Dixiecrat

And is it possible somebody failed to tighten the crank bolts properly during the rebuild ?

XtremeVette

Man..I would be looking to see if any of your neighbors had any type of surveillance cameras to see if you can catch the person in the act. You know the damage was caused by someone who took it out last. Trying to speculate how it was caused still wouldn't give you any proof of who actually caused it.

JrRifleCoach

Might want to take his car for a ride and do a "Fast & Furious" off a bridge.
Then tell him it was running fine when I last drove it.

92GA

Can't comment on why the block cracked, except may to much movement of the crank shaft. Don't be so fast on blaming your buddy. Engine failures do happen even without abusing them. I've only read one post that questioned the build. That's what I'm going with too. If the torque converter didn't balloon, then the crank end play wasn't right. With all the metal going thru the engine from the thrust bearing that's what ate the rest of the bearings. Does the LS engines have a filter bypass if the filter is stopped up?

I built an engine several years ago and only made 12 1/8 mile passes when I changed the oil it had glitter in it. It had spun the mains in it and ruined a brand new crank, and 2 rods were blue from heat but didn't make any knocking sounds at all. Didn't see any blueness on the crank or the bearings in your pics. What did your engine builder have to say?

Blake0577

I totally agree that random things happen to engines, especially ones like this that aren't stock. He may not be to blame at all. However you can always tell when somebody is lying. He claims it was fine when he parked it which was a lie. There is no way he didn't know something was wrong whether it be from all the noise or the smoke. Yes the head gasket(s) were blown, after just a few minutes of running it smoked up my garage with the hood closed. After less than 10 minutes of running it would go dead on its on. Possibly from all the friction maybe?

If the endplay was so far off would that problem not have shown up within the first 5k miles with 11lbs of boost?

92GA

I agree, he had to know something was wrong. If he didn't, he has no business driving a car like that. The blown head gaskets are another issue, that wasn't caused by the problems with the lower end.

Blake0577

Low compression on 3 cylinders also.

He knows just as much about cars/engines as I do if not more. He has owned fast cars and bikes in the past and worked at speed shops. He has taken numerous performance driving courses etc etc. No doubt a car guy, one that I know kept a check on the gauges and knew exactly when it happened. He's just choosing to play dumb about it and not be a man.

Sox-Fan

.... which makes no sense at all when you consider that fact that it is at least possible that it wasn't caused by anything he did. No sense at all.

Blake0577

Really gets under your skin when somebody just expects you to believe they're totally innocent when that defies all logic.

onlyavette

I've seen engines in our shop that I look worse than yours and they weren't abused at all and they never made a sound until they were started after a long cool down. You don't have to be running wide open to generate the kind of heat that your engine saw. It can happen while cruising down the highway at a steady speed. I've seen truck engines come in that had governors and rev limiters on them that would never reach w.o.t. and the looked very similar to yours. You may never know what happened but but I think it was a slow failure of some type and this is the cumulative result. I know I would be disappointed and would be questioning what happened but he could be telling the truth. How is he supposed to act or react after he has been accused?

Blake0577

I understand that, and that could explain the bottom end issues. The blown head gaskets and smoke coming out from the hood after running for just a few minutes is another issue.

4XLR8N

Guessing the head gaskets let go due to overheating/warpage of the block itself.

Whatever happened, it was was definitely serious enough that the car could NEVER have been parked back in the garage without the driver knowing SOMETHING was wrong. Hell, my grandmother would have figured that much out...

Whether or not the friend caused it is unknown, but what is known is that he lied about it...which suggests to me he knows he had something to do with it.

It also tells me he would no longer be my friend. Not because he broke something of mine...but because he was dishonest about it. I could never trust him again...

Sorry for your pain man, losing your awesome engine and a friend in the process. Sucks.

onlyavette

Things change a lot after cool down.

Blake0577

So "if" he is telling the truth...He claims the last time he drove it was from his house to my house. SO this damage happened from his house to my house which is about 5 miles, when he conveniently was driving it for the last time to park it and leave it and everything was completely fine--supposedly.

When I got home I cranked it, it smoked, a lot, idled rough for less than 10 minutes and died on its own. I couldnt even get it out of the driveway. It wouldnt fire back up until it was completely cooled off.

onlyavette

5 miles? Probably not. I feel bad for you in this situation. You may never know what happened or why it happened. You can make a career of figuring it out and end up not knowing. I hope it all passes quickly and you get on to better things soon. Sorry for your loss on all counts.

Blake0577

Thanks man. Im going back with an all motor, decent cam, LS3 with a 3200 stall. Should get it back this Friday. It wont have 607rwhp but it will be a great sounding, reliable car that should last a long time. Im doing with anything forced induction, I just want to drive.

LoneStarFRC

I agree with you on the reliability issue for a DD.

As far as FI, I personally would not recommend anything over the 6 to 8 lb boost range on a DD car, but that's just me I guess........

Dixiecrat