Lukes07Vette

A while back I did what we all fear. My Z06 dropped a valve. Needless to say the tears came in buckets. I had the car taken to a shop to asses the cost. I was quoted the $14,000. I laughed and had the car towed home. I did so research found a used engine with low miles, grabbed a buddy and we swapped the engine in the garage. Took us 5 days working after work from 4-8. It was so much easier than expected. We did it would a lift. Just an engine hoist, trans jack, and a couple floor jacks.

Some pics of the swap and damage.



















All in cost $5,600.

pewter99

good deal....thats why I had my heads fixed....didn't want a $$$$$$ piece of garage art

nice work!

xBoostx

Congrats that's how is done did you get another LS7 in or? is it running or just in.

Lukes07Vette

Put in another LS7. Its running like a top now. It blew a ton of smoke for the first 10 miles or so though. I got quite a few interesting hand gestures as people drive by.

xBoostx

But you got the last laugh is a lot of work but why let nobody mess with our cars and now you know a lot more about it too.

I actually find it nice and easy to work on em.

OregonMike

Sweet! Congrats

Raffman55

Hope the guides have been done on the replacement motor.......

JasonAndrew

What were the most difficult tasks during the install?

Tonylmiller

You really did well on the cost! Congrats!

Dano523

Please tell me that you pulled the heads on the used motor, to not only change the valves out, but to check the valve guides as well.

Hence most of the problems on the ls7 snapping the sodium valves in the first place, is sloppy valve to guide fit from wear instead.

Neumonic2002

In for an update on whether OP pulled the heads on replacement motor before putting in the car...

Lukes07Vette

Cleaning out the oil system, removing and reattaching the headers, and the worst was reattaching the torque tube (many thing were thrown).

Lukes07Vette

Nope. The engine came with a 6 month warranty. I am driving it till then and then the car gets sold.

Mike's LS3

I would of at least checked the valve guide tolerances. If they are bad, then have the warrantee pick up the tab. Later down the road if something happens, they may try to put the blame on you.

Good job on the engine exchange!

MTPZ06

How many miles on original motor? How many miles on replacement motor? Who is the warranty with on that new engine?

Lukes07Vette

the original had 42,000, and the new one had 44,000 miles. Warranty is through the salvage place i bought it through.

PuckDracon

Make sure you thoroughly read the warranty info and disclaimers. I can see them coming up with many different excuses to not honor the warranty from a dropped valve...

They can claim the vehicle was raced, it was stressed with aftermarket parts, over-revved during a missed shift, mileage caps, etc and leave you out in the cold.

Big name companies and even vehicle manufacturers claim that kind of stuff all the time to deny coverage, so I would be REALLY hesitant with a Salvage yard warranty.

Plus, having the heads done preemptively will help resale if you do sell it in a few months since most buyers are aware and specifically looking for vehicles that have had the work done already. I can say that would be the first questions I ask if I was in the market, and if it wasn't that would be a negotiation factor to bring the price down .

KB9GKC

Hello And Well Done,

A little hard work saves a lot of money!

Douglas in Green Bay

dcolehome

From the photos, your ZO6 looks to be Lemans Blue (love that color). Am I safe to assume it's a 2007?

Unreal

If you are going to sell it, then just put it up for sale and sell it IMO. No reason to risk doing it again or dealing with a warranty.