Tune & Log. Gen VI CBB 1999 Vortec 7400

[oldpartsnrust]

Ok, with the lifters out and the intake off, I installed the drill pump which has the blocking spacer like a real distributor shaft and saw oil dumping out the rearmost lifter bores. DS came out the top, passenger side not out the top, but there was a ton of oil in the dist shaft area. I had a battery powered drill on low speed so it was going maybe 250-300 rpm. Going to add lifters all but the front two and do the same test again. to make sure there isn't loss of flow as the DS front lifter seemed to be the clacker, but not sure what one(s) were rattling. The weather is supposed to be good this weekend and I no longer have to drive all weekend so I should have the time to get it back together and running, assuming I don't do anything stupid or break something!

[oldpartsnrust]

I don't seem to be able to attach any video. I wanted to show what I was seeing to get confirmation that I should be good when I get this back together... Basically, I ran the drill pump and saw hardly any pressure at all building as it didn't even come over the lower red line, but at the lifters I saw air bubbles and oil coming out of all, including the very front DS, where I believe I was getting the clacking from the old lifters. I will try links:
http://garnetvalleydrivers.com/OilGauge.mp4
http://garnetvalleydrivers.com/LifterFlow.mp4

[SiriusC1024]

Sorry I meant to reply then spaced it. I've always done the drill method with the valvetrain assembled. I've never tried to get a pressure reading with bare lifters like that. Seems like decent flow, but a little light at the front. Those were the noisy lifters, right?

[oldpartsnrust]

Sorry I meant to reply then spaced it. I've always done the drill method with the valvetrain assembled. I've never tried to get a pressure reading with bare lifters like that. Seems like decent flow, but a little light at the front. Those were the noisy lifters, right?

When running with the old CompCams lifters, they all seemed noisy. There was almost nothing coming out of the top of the pushrods in that I had to run for like 5 minutes to even see any accumulation of oil at the lower head lip. It seemed sus to me. I was able to crank down the preload to quiet all but the two front DS lifters (I think). I have/had 60PSI oil pressure cold at idle. I was concerned that maybe I put the rear oil galley plugs in too far. They are threaded and had a torque spec, which I followed. All the adjustments, pushrods, etc. changes I did left me with the conclusion that either the lifters were simply not pumping oil or were sus OR there was a restriction in the oil galley where it prevented oil from coming to the top. I alleviated that concern by running the oil pump with the lifters removed and saw oil dumping out the rear lifter bore on the DS, which was the seemingly noisy side. Oil also was present in the PS where the distributor goes as when I pulled it out it was saturated. I also took a borescope and saw what I believed to be an open passage where the plug is. The GM performance lifters I got specifically state 'increased oiling to the rocker arms'. At this point I am pretty confident that it looks good. The drill pump I used was a Dewalt battery 12V on low speed because the battery cut off on high speed due to the load. I was going to break out my 1/2" mixing drill, but I figured I was ok once I saw the front lifters bubbling and oozing with maybe 200 RPM on the drill. If this doesn't do it, I'll light a match!

[oldpartsnrust]

Ok, looks like I will not be pursuing this for a while. I had dropped a bolt from the evap solenoid and it fell down between the intake and head where I couldn't quite reach it. I then promptly forgot about between the various days between working on it and when I pulled the intake it fell down the #3 intake runner. While I was tapping the starter to adjust the valves, it jammed up, then freed up. I immediately stopped everything and went over and over in my head about anything missing. I went through the hardware I still have left and saw the missing 3/8" head bolt missing and I remembered dropping it, but didn't remember recovering it. I then got out my borescope and found it. Along with the hole it put in the piston.
Culprit.pngPistonHead.png

[SiriusC1024]

Oh man that's terrible news. That sucks so much.

[oldpartsnrust]

The saving grace, hopefully, is that I was only tapping it with the starter. The cylinder, rod, rod bearing, head and block should still be ok. I will check the valves for leakage while it is apart and replace as necessary.. Now, as long as I can get a single KB 0.060 over piston (with circlip pin retainers) I SHOULD be able to drop the pan, pull the head, swap the piston (reusing fitted rings as I am not touching the bore) and slap it back together and be in good shape.... Sounds pretty optimistic eah? What's the saying, one step forward, seven steps backwards?

