
Would like everyones opinion heh....

Alright i have a forged 383 lt1 with AI's older 210cc trickflow heads/custom hydralick roller cam.
Long story short, it dynoed a whopping 383rwhp on the dyno AFTER tuning and is now spraying oil out of the dipstick at idle, to the point where the oil lands on the nose piece of the car with the hood up.

It has used about 1quart of oil every 80-100 miles since new, the pcv valve and all that are in good working order, when under a load like going up a hill it sprays oil thru the dipstick tube and covers under the hood.

Was told the oil use was normal being as the rings were gapped at the 'loosest recommanded setting for nitrous'. We actually shot the nitrous to it once before it got this bad and managed 516hp and 571lbs of torque, munching the transmission and making the axle tubes on the 10bolt leak all over...


Mods are:
383 lt1 forged eagle crank/h-beam rods/forged srp -3cc pistons
AI trickflow 210 cc heads custom hyd cam 23x/23x 56x 114lsa
gasket matched intake/bores enlarged for 58mm throttlebody
walbro 255lpg fuel pump/areomotive fpr/ lucas 42lb hr injectors
base tune was by jeff creech, dyno tune was by 'steve' at backstreet performance in Medina Ohio.

If you need anymore mods check the cardomain page in my signature.

Just want to know what the damage is. I already know it needs tore down and re-done the right way.

Thanks guys
Aaron

 

Now i dont know much bout nitrous but i do know that when you are doin the piston rings you want them tight as possible... as over time they will naturally wear down and become looser. You never want to start with them loose...
The engine spraying oil out of the dipstick tube is from excessive blow by due to to much crank case pressure, most likely caused from like you said rings or pistons...
Does the car have a missfire? whats the compression look like? have you checked the compression yet? if not do it. That should be the first step.
How about a leak down test (not really gonna help much in this case tho) that would at least tell you if the valves are sealing properly or not (again not gonna be the cause of your blowby tho)

 

i have not done a compression check yet.
I have had oil coming from the dipstick off and on (once in a few months for no reason) and was checking the pcv valve and stuff like that when i fired it up and got sprayed in the face with oil from the dipstick.
Also got the smoke from the breather and filler on the valve cover.

I was told nitrous causes the rings to swell and that they should be set loose, odd??

The car does not have a miss except when its first started after sitting for several days. It clears up within 30 seconds or so but always smokes when started, hot or cold.

 

Can you hook it up to a scanner and take some reading? Maybe learn something there also on if a certain bank running rich or lean.

 

head gasket

 

i had an engine that the rings wouldn't seat on and it ate a bunch of oil like yours is. i put new rings and bearings in it and gapped it for nitrous and it does have some blow by still but not near as much, and what you heard about nitrous is true. i didn't go crazy with the ring gap. but i don't think i would do that to another motor i was going to run on the street.. i would probably run them as tight as i could. you only really need to gap them out if you are running a really large shot. like 175 or more on a consistant basis. since i don't run the car everyday its not as big of a deal but i want to be able to nail it with a big shot here and there when i want to shut someone up.

 

I think you are going to find major cylinder sealing issues, broken rings or the like. Only way I can see crankcase pressure getting that high.

 

Yes a leakdown definitely needs to be done. You'll find out exactly where the blow by is coming from.

 

ill try to answer everyones quesitons

95blackhawk-the scanner i have wont communicate with the car. Will try to get another scanner on it asap but iam not in a hurry to drive it 30+ miles to town just to get it scanned at the moment.

SS RRR-chances are we're just going to start pullin it apart to see what the cylinders look like. I dont think were gonna even bother doing a leakdown on it. A compression check probably but doubt well do a leakdown. I dont have the equipment and iam not sure which shop around here does. And like i said, nearest town is 30+ miles one way

Red94chicken- iam running a 150 wet shot on it currently. It has only been used twice while dyno tuning. One time it backfired and the second time is when i got the dyno numbers i mentioned and the tuner said it was all tuned ready to go. I dont like nitrous at all but i got my whole setup for $200 so i couldnt complain.

cause4panic-forgive my ignorance and/or stupidity but how would a head gasket cause my symptoms (low #'s and lots of blowby)? I dont understand but iam sure im just missing something lol

I have a buddy who has a 388 lt1, vortech supercharged, engine management etc etc all the goodies, hes done all his work himself and he offered to give me a hand with it so perhaps it will be put together right this time if indeed it was messed up to begin with and not just faulty parts.

