ok...its kinda long...but i'll try my best to keep it to the point...

took the car to the track last sunday...on my first run...went to lanuch and totally bogged...stepped full throttle on the gas...and sprayed by accident at about 1,500-2000rpm....(no i don't have a window switch...push button activated system...about 6months of trouble free nitrous use under my belt)

anyway...ran a pretty good run...at the end of the track after i had slowed down the motor stalled out and wouldn't turn back on...later on after watching the tape of the run i noticed that probably 3 and 4 gear white smoke started coming out of the exhaust...a lot of it

after the car stalled we coudn't get it to start...we tried jump starting it but nothing...the car wanted to turn but wouldn't...tried pushing it in 1st, 2nd, and reverse gears to drop the clutch and try starting it...nothing

$165.00 and 70 miles later after towing i started to take the car apart....noticed several strange things
- when i went to drain oil.....for about first 5 seconds only coolant came out
-when i took off the intake manifold there were scraps of metal the size of small chunks of mini mm's
-one bent push rod
-one spark plug totally black even on the inside of it
-another spark plug totalled bent inside...mechanical damage...note this is the same plug that was on the cylinder that the pushrod was bent

i'm in the process of taking off my heads right now...but i'm still wondering what am i gonna do about the motor being locked up even after i get rebuild heads ...

i know i blew my engine but i'm wondering why it locked up and how do i "unlock" it after i get it all apart

 

Your not going to only need to pull the heads, you need to go through the bottom end. You probably have a bent rod (or 2) as well. You might as well pull the whole thing.

 

Sounds like a blown head gasket that hydrolocked the motor. You'll need to pull the heads to know the extent of the damage .

Good luck,
Ryan

 

Yep. Sounds like hydrolock to me as well. Ooopsies, right? I guess you'll have a window switch next time eh?

 

im his friend helping him with it. we almost got the head off, just need to get the acc. bracket bolts out tomorrow. since there was so much water in the oil you think the bearings might be shot. he didnt drive it much at all after it smoked, just to the end of the track. could spraying to early cause too much cylinder pressure and have blown the HG? also one of the valves stayed open after the pressure was taken off the spring. broken/bent balve? if i rememeber right it was the same valve with the bent push rod and broke plug. if he locked the motor and needs rebuild he plans on doing built 383 i think. will the locking scratch the cylinder walls so it will have to be bored? what about sleeving if the walls are scratched, can this be done?

 

Scraps of metal inside, broken plug, you absolutely must take the whole engine apart. No sense in wondering if any of the parts are good. It will have to be totally disassembled and checked.

Yes, you have a bent valve and maybe head damage. That piston and rod are probably toast, too. Depending on what went on in that cylinder, you might have irreparable block damage. I have not heard people discuss sleeving much with these blocks. I would imagine it is possible.

 

TTT

 

Hard core motor bust up.

The coolant eating bearing, would take a few miles atleast to start eating them away. With that much coolant in the block, other damage would happen first (which you experienced).

Keep moving forward, and enjoy the journey!

I speak from experience here. I wish I knew then, what I know now about mt LT1, so I could get a few more things done, when I had my motor built.

I had an ace motor builder do the job, and he did it well.

 

Sounds like you broke the crank, fried rings/burnt a piston or 2, and god knows what else. Just pull the motor and save yourself a lot of time. When the motor is out you can run the type of checks needed. Sounds like a bomb went of in there. I would not attempt a half *** fix do it right or you will be there again.

Sorry dude thats sucks great time for a forged bottom end.

 

DR. ZED...what did you mean by when you said you wanted to get a few more things done?
what do you recommend?

if i have blown pistons i was thinking to buy a summit engine rebuild kit and have the block bored .030 over...also get the heads ported and polished and port the intake manifold...

considering that my block is still usable...hopefully

 

I've been there myself too many times now. Once you get the head off, you'll find at least one broken piston. That's the matl that banged up your spark plug. I was driving my stepson's '94 Formula a couple weeks ago and the engine locked up on me. I restarted it later when it cooled down. Now it has a rod knock. I'm sure it spun a bearing. I found a complete LT1 locally for $500. I'll be getting it Friday.
Good Luck,
Kevin

 

Hey broh. First of all good for keeping your head on straight during this time. Second, lets assume the block is good.

What do you want to accomplish? Eventually SC the motor? 383 N/A and setup for NOS? You must decide now, when the block is out.

Personally, I want to make sure my engine is twice as strong as I'll ever need. You've got the headers, the FIPK and exhaust. You also have a 6 speed, so take it easy until your budget allows for a new rear-end.

The quality of your parts will determine how strong and what you can do with your motor. I can say, I'd have my engine balanced, the valve train nice and tough (maybe 7/16ths studs is overkill for the RRS but I'd do it). Nice middle of the road cam (again depending on what you want to do), 52 MM TB, and most of all, done at a credible builder. Somebody who knows how to get great flow numbers out of the heads. Valve sizes will depend on budget and your intentions.

Take your time looking for this person/shop.

 

I would say the cause of your explosion was most likely detonation at that low RPM range. Its possible that at that low of a RPM you fuel system wasnt pushing a whole lotta gas thru your injectors, then with that blast of NOS you went extremely lean causing some serious detonation. IF this is what happened you would have heard what sounded like loud " SPark knock" as you were going down the track. If you didnt then the extra strain on the motor from the NOS finally took its toll and broke something during the run causing other severe mechanical damage.

Also I agree with everyone else, you should pull the motor becuase its wasted. With that kind of damage you porbably scored your cylinder walls . and the heads may be able to be repaired if they were not damaged too much. I would say at BEST hope that you didnt do too much damamge to the block and heads and that they can be repaired if damage in minimal. As far as the rotating assembly goes you can kiss it goodbye. Your going to need a new crank, rods, pistons , cam everything. when you have that type of damage and metal getting into the oil system its destroys everything the oil comes in contact with.....such as your lifters. Basically look into rebuilding.

Look at the bright side....you have a good excuse to do a performance rebuild.

 

as a point of reference...when my LT1 blew up it smoked 4 rod bearings, 3 main bearings and broke the middle main cap in half. even after all that damage, it still started and ran before we took the engine apart. when i say it ran, i mean it held rpm and oil pressure, and i had to shut it off...it didn't lock up or shut itself down. we found that although none of the rods or pistons were hurt, the crank and block were only good for the scrap pile. if your engine won't even start and you have coolant in the oil, chances are you hurt several different things very badly.

my advice is to take this whole thing as a learning experience. from the nitrous use issues to the tearing down/diagnosis of the busted up engine and the building of the new engine, learn as much as you can so something like this is much less likely to happen again. in my case, i got very lucky and was able to purchase an intact, unhurt 4-bolt LT1 block for a little over $300 including shipping. good luck with whatever you decide to build.