merlot566jka

About 3000 miles on it. New engine. Took for break in run. Got a strange sound. Then a bad vibration. Then a god awful sound.

Found no thread locking compound in thread holes. Have contacted spec, awaiting response.

Fixable?

wrj913

im not very good with car mechanics, but i work on aircraft. the damage on there, especially for something that spins at high speeds, i wouldn't stick that back into a car. I would suggest a new one, and hopefully you still have a warranty on the part with the new engine.

WVZR-1

Something else comes to mind here! Your name on the 'wheel so I'm assuming it was supplied to a shop for the balance of an assembly by them. How about the weight was "fine tuned" and NOT secured by them?

I noticed what appears to be material removal around the u-shaped relief on the weight to clear the friction surface hardware in the 2nd snapshot. The damage to the weight in all the other areas is the results of "collision". Just say'n - don't know!

THE 383 admiral

If your rotating was internally ballanced. You would not need that counter weight.

merlot566jka

oh yeah, youre right... investigating

rklessdriver

From what I see the damage is nothing to worry about.... those nicks and gouges in the backside of the alum FW won't hurt anything other than it's looks....

I know you still have the stock crank so it would have had to have used that weight to balance without mallory....

New weight, some loctite and you'll be fine.

Do check all the friction surface bolts and nuts, replace any that look to be bent or damaged worse than a little mark.

I'd also bet the shop didn't tighten it back up.... You got to check behind everybody these days man.
Will

merlot566jka

I actually have a new rotating assembly... Eagle forged. (we talked not too long ago about it)

I have the flex-plate that came with the new rotating assembly and have dropped it off with the spec flywheel and it is getting balance matched right now. It will be done tomorrow.
I talked to spec, summit, 2 local machine shops and eagle. The end result, the flywheel needs to match the flexplate that was sent with the rotating assembly, and the damage is not significant enough to warrant replacement. Warranty was out. So I am getting it matched and cleaned up.

merlot566jka

Got it all rebalanced, replaced all of the outer friction surface screws and nuts (10-32 X 3/4"-1" FWIW) and everything buttoned back up. Idled it on jack stands for about 30 mins while checking things over. Perfect. Revved it up a bunch to see if it was balanced, it is good as new....

EXCEPT, now I have a massive oil leak after the test drive. Looks like its coming from the back of the engine. I haven't gotten it back up in the air cause I left my jack stands holding up a buddies C5 Z06 while his trans gets rebuilt. So its the guessing game of what could be leaking... Rear main? Rear main holder? Oil pan? Cam plug? oil galley plugs? If I have to pull that trans again, I am going to throw a fit. Its a pretty big leak, but it didn't leak while idling in the garage on stands. I noticed the leak after I got back home and the car had sat for about 5 hours and I went to move it. I saw the fresh oil on the driveway. Just trying to think what would be leaking back there now. It is something that must leak under sustained higher oil pressure, cause it didnt leak while on stands in the driveway... maybe when the flywheel weight flew off and smacked the rear main seal housing? Maybe it nicked the Cam plug? Maybe the vibration caused the Rear main seal to be worn? Maybe the weight hit the rear main housing, which jarred the oil pan gasket???

sigh. Its always something. What do you guys think?

rklessdriver

Could be any of those things, but the rear main seal housing is Alum and pretty fragile compared to the rest of it. Not to mention the seal itself could have had a hole punched in it from the shrapnel....

I'd get the bellhousing off and see whats up.
Will

corvette95

I didnt have good luck with Spec clutches either

rklessdriver

How would this be SPEC's fault?

merlot566jka

Has nothing to do with spec... Fault goes ultimately to me for not checking behind the machine shop.

Advice?? Viton rear main seal with old design, or rubber with new design? Don't want to do this again anytime soon

merlot566jka

oil filter sandwich bolts leaking....

Oil pressure sensor adapters leaking...

oil pressure sensors leaking...

Good news, havent had any wetness from the main, oil pan or rear inside of block... trans is still in the car

merlot566jka

all cleaned up and now finding the leak around the rear of the block, dripping.

this sucks. dont know if I have it in me to pull the trans right now

rklessdriver

I've used both seals with sucess... but I prefer the brown viton mfgr'd by National... Fel Pro sells it.
Will

856SPEED

Could be a rear main due to the situation with the weight making a good amount of damage back there.....just guessing, but likely.

1 piece rear mains are normally pretty decent especially since it sounds like you had recent rebuild with new seals I would assume obviously.....

You have a 96 so I am not sure if this applies, but I know on the early Gen 1 engines (like mine) the oil sending pressure unit on the back of the block is known for leaking as well as the China wall on the back side of intake, in general for a SBC.....I have been chasing an oil leak on the back side of my engine for a while, we replaced the pan gasket and checked the rear main seal (in my case a 2 piece) which appeared fine, yet I have oil droppings on the driveway when just pulling into the garage.... the engine appears clean with no obvious signs of leakage around the valve covers PCV hoses.....I guess I need to dye it sometime.....oil leaks can be frustrating...good luck

yea, and as far as SPEC clutches, it's been by far the best clutch system I have found for my application, running the Stage 2 with excellent results so far.....

merlot566jka

block cracked near the driver rear side of the oil pan, under the rear main seal retainer and into the upper lip portion above the pan gasket. I drilled the ends of the crack, dremeled out the crack as best I could, and filled with jb weld. Its curing now. I am heart broken. This is a last ditch effort. I will sand it flat in the morning and re-assemble the flywheel and give it a shot. This engine has 37 miles on it. Its the 3rd engine in a year. I am getting sick of building it, I just want to drive it.

STL94LT1

^^ Wow, sorry to hear the bad news.

Crepitus

Bummer. If it helps that is one bad a$$ car hauler. When things go right this stuff is a lot of fun. A string of bad luck sure pisses all over the fun factor.