Props to Shoebox for his excellent website, and to the search function on this site.

I've been working with a high school friend of my son, replacing the engine in his '95 Z-28. Got the engine to fire right up on 2nd twist of the key, 60 psi oil pressure (same reading the gauge had with the old engine), no leaks. Then we took her out slowly, waiting for the temperatures to stabilize, about 6 miles of neighborhood and rural highway cruising.

Once things were warmed up, did about a half dozen half-throttle runs in 2nd gear from 1500 to 4000 rpm. Checked the gauges continuously, no problems at all. Then we did about another set of full throttle runs through the same rpm range.

Got back home, still no leaks, put the car up on the lift and changed the oil (about 20-30 minutes total run time). For those that haven't gone through this and think this may be excessive, the oil that came out looked like shampoo with conditioner in it. You could see the initial metal dust swirled throughout the oil. No flakes or bigger pieces, just like you like it.

After the engine change and dropped the car back down, now it wouldn't start. Battery is hot, lights don't even dim when you hit the starter. A fair amount of head scratching leads me to believe I've left one of the engine grounds loose (don't ask me how it started the first time).

So, I head to the search engine (which is also how I found the excellently described breakin procedure at www.mototuneusa.com), and within 5 minutes find Shoebox's website with all the F-body info. Sure enough, we connected the battery ground that should go to the engine to a point on the chassis. So, this evening I'll get that swapped over and life will (should) once again be good.

Thanks to everyone on this forum that's helped me in the past, hopefully this'll help someone else.

Have a good one,
Mike

 

Yes I have used his site many a time.

Sounds like you broke yours in the same way I did mine. Agreed that the oil after 10 minutes looks just nasty! I am very happy with my rebuild. I never did part throttle runs until after 500 miles. After 100 miles, I was on the race course!