Pulled the other head off the block today, and immediately after it popped off, my eyes grew big. Check this out:

 

WTF is that metal piece? Carnage... that sucks man!

 

i think that's a result of your motor blowing....

what were the details on the situation? Did you hear a knock then it blew up or what?

 

Geez, wtf is that?

 

What the heck is that piece in the first picture????

 

It's a valvespring retainer. I'm thinking whoever had the car before me and my buddy bought it (he owned it before me), had it lying in the intake manifold, and after all this time it found its way through the intake port, and with the higher lift cam, finally squeezed its way under the valve, and caused that. I'm going to pull the oil pan off soon and see if the crank broke at all.. the harmonic balancer is messed up pretty bad. It's egg shaped, and all the rubber was somehow pushed to only half of it.

 

Eep ,that looks bad. Got any pics of the piston? Is it toast too?

 

I did, but I must have deleted them. I'll take more later.

And yes, the piston is pretty demolished as well, almost as bad as the head.

 

Wow, never have seen a retainer get into the cylinder before - nuts and bolts are pretty common...

 

THERES your problem!!!

Plug gap looks a little tight.

damn that sucks

 

Wow... carnage

 

What is that dent by the intake valve caused by? Looks kinda like a flathead screw.

 

How are the cylinder walls? Is the block reusable? You'll need a set of pistons for sure. Now you can get some ported heads and build a 355.

 

ahh, some 800 grit sand paper will take those tiny scratches right out

 

Check the sig, I'm two steps ahead of ya

The cylinder walls look just fine, but I'd recomment getting them bored/honed. The shortblock is from a 94 Vette LT1. I think the block is still good, but I'm no expert. If someone wants to buy it, PM me