CI GS

I dunno. From the photos, it does look oily inside the plenum. But, speaking from experience, you could have an explosion in the intake tract from a backfire and still be oily. One explosion from a gasoline/air mixture isn't going to necessarily leave any black soot behind either.
BTW: Do you have a catch can of any sort on the PCV system? Not saying that is the problem, but I would install a good catch can like a Mighty Mouse system regardless, otherwise it will suck a lot of oil into the blower.
Its a bit of a stretch, but if you're running a rich tune, you can get traces of gasoline in your oil. Compressed (albeit slightly) air with traces of oil and gas in it can light off. Question is, what would have lit it off?
The only other thing I can think of is that you may have a bent, stuck or broken intake valve that caused the A/F mixture to be pushed back into the blower plenum and lit by the spark plug, thereby causing a backfire. But the engine should be missing/misfiring noticeably if that were the case. A quick compression check would rule that out.
Just for the hell of it, I would check the valvesprings too. It you have dual springs, you can have one break, even where you can't see it easily, and the other spring is strong enough to close the valve at idle and low RPMs, but that valve would start to "float" at higher RPM. It's just a theory, but worth checking, IMHO.
I would still try to figure out whether there's some other cause, before you assume it's just a weak lid that decided to fail all of a sudden, on every bolt boss, because that just doesn't make sense to me. Not even if you were pushing 20+psi.
Good luck with getting it sorted.

CI GS

BTW: I would use a inch/lbs. torque wrench and carefully check and document the torque it takes to break loose the bolts for the lid. To me, the only thing that could physically have caused all of those bolts to fail (other than really, really bad metallurgy) like that is if the bolts were seriously over-torqued, which caused all of the bosses in the lid to crack??

Telepierre

Few times, got the "sorry try later" and the best I could do at the moment is to leave a message for "Tofer"?

I am afraid they are going to tell me what they told me for the valley plate..."sorry don't make that part anymore" buy a new system! Not going to happen...

Telepierre

Both your back to back inputs are well appreciated and experienced! I bit above my gear head grade to be honest :-) I do understand it all but now I have to dig deep to implement them and I am a bit MOD fatigued..

From 70% tuned to back into the engine is a bit depressing.

One thing I failed to mention before is that for some reason I have forgotten this lid bolting got my attention before..so I am pre disposed to say something was not quite right with that...

So here is the dilemma: 1. engine runs and I don't ear clanking/pinging 2. Everything inside the S/C seems in order with rotors looking in very good shape and no signs of damage whatsoever.

If I can get another E-Force LID I can install and try.. 30 minutes work

The other options are the right thing to do but now we are talking hours and hours? Maybe I should think it over more.

Again THANK YOU!

realcanuk

I guess I was earlier than you.. they sent me a new valley plate right away. As far as the lid there was an issue with the bolts coming loose.. maybe they were checked and over tightened on install ? I don't know.. just throwing things out there.

Chiselchst

I think Sammy is right on. However (just to play devils advocate), due to the extreme porousness of the metal, it is highly unlikely - but possible? a bad casting/too much void space was formed in the dog ears of the lid when made? I work in a refinery, and when **** blows up, we'll do a forensic analysis. We've had some cast stuff that had really large voids resulting in failures that should have not occurred...perhaps E will ask for some parts back to check it out. Or not. I do like the explosion theory. That large surface area wouldn't require much to pop it off. And a flash fire/explosion wouldn't even heat the oil up enough to burn it. There wouldn't be ash or soot remaining.
My opinion - worth what you paid for it.

How old is the blower?

Please keep us informed, thanks for sharing...

____________
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Good thinking, Real! I like that idea..

Telepierre

I think so. I asked for another valley plate sep/oct 15 and they said sorry don't make it anymore and out of stock...

CRAZY idea/think out of the box ... metal glue on all the bolting points and give it a whirl!? Just remember the movie the "Fastest Indian in the World" .. (laughing and crying at the same time..)

Chiselchst

Not much of a betting man, but I'd put my money on bolts over torqued...

realcanuk

Just found the emails... Guy I dealt with was super good... maybe he is still there. Was in charge of eforce stuff.

Dave

DStinson@edelbrock.com

Worth a try to send an email. He would at least know if the new cover can fit.

Telepierre

THANK YOU! will send right away. Also, I am awaiting for camaro5 site access so I can send out a call for buying an old lid. It looks like several Camaro guys in 14 bought the new lid and maybe they are willing to sell the old. As per http://www.edelbrockproducts.eu/en/l...rger-1597.html
The new lid fits only 10-13 Camaros and big hoods...not the C6...

realcanuk

It says....

This new design retains the same bolt pattern and is compatible with all of the previous E-Force GM based systems.

But I dunno.. would try to contact them or finding the old lid is safer, and cheaper.

Telepierre

Indeed compatible. Yes it bolts right on 1590/91s but the new lid sticks out more...the problem is it hits the C6 hood..?

M M Alexander

I was thinking unevenly (tightened from one end to the other as opposed from the middle out) along with over torqued.

mzeitler

Lingenfelter is putting a maggie on in a couple of weeks. Are the pads you are talking about something i need to remove also?

realcanuk

If they are there, I would remove them. Don't know if all blower have them or not.

old motorhead

If it's a Heartbeat, they will probably use the stock air intake. In that case they are definitely there. They're fairly easy to peel off. Takes a good bit of rubbing to get the left over glue off though. Still remember my thumbs being sore after all was said and done.

If it's a jack shaft Maggie, I think they'll use an aftermarket intake. In that case I doubt there's any pads involved.

schpenxel

Possible casting issue? I'm not sure how cast parts like that would normally fail, I would have expected there to be more material left though. Looks like just some little pads basically broke loose from the rest of the top?

That's pretty wild looking though. Weird.

Telepierre

Saturday Night Update and answers to some of your questions:

1. Casey @ Wegner reached out to me!! Thumbs up for CC. Still in the discovery phase..hopefully can help.

2. Wish I could say the same of Edelbrock but trust in a few days..

3. Scoured the internet ALL OVER to include a three year old Italian ebay post :-) NO replacement Eforce LID. :-(

4. The E-Force is 5.5 years old with approx. 35K miles on it

5. Removed all the bolts and metal material underneath. JB Weld on the way (please don't ask...LoL)

6. The lid retaining bolts were very easy to loose. Two simply rotating the 5mm hex by hand. The rest sub 8ft torque effort.

7. I changed my mind now and I am with CI GS and others... this looks like detonation rather than stress cracking.. but who knows..I guess only by full disassembly ..

Wish I could move faster on this... time and multi tasks are a pain!

Later..

Petraszewsky

I figured Casey would help out however he could

Edelbrock Tech

Hello

I attempted to PM you but I am not sure that you received the message. We have reviewed this thread and would like to offer you a replacement supercharger lid.

Please private message me your contact info and I will have one of our representatives get in touch with you and work out the details.

I look forward to helping you get back on the road as soon as possible.