[Z06] Dropped valve!!
05-19-2014, 10:46 AM
#1
Dropped valve!!
Hello guys..I have a 2008 z06 and I live in Greece...few days ago my engine broke down..I went to my machanic and a valve had dropped!!what can I do?i need a sleeve and a piston with upgraded heads...I don't know a lot so I am looking for some help...Thanks guys..
05-19-2014, 11:40 AM
#3
05-19-2014, 12:30 PM
#5
I need help...I don't know what to do...We don't have a corvette dealership...I have to buy everything from over there...no track using...only street driving...please help..
05-19-2014, 12:38 PM
#6
05-19-2014, 12:54 PM
#7
Safety Car
Stock pistons are just fine, I would contact an engine builder here in the states to see if they can help. LME (Late model engines) could help you find a sleeve to ship it to you but you need to find a shop there that knows what they are doing to install the sleeve. I know LME does ship complete engines overseas.
05-19-2014, 01:02 PM
#8
Anyone trying to help will need to know that first.
All this talk about sleeves, it might be beyond that.
05-19-2014, 01:13 PM
#9
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
05-19-2014, 01:29 PM
#10
Melting Slicks
05-19-2014, 01:53 PM
#11
first order of business is like what silver said....asses the block. See if its even repairable. We can run through the list of parts, but if the block is fd up, then youll have to start from the bottom up. Stock pistons are fine.
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
05-19-2014, 01:58 PM
#12
First order of business is like what silver said....Asses the block. See if its even repairable. We can run through the list of parts, but if the block is Fd up, then youll have to start from the bottom up. Stock pistons are fine.
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
05-19-2014, 02:00 PM
#13
first order of business is like what silver said....asses the block. See if its even repairable. We can run through the list of parts, but if the block is fd up, then youll have to start from the bottom up. Stock pistons are fine.
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
Can you post up pics?
Theres no performance shops that touches vettes out there?
05-19-2014, 03:02 PM
#14
Supporting Vendor
There are actually two cylinder liners that can be damaged in a situation like this - an inner one which is replaceable (also commonly referred to as a sleeve) and an outer one which is part of the block itself.
In the case where the inner sleeve sustains a fairly minor crack from detonation (which is common in the #7 cylinder with the LS7) you're generally in a good position to have the cracked sleeve replaced. In the case of a more catastrophic failure like the one you experienced, it could go either way with respect to whether the block can be repaired because the outer sleeve may be damaged too.
The challenge here is that it's impossible to accurately determine if the outer sleeve got damaged until the inner sleeve is removed. I've rebuilt four different engines where I started off with a moderately damaged inner sleeve and with two of them the outer sleeve was fine and the other two had cracks in them. The shop attempted to weld them but they cracked again in other places when they tried to install the new sleeve. It if wasn't for the fact that it's an engine used specifically for racing they said I might have gotten away with using sealer but I decided not to take that chance and order a brand new block.
The moderately good news is that regardless of whether the block can be replaced or you end up having to buy a brand new one, you should be able to use the internal parts that didn't get damaged along with the one (hopefully) good head. You also won't need upgraded heads as the stock ones are perfectly fine since it's the valve guides and stock exhaust valves that usually end up causing dropped valves. If you switch over to stainless steel exhaust valves and bronze valve guides then you'll get piece of mind that something like this likely won't happen again.
What I would recommend doing at this point is finding a shop that has experience with resleeving an LS7 block and have them take a look to see if it can in fact be repaired. The worst case is that you end up paying for one way shipping and they end up junking the block if it can't, the best case is that you save yourself quite a bit of money compared to buying a brand new block which are around $2800.
If you can't find anybody closer to you, shoot me a PM and I can hook you up with the shop I use here locally in Sacramento, California. As you can probably see from my avatar picture I tend to drive my car pretty hard and they do extremely good work which is why I can recommend them.
Good luck either way,
Christopher
05-19-2014, 04:26 PM
#15
Team Owner
Best of luck getting it back up and running
DH
05-19-2014, 04:31 PM
#16
05-19-2014, 04:35 PM
#17
Team Owner
DH
Last edited by Dirty Howie; 05-19-2014 at 04:54 PM.
