Looks like I spun a rod bearing today.

Here is the history of my car:

1) Exhaust leaks starting 1 year ago
2) Blowby and smoke out of valve covers starting a couple months ago.
3) Blown head gasket 1 month ago, along with some warped heads. fixed.
4) Dead fuel pump.. fixed with walbro 255.

And today.. I'm coming home, and bam. Car stalls dies, and when I start it back up, I get a bad knocking sound. Its intermittent, but usually srarts knocking after I rev it a little. Sounds like tehre's something loose bouncing under the valve cover.

I'm sick of fixing this car, and I want to sell it, but I still owe 4.5-5k on the lien. What are my options?

If I were to buy a used shortblock from say, an LT1 with 30,000 on it.. how much would that run me? And how much would a shop charge to put it in? And check it all out, of course.

Argh, I am so damn fed up with this car..

 

When your in a whole full of water all you can do is grab a bucket and start bailing.. I'd suggest a rebuild.. will take some time but can do the .30 over thing for the 355.. trick question.. when you add the hotcam and rollers did you redo the bottom end? if not how many miles was the cam in before now? low mileage lt1's are gettin harder and harder to find.. there are a couple of dudes on ebay that sell em and seem to have plenty of em (camaro/corvette boneyards).. that might be worth a shot..

 

thanks, SS ragtop.

When I put in the hotcam/rockers, I had about 80k on the motor. I didn't rebuild the bottom end, I figured it would be ok.

The car ran GREAT for about a month, then started getting blowby. It overheated once, and warped my heads and ble wout the head gasket, so.. I fixed tha tmyself - had a machine shop mill/flatten the heads, test the valves, and got new gaskets..

It ran well for about 2 days, then bam... I blew the bearings.

I'm thinking, I should just buy a shortblock used from the board here, and have a shop put it in... I don't have more than $2k to work with.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck. I don't know what the best thing to do is, but I would worry about a used short block. It would really suck to spend the money on it and then have more problems. If I were you I would do what I could to have the motor rebuilt right. If you want to sell the car "as is" let me know. I am looking for a car in that condition to start a build up, and may be interested.

Dustin

 

well, in all honesty. In you situation I would decomission it for awhile and save up for a rebuild. I mean nothing too radical and you could probably get someone to build you a bottom end for $2000 then swap over those heads and call it a day. Good Luck.

 

thanks, scoobysnax. you think a bottom end rebuild can be done for $2k? If so, that would be great. Hmm, I guess I'll have to call around.

well, thanks for the support everyone. I'm inredibly dissapointed in my z28, it hasn't ran right from day 1.. but I am determined to get it running smoothly.

*sigh*. I've dumped over $3k on top of the car cost into here.. these cars are *expensive!*. For the money I've put into this car so far, I could've had a 97 trans am.... or a 98 even.

 

You can get the machine work done for a 355 for ~$400. You can do hyper pistons/rings, forged I beams, and cast crank and bearings for about $800. Balancing would run ~ $200. So thats $1400.

 

gb95zconv:

Thanks, that's good news to hear. But this is only after I've pulled my engine, right? I don't have the hoist, or the know how to do that....

- kyung

 

Probably when you had the heads milled you upped the CR which was too much for the bottom end to handle with that many miles.

Bottom line is: You owe on the car. The car isn't any good unless it runs.

Defaulting on the loan is no good because it will kill your credit forever.

Search the world over for a good short block. Have all your other parts inspected and replaced as necessary.

Transfer all parts to new shortblock.

Your biggest challenge will be removing and installing the engine.

I believe that GM suggests removing from the bottom, it can be taken out the top.

Spend a lot of time planning on how to get it out and back in, noting where everything goes. Take your time.

I bought a new short block 4-bolt main for 1750 delivered.

Probably hard to find one, but not impossible.JMHO

 

hey, e-mail me. I know a builder who will build you a good shortblock with all upgraded parts and have it shipped for aout 1200.0 total. includes the block .

noe95z28@aol.com

 

Where do you live? I have a shortblock with 35,000 miles I am thinking about getting rid of. I'm looking at getting a stroker built so I won't need it.

ryancjohnston@hotmail.com

 

Yes....you would have to pull the engine and break it down to the shortblock. Labor for pull and reinstall would be about $800