I need some advice. The short story is that the car started overheating on the freeway, I had it towed home, took the waterpump off to find it in perfect condition but that the splined shaft could be turned by hand, continued to take the timing cover off and the timing set where I found the culprit. The teeth on the piggy back gear were completely wiped out. I know what I want to do in terms of making sure this never happens again (e-waterpump and double roller timing chain set) but my main question is what to do about all of the metal shavings that I assume are all over the inside of my engine?? Any and all recommendations/advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Is your engine factory stock? If it is a build then check to see if the lifter oil galley plugs (at the edge of the WP gear) have a .030 hole in each one. If they don't there is your problem. Ya are going to need to wash and blow out the engine and oil passages and check the brgs.

 

It is a build and the holes are not there and that is partially why I'm switching to an e-waterpump. Is there anyway to remedy this situation that doesn't require me to completely pull apart the motor...again??

 

No
It should have had the holes drilled in the plugs.

It will have to be torn down and cleaned if ya want it to last very long. That gear didn't wear ALL in one day. It has been a bunch of miles with metal going through the engine so ya better check and clean and replace what is necessary are it will be junk.

 

Just replace all the main and rod bearings and you should be fine.. If you can tear the whole thing apart and have cam bearings pressed in, that would be a good idea as well.. There is nothing less you can do unless you want to chance a f'ed up bearing and possibly a junk block after that.

Good luck!

And what is this about holes drilled in the galley plugs? Anyone have any pics of what you are talking about? I have never heard of this.

Thanks!

 

Look at a stock block that has never been fooled with and ya will see. It has .030 holes in each front galley plugs to lube the WP gear. If the replacement plugs don't have them and ya are running the factory pump ya have to drill them in there or your WP drive will fail (NO LUBE)and it isn't the fault of the LT4 ED timing set,it's the builders fault.

 

anyone have some pics of this, I had an extreme duty timing set fail too, maybe my builder overlooked that too! SON OF A....

 

Just look at the front galley plugs above the camshaft. There should be holes in the plugs.

 

ok, just from my memory, I don't think mine has this... but I guess when I do the heads/cam swap this summer I better check that baby out and make sure there are holes in them! So, .030" is the correct size? Could I make a bit bigger hole to ensure propper oiling, or is that just dumb?

 

Leave it .027-.030 there is no need to drown the chain and take away from the engine.

 

lol ok. I suppose like everything else, too much of a good thing is BAD! thanks guys! Ok, /hijack.

 

This thread was concerning me a little because I'm so close to getting my motor together and I know for a fact the holes are NOT drilled. My engine builder said at the time the holes are not necesary for anything other than letting air pockets out of the lifter oil feed on startup and as a result a little quieter cold/dry startup. After reading this thread I called him and asked his opinion again, and he told me that the timing chain/waterpump drive is splash oiled and said again that the holes are not necesary. Now it's not like this guy is new to LT1's, the first time I walked into the shop it was full of 355, 383 and even a 396 LTX. I'm not saying this to call anyone out or dispute because I don't know for sure, I just know what I've been told. Is there any other reason maybe water pump related that could have taken this guys W/P drive out?

I even told my engine builder that worst case I could reinstall my electric waterpump to take the load off of the drive, but he said he really would not worry about it.

 

Hey FastZinTennessee, my builder told me the same thing, and I also am not running the holes in the front plugs. I have about 5K miles on my 396, and havent had any problems. Having them drilled would definitly give me some piece of mind, but my builder told me not to worry about it, and that the splash would be sufficient. I also am not trying to call anyone out or dispute this, Im just stating my experience.



Nick

 

NJLT1SS, thanks for the reply. How high do you rev that thing??

I found this blurb in an online article about rebuilding the LT1-

FRONT TAPPET CUP PLUGS
Both of the cup plugs in the front of the lifter galleries have a 0.030" hole drilled in them. These prevent air pockets from forming in the front of the galleries and provide added lubrication to the water pump gear drive.

From this source- http://www.automotiverebuilder.com/ar/ar99928.htm

Now I could take this to mean one of two things,
1) The water pump gear drive already has sufficient lubrication, but it couldn't hurt to have some extra oil spraying on it since the holes were already there to eliminate air pockets in the oil gallery.
2) The water pump drive gear needed the extra lubrication, and the engineers decided to kill two birds with one stone.

 

My one stock short block thats disassembled does have the .030 holes in it. My engine thats in the car also has them. The one in the car was built by a very reputable company (who shall remain nameless because they dont do work for the general public) who has done R&D development for Roush racing and Many other top racing teams in NASCAR, NHRA, etc.

I'd say it wouldn't hurt, but I'm sure it's not a necessity. That .030 is not moving much oil since it's not under pressure.

-Shannon