Hello, So I bought a 2003 zo6 from a older guy that has had 13 corvettes in the past. I figured this guy takes car of his cars, but man, was I wrong. I looked at the car when it was pouring rain, so I never heard the engine ticking. I then go back 3 days later and its clear skies, I give his buddy the check and sign the bill of sale. I turn on the car and start driving it home, and I can hear this light ticking coming from the engine. My stomach turned into knots as soon as I heard the ticking. I then figured it was probably a collapsed lifter. Two days later, the previous owner calls me and asked how I'm liking the car, so I tell him there is a ticking coming from the engine bay and oil leaks everywhere, he then tells me that he never heard any ticking .

So i buy a set of ls7 lifters and gasket set. I tear into it and find one of the lifters is pretty screwed and also find that the lifter took out the cam lobe. So I buy a small cam and supporting parts. I take out the motor since there were oil leaks all over the place. I pull the oil pan and find metal shavings and what looks like gold in there also. I'm guessing the metal shavings are from the cam lobe and lifter. The gold flakes, I'm guessing there from the bearings. Btw, before I tore into it, Oil pressure was good and never heard any knocking.

What I wanted to do was save some cash for a iron 408 with forge internals, so I really don't want to put any more money into this motor.

So my question is, should I just buy some Clevite P main and rod bearing, polish the crank if its not damaged and put it back together? Or should I just say screw it and just put the motor back in and run it till it screws up and save for that iron 408?

Btw, When I sold my old 03 z with over 120k on the clock, it ran smooth. I was not easy on that car, but I maintained it and it didn't leak one drop of oil. This car however is a different story. I changed all the fluid on this car and it was bad. Motor Oil, trans fluid, diff fluid, and clutch fluid were all pitch black. coolant for some odd reason, looked like it had rust. The guy should be ashamed of himself for neglecting this car. Rant over

Tough call. If i were to drop the pan and see what you saw I'd probably Then I'd contact the previous owner, give him an ear full, call him a flat out lair and then just get it hold up until your ready for the
408.

Contact the prior owner, but I would be polite and show him what you found. Likely from valve float as the stock springs get weak after some miles just like aftermarket and will float the valve train. Could have also been a soft cam but I would go with the valve spring theory first.

See if he is willing to help out on the "repair" bill at all. I bought a used boat once and the axle was rusted. I tried to use that as a bargaining tool. PO said no so I bought it anyways. Well, you guessed it, axle broke and I had a hell of a time getting the boat and trailer home. Told the PO and he refunded me some of the money to pay for repairs but I was very polite when I called him.

Sounds like the motor is toast. Not sure what I would do in your situation if you have your eyes on a bigger motor in the future. Maybe if the PO helps a bit you can go that route now.

Tough call! Sorry to here of this... I would fix the engine, as you already have spent funds and expended labor. I would also consider moving the vette, how many other surprises await you?

Calling the previous guy won't do anything unless he is really generous.
It depends on how much you want to spend. If the motor is out just throw new bearings in and replace the oil pump, cam and lifters and call it a day. Maybe polish the crank if needed. A built motor will be much more expensive. Unless you are doing a big FI set up I don't get the want for an iron block.

That's terrible, when I bought mine I found out quick that it had a bad 4-5 synchro. I only had to buy a trans, I feel your pain.

I'd put it back in with the new rod and main bearings, plus new cam bearings and pump, and have the crank polished.

I'd clean everything up, replace the cam (there's a couple of used LS6 cams for sale in the "for sale" section right now) replace the lifters with new, look at the main and rod bearings, replace the gaskets, and run the motor. If you're doing the work yourself, it looks like costs should be pretty low....cam, lifters, gaskets...and if you don't want to do a total rebuild because of the pending 408, it's an easy decision.


IHTH,
KoreaJon

In the long run you will be better off getting what you want from the start instead of doing things twice.

Sucks to hear. I wouldn't however throw away the LS6 block unless you have to. Especially to replace it with an iron block. You'd kill your resale if you disclosed that, and if you didn't you'd be just as bad as the previous owner.

Since the engine is already out, I would do a full teardown, clean everything really well..Preferbly hot tank the block etc... Turn or polish the crank, slap new rings/bearings/oil pump in it and go back together with it. Its not going to cost much at all to do this.

Put it back in and drive it, then start saving for the 408. After you put the 408 in it, then sell the good running rebuilt engine.

MY Son's Z broke a ring, the cylinder wall looks okay, does any one know if the piston with rod can be removed without taking the engine out?

Well.....yes, it can be done. In order to remove the oil pan, you have to remove the cradle...by which time you'll have over 1/2 of the engine out, anyway, so why not go ahead and pull the whole engine? If you leave it in the car, you have to work over the fenders, on a creeper, you can't get to stuff easily, you can't clean stuff very well, it's more cumbersome to inspect stuff....


IHTH,
KoreaJon

My $0.02 worth............


If the damaged lifter has already chewed up the camshaft that badly, most of the ground up debris has already circulated through the engine, acting like an abrasive to the bearings, etc. If the engine is already out of the car, which is probably 60% of the battle, I'd pull it completely down, get the block CLEAN, replace all of the bearings, polish the crank, if necessary, then reassemble with a new cam, lifters, timing chain, and oil pump.

When I did mine, I looked at it as an opportunity to make the engine new again. And made it into a LS6.

So the block is bare and its sitting on the stand. I need new pistons for sure. Like I said, I don't really want to spend that much money on this motor since Im trying to save for the iron block. My plan is to find pistons that I can use with my stock rods, So I need help with that. I will also be picking up new cam, rod, and main bearings. I already have a cam, ls7 lifters, pushrods, melling high pressure oil pump, gaskets, and I'm sending the heads to texas speed to get there stg 2.5 CNC job done.

So what pistons can I get to use with my stock rods? I don't want to spend more than 300 bucks on them. I will also need new rings for them.

more pictures

THIS ^^^. I'm sure you can get some cheap rebuilder type pistons to slap on and go.

Light hone on the block with a torque plate to size the new pistons and slap it togther. New rings, bearings, oil pump, lifters, cam, timing chain.

Make sure to disassemble the heads and clean them well also. If you don't clean everything really well, you will certainly have another failure.


FYI:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/270864505364?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

No chance your state has a private party lemon law, does it? Some states do.

I believe they do, but I don't feel like getting a lawyer. I just want to get this car back on the road. I'm just tired of seeing my car all taken apart