Tino587

Well guys, the inevitable death has come "knocking" on my door (no pun intended). Back in March this year I traveled down to Florida to purchase a 2007 Victory Red Z06 with a Dallas Performance 5R package and an F1R procharger. At the current time it was a fantastic price for this car and setup and it laid down 1001WHP/890TQ. It was documented to have been built at 21,XXX miles, and I picked it up with 35,XXX miles. None the less, quite some mileage for a 1000HP build, but I had tons of faith in the LSX as my Subaru WRX was sold with a built motor at 500whp and 16,000 HARD miles on it still rolling strong to this day.

When I got the car back to Michigan I realized there was an intermittent problem with boost and hesitation. At first I thought spark plugs and wires, or really anything ignition related. Come to find out there was a gaping hole in the Procharger intercooler causing massive boost leaks and horrible drivability.

Problem 1 solved, took it out had it welded by a good buddy and off we went to making good power again.

Problem 2, I noticed since day 1 of owning the car. Oil pressure problems. Would see at the lowest 10psi at an idle on a hot hot day. Texted the seller of the vehicle and contacted Dallas Performance. The seller said he has noticed that the entire time he has owned the vehicle it was like that and that it seemed normal due to huge clearances in the built motor. Sounded believable but also questionable. Taylor at Dallas Performance tells me its not a direct indication of a problem, and to try 20w-50 oil.

A week later I switch over to Brad Penn 20w-50. Same issue, oil temp rises to temp and the pressure drops to 10psi. I think nothing of this at this point as the car ran strong and I strongly believed in the rule of thumb "10psi per 1000 RPM".

Forward to 6 months later and only 900 miles of easy driving and only a FEW pulls literally, I am merging on the highway one morning on my way to work and I accelerate up to speed like any normal human being would decide to do so. Gets up to 3,000 RPM and next thing you know a clusterbomb of noises starts coming from the engine bay. I pull over immediately as the car coasts to a stop. I attempt to fire up the engine one more time in disbelief and turn it off right away as I hear the same noises. A tow truck later and a sad visit back to the house, I believe I may have spun a bearing.

End of rant. Thankfully I live in a state where the Winter is longer than any other season and have ample time to decide what route to take with this new build.

Ideas are greatly appreciated as I am tattered and torn as to what to do now. Punch it out to a 444 and an F1X or rebuild and go E85?????? Will keep you guys posted with pictures of the tear down and rebuild. Stick around as this will be a long one!!!

Bitterness at its finest!

UPDATE: Spun the Main bearing on #4, #5 was on it's way out, the thrust was shot, and the main cap #5 had plenty of crank marks from walking into the cap. Here are pictures of what I found please forward to most recent post to see the pictures. The heads seem to be fine at this point. So I will be replacing the shortblock with a new LSX iron block w/ billet rotating assembly. No point in attempting to salvage this block. Plus it seems like this is an excuse for me to go back to a 427 C.I.

More Updates: Just found out the crankshaft snapped clean right by the journal.....

timmyZ06

Well i feel your pain, its never fun but you have to expect that from an unknown highly modified motor! I wouldn't got too big on displacement with a blower for reliability purpose

croatbob

**** i looked at buying that car before building mine but though too cheap to be true. Plus the owner sold it after 6 months of buying it so it sounded suspect so I passed. Makes sense now. Pull it apart and assess the damage first. It may just need minor fix or a whole new build. You won't know till its apart. Pick a reputable shop near by. With these sorts of combos u don't want to cheap out. Sorry for ur loss

Tino587

I definitely understand the necessity of having cylinder wall thickness on a boosted application. If I understand correctly, the GMPP LSX iron block claims its minimum wall thickness needs to be 2.00'' and that it can be taken to a maximum of 454 C.I.

I have been following BadBowtieProductions F1X 444 C.I. Build. It seems to be a very awesome build and at this point, it might be safe to "assume" I will need to punch out the block in order to accommodate new internals. It would be great to know that I could reuse most of the internal components in the bottom end, but that typically is asking for too much.

Thanks for the support and reply. I am new to this CorvetteForum and a proud new owner, regardless of the situation I am in haha.

Tino587

I remember you peaking around and me getting scared that someone was going to bite the bullet before me. The gentleman that owned the car before me was quite the enthusiast and quite a gentle soul, but not the kind to know or care too much about it himself. Or so he made it seem that way. It was quite the fiasco getting that car due to Secretary of State and D.M.V differences between our two states. I guess in an attempt to keep my cup half full, for the price I ended up picking it up, it could still definitely be worth the money to fix. Either way at this point, I am stuck with the car as selling it now with a blown motor seems like the worst idea possible.

neverstop

sorry to hear that. i experienced something very similar with my own car where a bad local tuner put wayyyy too much timing on my pump gas stroked Ls2 setup and destroyed it basically right after I bought it.

lot of labor to pull the motor but if just a spun bearing I'd just rebuild it and if you have the fuel system move to e85. sucks but at least you can really make the car your own now and good change to make some upgrades while you're in there

schpenxel

Yeah, impossible to really know what you're looking at until you get it pulled apart. Hopefully it's not too bad.

Tino587

The car definitely has the full works behind it which is good news. Full drivetrain, fuel system, etc. etc. I am inclined enough to pull it apart as much as I possibly can myself. The rest of the R&R will be done by my grandfather and I, he happens to be a retired Master Technician for G.M. I think that's the only factor keeping me optimistic about this at this time. I have a designated machine shop that will look at the motor, and a designated shop that will reassemble once built again.

Thanks for the motivation and your own sad story. Sometimes it takes knowing that this has occurred to others as well to keep me moving forward.

Tino587

Hope to have it pulled apart within the next month or so. I have at least 6-8 months at this point before I am able to bring her back on the crappy roads I claim to be called Michigan.

Thanks for chiming in, the support you guys give is above and beyond, and now I know why I left the Subaru scene

schpenxel

I was up there in February and thought I was going to have whiplash after hitting some of the potholes.. lol

I'll stick with the south!

Tino587

I don't blame ya. I guess there's a valid reason as to why up here putting a few thousand miles on anything during the summer is quite the accomplishment

schpenxel

Lol, yeah I don't think I could handle living up there. It varies by state down here though.. NC roads are nice, SC roads are pretty bad (lower gas tax)

Tino587

Pictures attached

Detoxx03

Is it this car?

I wouldn't go nuts on the cubes.

I'm gonna be moving back to Michigan in the next few months. Hopefully when yours is completed we can get some cruising in when the weather clears. Good luck with everything.

lt1z

I dont like to see less then 30psi at hot idle.

timmyZ06

Lend me to believe mains were weaks! Oil pressure doesnt lie.....

White_Lightning

Ditch the F1R.. Do an F1X...

but you might need a bigger fuel system... better clutch... and more *****

lemme clarify.. My 434/f1r combo made an identical 930 rwhp to your car.. for them to make 1000 rwhp.. i bet its spun to the moon and out of steam by 6000 rpm.


i went to a 427/f1x and made 1460.

booztd3

Hope everything goes well let me know if you need anything since I'm local.

-Christian

Xtremespeed

Man, sorry to hear of your situation. Hopefully there won't be too much damage and it'll be a relatively easy fix.

I hear you on the road conditions. I lived in St. Joseph MI when I was young. Still love the area and try to get up there on occasion.

Thompson Motorsports

OP we can definitely help you. If you get the motor out of the car and and there is minor damage we can rebuild it for you. If it's not possible to repair we can build you whatever you want. Thank you for your time.

-Miles