05-19-2014, 04:36 PM
#18
I've gone through the same thing (a few times now unfortunately) and here's an explanation of your options that I hope will help.
There are actually two cylinder liners that can be damaged in a situation like this - an inner one which is replaceable (also commonly referred to as a sleeve) and an outer one which is part of the block itself.
In the case where the inner sleeve sustains a fairly minor crack from detonation (which is common in the #7 cylinder with the LS7) you're generally in a good position to have the cracked sleeve replaced. In the case of a more catastrophic failure like the one you experienced, it could go either way with respect to whether the block can be repaired because the outer sleeve may be damaged too.
The challenge here is that it's impossible to accurately determine if the outer sleeve got damaged until the inner sleeve is removed. I've rebuilt four different engines where I started off with a moderately damaged inner sleeve and with two of them the outer sleeve was fine and the other two had cracks in them. The shop attempted to weld them but they cracked again in other places when they tried to install the new sleeve. It if wasn't for the fact that it's an engine used specifically for racing they said I might have gotten away with using sealer but I decided not to take that chance and order a brand new block.
The moderately good news is that regardless of whether the block can be replaced or you end up having to buy a brand new one, you should be able to use the internal parts that didn't get damaged along with the one (hopefully) good head. You also won't need upgraded heads as the stock ones are perfectly fine since it's the valve guides and stock exhaust valves that usually end up causing dropped valves. If you switch over to stainless steel exhaust valves and bronze valve guides then you'll get piece of mind that something like this likely won't happen again.
What I would recommend doing at this point is finding a shop that has experience with resleeving an LS7 block and have them take a look to see if it can in fact be repaired. The worst case is that you end up paying for one way shipping and they end up junking the block if it can't, the best case is that you save yourself quite a bit of money compared to buying a brand new block which are around $2800.
If you can't find anybody closer to you, shoot me a PM and I can hook you up with the shop I use here locally in Sacramento, California. As you can probably see from my avatar picture I tend to drive my car pretty hard and they do extremely good work which is why I can recommend them.
Good luck either way,
Christopher
There are actually two cylinder liners that can be damaged in a situation like this - an inner one which is replaceable (also commonly referred to as a sleeve) and an outer one which is part of the block itself.
In the case where the inner sleeve sustains a fairly minor crack from detonation (which is common in the #7 cylinder with the LS7) you're generally in a good position to have the cracked sleeve replaced. In the case of a more catastrophic failure like the one you experienced, it could go either way with respect to whether the block can be repaired because the outer sleeve may be damaged too.
The challenge here is that it's impossible to accurately determine if the outer sleeve got damaged until the inner sleeve is removed. I've rebuilt four different engines where I started off with a moderately damaged inner sleeve and with two of them the outer sleeve was fine and the other two had cracks in them. The shop attempted to weld them but they cracked again in other places when they tried to install the new sleeve. It if wasn't for the fact that it's an engine used specifically for racing they said I might have gotten away with using sealer but I decided not to take that chance and order a brand new block.
The moderately good news is that regardless of whether the block can be replaced or you end up having to buy a brand new one, you should be able to use the internal parts that didn't get damaged along with the one (hopefully) good head. You also won't need upgraded heads as the stock ones are perfectly fine since it's the valve guides and stock exhaust valves that usually end up causing dropped valves. If you switch over to stainless steel exhaust valves and bronze valve guides then you'll get piece of mind that something like this likely won't happen again.
What I would recommend doing at this point is finding a shop that has experience with resleeving an LS7 block and have them take a look to see if it can in fact be repaired. The worst case is that you end up paying for one way shipping and they end up junking the block if it can't, the best case is that you save yourself quite a bit of money compared to buying a brand new block which are around $2800.
If you can't find anybody closer to you, shoot me a PM and I can hook you up with the shop I use here locally in Sacramento, California. As you can probably see from my avatar picture I tend to drive my car pretty hard and they do extremely good work which is why I can recommend them.
Good luck either way,
Christopher
05-19-2014, 04:37 PM
#19
05-19-2014, 04:42 PM
#20
Team Owner
That sucks man. Sorry to hear it.