[oldpartsnrust]

The saving grace, hopefully, is that I was only tapping it with the starter. The cylinder, rod, rod bearing, head and block should still be ok. I will check the valves for leakage while it is apart and replace as necessary.. Now, as long as I can get a single KB 0.060 over piston (with circlip pin retainers) I SHOULD be able to drop the pan, pull the head, swap the piston (reusing fitted rings as I am not touching the bore) and slap it back together and be in good shape.... Sounds pretty optimistic eah? What's the saying, one step forward, seven steps backwards?

Two more bolts and the engine is out. Hoping to get that done tonight. Then on the stand and apart she goes. I will try to get a better pic of the broken piston with the borescope, because seeing stuff you can't see is cool no?

[SiriusC1024]

I admire your patience. I would've probably torched it by now.

[oldpartsnrust]

Broken $h!t:

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It's like a grenade went off! WTH? It wasn't even running, just bumping the starter for the valve adjustment (Disclaimer, I needed to rotate the crank to remove the flywheel bolts for the engine removal, which I did by hand, WITHOUT pulling the whole engine/trans assembly, which is beyond my driveway equipment capabilities.).

[SiriusC1024]

I wouldn't have thought that much damage would've been done either.

[oldpartsnrust]

thirdTime.jpg
Out. Again...

[oldpartsnrust]

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It sounded like it popped when it bound up, I guess it just like blew apart! Head seems ok, cylinder walls seem ok. Is it normal to have coolant in the oil pan after removing an intake? That kinda shocked me a bit, but I didn't see anything that would indicate where it could have come from and it was clean and the oil was not milky, just coolant, then clear clean looking oil.

[SiriusC1024]

Residual coolant could've come from the crossover when you removed the intake. How's the bore looking?

[oldpartsnrust]

Residual coolant could've come from the crossover when you removed the intake. How's the bore looking?

Bore looks fine. So does head, just a clean area where you can see the bolt smashed between the piston and the head. The head won that one.

When I drained the oil and coolant came out, my heart dropped.... I thought for sure the block cracked or something, but it looks good as far as I can tell. I heard the bolt move in the pan when I tilted the motor to pull the head, so gonna go drop and clean the pan tonight.

My plan is to ball hone the cylinder, replace the piston and rings and ship it.
There are probably less than 300 miles on the motor yet. I will also inspect a couple of the bearings while I am in there just to make sure there isn't more going on.

[SiriusC1024]

Since you'll have the pan off, and there has been oiling issues, think it'd be a good idea to upgrade the oil pump?

[oldpartsnrust]

I had put this in new:
Sealed Power High-Volume Oil Pump 2244153
and have had 60PSI on cold startup even at idle, dropping down to about 18-20PSI when scalding hot at idle... The motor guy who did the machine work had me put extra clearance bearings in. I still think at this point that the issues are/were the lifters as the noise was there from immediate startup till now even. I also welded the pickup tube into the pump body to prevent vibration from having the press fit walk out.
I don't mind replacing it since it's ONLY another $50 and I'll have the pan down as well.



Sealed Power High-Volume Oil Pumps 2244153

[SiriusC1024]

Eh no point in doing that. Thought you had a stock one.

[oldpartsnrust]

Besides the obvious broken piston, the colors on the rod ends seem good, the bearing and journal do seem to have evidence of some debris passing through maybe leftover from the machine shop work and not clean enough? I am biting another bullet and replacing the bearings and polishing the journals just because I don't ever want to have to pull this out again! My theory is that some machining debris was hidden somewhere in the galleys and passages, maybe even in the crank or something, and it got to the lifters almost instantly and clogged them up? I've run this maybe 400 miles and did like 3 oil changes so after cleaning and replacing the bearings, I am hoping there is nothing else in there! Those apparent scratches I cannot feel via finger or even finger nail. Hoping they clean up well and can be done with this mess!
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[SiriusC1024]

There's that damn bolt.

The crank shouldn't be looking like that at all. Cleaning the block out is a good idea. Something was overlooked by the machine shop to cause that kind of wear. When you put in the bearings don't set the clearances loose like they did. That never sounded right. How are the rod bearings and mains?