I posted not too long ago asking what a code 33 was. That was the code I picked up when my car died on me just after a street race a few Sunday's ago. Turn's out it was a code for the MAP sensor and when the car still ran like **** after a new MAP was put in, I knew there was something wrong. When I saw that the valve cover breather (and the exhaust) was smoking like a chimney, there was no doubt something inside the motor let go.

Well, during these past few weeks I made the decision that if had to rebuild the motor ( the car felt like it lost 2 cylinders) I may as well "throw in the kitchen sink" sort of speak. I decided to go with a stroker since the cost of the parts wouldn't be very much (if any) higher than a basic 355 rebuild. I setteled on a 396 with forged piston's, H beam rods,and a STEEL crank. (That and all the other crap that comes with the rotating assembly) I'm getting it at dealer cost ($2200CAD). Labour and machine work are obviously extra.

I just got off the phone with the insurance company and cancelled my policy with them. No more driving for me this summer :blah:

About 3 day's ago I decided that since I'm pretty much broke at the moment, it would probably be best if I did as much of the work myself as possible in order to save myself some money. I've always done most of the work on my car myself up untill now, mainly things like maintance and installing "bolt on" parts and left all the seriouse stuff like cam changing, head porting etc. to my mechanic.

Well, I decided to take apart as much of the engine as possible and have the car towed to the shop when there was nothing left other than the block in the engine compartment. I was pretty nervouse, actually pretty scared that I might be getting in over my head but at the same time, I was also real excited at the same time. What better way to learn about motor's than to tear down your own? It's not like I was able to go anywhere with the car so I pretty much had all summer to take my time with it.

It's been 3 days since I started taking stuff apart a little bit at a time. I'd stop by my parent's house after work each day (that's where my car is right now) and take off a few more pieces. By this time yesterday, I had taken off the radiator, air intake, alternator, ignition, tranny cooler, air conditioner compresser and all related pieces, the intake manifold, opti, waterpump,emissions, and crank pully.

Today, I manged to get off the driver side header and pull out the plugs. That's when I noticed that one of them was completely bent. (not good) I eventually pulled off the head and saw that one of the piston's was missing about a huge chunk of it's material on the outside perimeter. It completely disappeared!! Vanished !! All I could say was... Holy **** !!The head itself is scratched up, but my mechanic told me that can be fixed real easy and that at the most, I'd have to pick up a pair of new valve's (2.02/1.6)

I have to say that taking apart my motor has been really cool. I've never done anything like this before. I'm getting hand's on experience and the entire experiece is getting me that much closer to learning how to build my own motor one day. I took a few pic's to show you the progress so far. Just thought I'd share.

 

Nasty.....did u miss a shift or something?

looks like the heads have been of the car before?


btw why did u remove all the A/C Stuff....you dont have to remove any of it to pull the engine.
Marcin

 

No, I didn't miss a shift, it's an auto. What I did do though was drop it into second and hit the spray. I won the race and only when I came to a stop at the lights ahead did I realize there was something wrong after it stalled on me. It ran rough and didn't have very much power after that....

As far as the heads, yeah they've been taken off before (not by me). I had them worked on a year or two ago. they were ported, polished, and larger valves were installed aswell. 2.02 intake/ 1.6 exhaust . It also had a "multi-angle valve job" - whatever the hell that means . I'll be taking off the other head tomorow and see what the damage is on that side...

 

Were you spraying? Looks like the top ring land gave up from rattleing it.Don't look bad enough for a dropped valve.

 

Yeah, I was spraying. I kind of felt dumb knowing I wasted gas on a souped up SRT4. Those have got to be the most over rated car's since the LS1 . I put about 5 car length's on him in as many seconds.

Then again, he's probably still driving his car know In the end he got the last laugh....


Atleast now he'll think twice before messin' with an LT1. The look on his face when I slammed the gas was pricless. Poor kid nearly **** himself

 

YEEEEE HAAAAA Good Show.He had better look out at the end of summer.
You need a timing retard when you spray to keep this from happening again or if you have one it needs to be set with more retard.At least 2* per hundred shot.

 

I wish. I won't be able to afford to bring her out till (best case scenerio) next spring. For now I'll just be concentrating on coming up with the money to buy the parts. Then have them installed over the fall/winter.

Oh well. you know what they say. "Good things come to those who wait". How's a 500 horse 396 LT1 with a 2 stage 250 shot of laughing gas sound to you? Sound's pretty good to me. All in due time......

 

If you got the heads and intake system and the car and engine is set up RIGHT,should run low9's.I build engines,got a small shop if I can help with suspension or engine let me know.

 

Thanks man, I appreciate that.

Low 9's? Holy sh*t ! Didn't think it'd have the potential to go that fast. This was/is my very first and only car. It's a daily driver rain or shine. Now that it's out of commision, I have to walk or ride my bycle anywhere I want to go .

I already have the suspension set up and dialed in, so the next step would be to upgrade the 10bolt and either build the 700R4 or go with a turbo350. A 9 second daily driver. I' can't wait !!


Weeeeeeeeee !

I'm going to be "Vin Dieseling" it at every stop light !!

 

Not bad!!.. Yea time is of the essence when building a motor of that caliber! But make sure you know what your getting into.. Lot more involved then just a engine!.. I'm finding that out the expensive way! Good luckw / your build.. Should be fun..

 

Yea 10 bolt ain't gonna make it--12 bolt or 9" no over drive with either turbo trans and new lock up converter for OD,you will want to stay with OD to compensate for the rear gear you will be running,and I GUARANTEE you you don't have your suspension dialed in for a low 9 sec ride.Making a FAST daily driver is expensive.
If I were you I would fix that one hole and drive it.It may not be a race winner but you won't be walking.Didn't look like it messed THAT cyl.wall up and it could be fixed,depending on what you find on the other side.So far I see one piston,1ring set,1rod brg. valves for one hole and grind the high spots off of head,check head for holes,gasket set,and waalla---depending on what you find on other side.Wouldn't even pull engine to repair.

Check bad cyl for cracks.

 

Holy broken ringland batman!

I still think mine takes the cake. Split the piston in two equal halves and the rod into about 80 pieces.

 

OOOOOPPPSSSSSS They don't build them like they used to.

 

The car has been used as a daily driver for the past 5 years. 3 of those years it was putting out 460+ horse at the wheels on the spray. The cylinder heads were worked on a year or two ago and I'm willing to bet that at the time of it's demise, that motor was putting out 500+ at the wheels - EASY.

I'm actually surprised the motor lasted as long as it did. I always drive it like I stole it. I can't think of any other engine that can take that kind of abuse. Last year, my friends LS1 melted a piston after using a 100 shot for only one summer. He was only making 370 at the wheels.

Long live the LT1 !!

 

Ouch...And it happened against a golf cart, poor car