96VegasVette

Well, the engine is out of my baby and stripped down. A defective camshaft was the original point of failure. Two lobes started breaking down, they polluted the oil and thats when bearing failure occured. Looks like I'm going to be getting a new Long block/Crate motor LT1 compliments of GMPP. They still havn't officially said they will cover it but I don't see how they could possibly not cover it. Hopefully I'll have my 96 back in 2 or 3 weeks.
LT1 + 58,000 miles...............rest in peace. :lol:


[Modified by 96VegasVette, 10:16 AM 11/22/2001]

Rich B.

Was this a replacement motor? Maybe a "crate motor"?

Cam lobes in sbc engines have been a problem for decades; sometimes GM blames the heat treating; sometimes they blame the steel/iron (choose one) having low carbon content (won't harden properly); sometimes they blame surface-hardening (nitriding)...

In any event, 58,000 mile cam life sounds pretty good to me...(I used to make quite a good bit of pocket change changing small block cams)...

...But lobe wear causing bearing failure is a new one to me... :bs

96VegasVette

Nope, my block was the original engine. Apparently it wasn't just Cam lobe wear, according to the service writer, two lobes were actually coming apart. I would have expected a really rough running condition at best if this was the case. Whatever the failure, it was enough to dirty up the oil real quick. And cause some really nice grooves in rear main bearing and rod bearings. Right now the question is will they go for a complete overhaul or just drop in a new engine. It will come down to whatever is cheaper for them. The dealership is pushing for engine replacement and that's what I'm hoping for as well.

RED92LT1

Just kind of curious ... doesn't your 96 have a roller cam? Everything I have read indicated no ware occurs on a roller cam lobe, because there is no metal to metal scraping action taking place like happens on a flat tappet cam. Also, my '90 Chevy pickup with a 5.7 small block and non roller cam has 122,000 miles on it and it runs great. I know GM had cam problems in the 70's with short cam lobe life ... but a '96 ... just kind of curious what really happened to your motor because my '92 with 118,000 miles has a wrist pin or piston slap noise until it gets up to operating temperature.

Brian



[Modified by RED92LT1, 8:45 PM 11/22/2001]

jfb

The cam lobes weren't wearing fast, they were breaking apart. Sounds like a casting void. If you have ever machined cast iron, you would know exactly how
non-homogenious the stuff is. Plus its the dirtiest stuff I have ever experienced.

Chris@SD

This is exactly why all of our custom cams are ground on billet cores. There are moer cam problems that people realize. We like to take that possibility out of the picture.

Mr. CJ

Man, I hope you do have coverage under the warranty, sure doesn't sound like a typical problem with a car of this year and mileage, keep us posted!