Peyton Brandenburg

RedZ4me

TXGS507

So you were at the drag strip making a pass and were not turning high RPM's? At any rate, that sucks bro!! Could it have detonated during a pass? Did your tuner data log while tuning to eliminate knock?

leadfart

They will blow up, especially at the dragstrip! Not one of my Vettes, but I've blown up two of my previous cars, at the strip! If it won't turn over, it's seized up, probably dropped a valve. I have a very expensive paperweight, that reminds me, you have to pay to play. It's a piston with an intake valve stuck in it. Keepers came off, it seized on the return road, lucky me!

Peyton Brandenburg

Landru

Once parked any fluids (coolant/oil) puddling underneath?
Sure sign block had a hole punched through when it blew.
In any event a complete tear-down's required to determine exactly what failed.
Please update w/ post mortem autopsy findings.

Sorry to hear this happened, I'd be sick if mine.

Peyton Brandenburg

Dreamer2

Switched to what?

RedZ4me

ls9

Racingswh

I am really sorry this has happened to you.

This is not intended to make you feel any worse than you do. It's just my personal observation recently.

It's my feeling the main negative of these cars is that they have dropped in value so much it puts the initial acquisition of a C6Z in the reach of many. With that low value unfortunately comes an engine that is proving to be a bit fragile and expensive to repair or replace and that engine failure is just a matter of WHEN is it going to fail, not IF, when you use it on the track.

The C6Z is by far and away the most expensive car I have ever owned between depreciation, engine failures, engine modifications, and yet again more depreciation as it relates to those modifications. It's also an exceptional platform and the fastest car I have ever owned which is why I endure it.

I hope you can find the cause of your issue and the failure wasn't completely catastrophic. I would do everything I could if I were you to take the most cost effective route possible in regards to parts and then do all of the work myself to keep my out of pocket costs down. Good luck bringing it back to life.

icemang17

03BlkZ

Subscribing for info. Sorry for your bad luck.

lamboworld

I hope that it isn't anything major and you get it sorted out. However, I can't imagine owning this car at the age of 20. Actually, IMO I can't imagine owning this car if I needed a loan to buy it. They are great cars and the LS7 is a fantastic motors, but they require money and time to keep them on the road and there is nothing worse then paying a car loan for a car that is broke. I never really bought an expensive car until I was in my 30's and at that point it wasn't a big deal if I had to come up with 10k to fix it.

SivaSuryaKshatriya

Is the LS7 really that fragile though once you fix the valve issue with a new set of heads (assuming the rest of the motor is stock)?

Racingswh

Mine is a 2010. Road course track car since new. This season will be it's 1st back on it's 3rd build. I now have budgeted for a new engine build every 2 to 3 seasons which is between 60 and 100 hours of track time.

Many of my friends are on their 3rd engines as well.

Unless someone has the facility, all the tools, all of the skill, as well as the time required to do all of the work themselves when it comes to mechanicals it's the last car that I would tell someone on a budget to purchase if they are going to be using it for drag racing or road course work.

Dirty Howie

Another one bites the dust ......

DH

Nitrobullitt

SivaSuryaKshatriya

Interesting, what kind of failures do you typically see?

Racingswh

Valve drop, lifter failure, rod failure, bearings and whatever else can fail.

One friends recent rod failure resulted in not only a blown engine but 2 totaled cars as the following car lost control in the oil laid down and smashed into him. Heads were fixed. Car was detuned for class. Well driven, class winning, lap record setting car destroyed.

​​​​​If you're going to use them at the track it's a good idea to keep a reserve "just in case" engine budget in the event of a failure. In my case I am building a back up reserve engine so there's no down time when this one fails or times out and is ready for a refresh.

Really sorry to the OP for the thread hijack. Not my intention. Just wanted to point out these aren't "cheap" cars regardless of what their "buy in" price is now.

Merry Christmas!!

Mordeth

Racingswh is correct. These cars are not for the feint of heart (or wallet). And once you put them on a race track and start pushing the performance envelope then things start to spiral rather rapidly. I have replaced literally every single component on my car and motor multiple times. You name it, I've broken it and replaced it. Literally_everything. I budget for complete rebuild of the motor every 100 hours, with various other mandatory replacements at various intervals (valve springs every 50 hours etc). About every 10 hours something minor breaks that I wasn't anticipating (like random torque tube failures, hubs, alternators, starters etc). About every 25-50 hours something major gives out (like clutches, transmissions etc). I usually stay ahead of most pending failures, but occasionally something just gives out that I didn't plan for at that time.

All of this is consistent with most race cars and motors that are subject to severe duty and drive cycle, but is compounded in our scenario due to various inherent weak points.

Real sorry this happened to you OP. I would dump the oil and inspect it. Cut open the filter and see what's inside. Visually inspect everything you can. If nothing is obvious then work from the top down. Yank the heads (can be done in half a day) and go from there.