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Just pulled the oil pan off of a project 454 I bought. Lots of chunks of metal (bb size) in the bottom of the pan. I used a light to check out the bottom end an all the piston skirts are intact and the pistons show no gouging or scuffiing. Crosshatch in cylinders in bright a looks new. Any idea where this stuff is coming from. The guy I bought it from said is was rebuilt aboout two years ago when he bought it. I have no reason to doubt that - but concerned about the metal.
Could also be from the oil galeries if they weren't cleaned out properly after the rebuild. Do you know if the block was decked? Do they look like the type of shavings that could be from machining? If so, this could be your best case scenario.
If the engine still ran before you dropped the pan , then it almost has to be from the timng gears. If you have the pan off already then it will be rather easy to to pull the w/pump, damper, and front cover to change the gears. Have fun !
Pops
Well the pieces are metal. The cam looked great when it cam out, as did the timing gear (block is still in the car) . Again, since the pieces are so big (IMO)...I don't know where they came from other than a piston/piston skirt???
Do the particles sort of look like silver solder? Could be the white metal from your bearings. Wrong bearings fitted during rebuild could cause that or a serious overtemp.
Chunks were non- magnetic so bearing or pistons can be the only source..don't under stand how a bearing can be torn into small BB sized chunks. Piston is more logical?