Afraid my buddy is gonna talk me into making it a 4bolt, getting lower cr pistons and going FI and spending much more money i dont really have since he is all about FI stuff

 

I wish i had FI... In the form of a supercharger... mmm power at any RPM. Me likey!

 

Aaron,
How is the teal car treating you? Sorry about your motor problems... hopefully you get them worked out without breaking the bank. Anyway I was just checking on the car I sold ya (it was a roller so I am not to be blamed for the motor guys )
Later,
Brandon

 

Hey Brandon! How ya been man? Long time no talk lol
The car is treating me very well besides MY engine issues. Like he said guys, i bought the car as a roller from him with no tranny or engine. All the problems here are my own doing ha.
Brandon, check the link in my signature i just put up some new pictures of it after a car show! My only complaint is that damn evil window switch/doorlock panel on the passenger side popped out, just like my 94 did, and every other f-body ive ever seen
Everyone likes the car though, chicks dig the color especially and its grown on me too. Dont see as many teal camaros running around as other colors.



For the rest of my faithfull readers:

Did a compression check on cylinders 1 and 3 so far. Didnt have time to check any others.

Cylinder 1 is at 181psi with oil and metal all over the spark plug

Cylinder 3 is at 200psi with junk all over the plug and looks a bit de-formed. Gonna try to post a pic of Cylinder 3 below this:



The area up around the porcelin(sp?) is completly packed with crusty metal and carbon looking stuff as well as the rest of the plug.
I have another picture but my wireless internet is acting up and not letting me upload anything else. The other pictures shows a clear 'bend' in the.....wow brain fart here....the J shaped part of the plug on the bottom, thats it! Funny thing is that it doesnt look like its come in contact with the piston or anything, its bent to the side rather than crushed....?
The spark plugs are AC Delco R45TS
Gonna try to check the rest of the cylinders for compression on monday since i dont work monday.

 

It probably didnt come in contact with anything unless you have domed pistons. Sounds to me like you got it pretty hot from running lean or too much timing or it could just be the plugs are too damn hot for nitrous use. Crusty metal is probably from pinging from all the oil that is contaminating the cylinders. I wouldnt even bother with the compression test, i'd just pull it and do an inspection and replace whatever is fragged. If you had it built by a shop i'd have a stern talk with whoever did the assembly. There is no reason for a car to burn a quart of oil every 100 miles without serious assembly issues, like leaving a shoe or a bag of marbles in a cylinder before bolting the head on.

Although the oil could be coming from the intake gaskets leaking. I suspect you have more complicated internal issues.

 

I stopped by the shop and mentioned that the rings didnt have to be gapped so loose because the tuning on efi engines can be so exact that its not neccesary (was told this) and suggested maybe the rings could have broke and all they said was ''yeah...thats true i guess....could be?" so thats a lost cause there.

Iam supprised i couldnt hear any pinging from it, that sucks.
Iam supprised compression was still 181 and 200 on the two cylinders i have tested so far. I figured they'd all be way low. Hopefully the heads didnt get tore up any if it was pinging real bad....

I figure my issues will be painfully obvious once the heads are off.

 

Good grief, what is with people and wanting tiny *** ring gaps. The area exposed for leaking is almost nill when the rings get hot anyway because the gap closes up. I always gap my stuff on the loose side for recommended street with the 2nd ring gapped wider than the top. Too wide a gap is a minimal loss in power maybe and a fractional percent increase in blowby, too tight is busted ring lands and fractured rings and bad wear. You tell me which is more desirable .

The melted ground strap could just be the plug was too hot for nitrous and you needed to take it a step or two colder for the dope. Did you have a wideband on it at any point during the tuning to make sure it wasnt lean? Some of your issues could probably be fixed by tuning stuff up and swapping parts, but your oil consuption is horrific at least you dont have to worry about bugs in your driveway from all the smoke.

When you pull the bearings the top of the rod bearings will be fubar'ed and nasty if you had bad detonation. It will probably be discolored along the parting line as well. If it was doing it and bad enough the bearing will sometimes flake and transfer material to the journal too.