Slim Shady

First picture of motor with blown #7 Valve.
Notice the picture of the intake port, at the bottom is the Valve it self stuck down in there, I am getting a new crate motor. GM want to send dealer a long block but he told them that I would not be satisified with that and they approve the crate motor not long block. I gues it is $18,000 for crate motor and $12,000 for long block.

Bobgod

I would not let the hacker who laid parts all over my windshield live, let alone continue to work on my car. Is that plain old wool covering up your composite fenders?

Smack that fool and set him straight. This is not just another Chevy, it is a Corvette. If he can not understand that, move to someone that can. Warrantee or not. Pretty soon they will be dissassembling the front end to transplant the new block. If they do not care about the little things now, how will they be with the big things later?

Perhaps this is the same crappy, sloppy dirty dealer who did my rear axle last month. Joe Downey Chevrolet in Canton?

Icebourg

Sorry about your misfortune........al least you get a brand new motor.
Good Luck!!

badsube

That's why having a dealer do work on an extremely high performance, $75,000 machine is out of the question. However, if you buy a Z and this happens, what else is there to do?

03QuicksilverZ06

Slim, Sorry to hear this and hope you are fixed 100% and driving soon.

Can anyone tell me why GM puts so much into titanium, aluminum and magnesium parts and the weak link has always been the valve springs. I lost 2 springs on my 03 at idle, luckily I did not drop a valve.

Slim what rpm's were you when it let go? It obviously doesnt matter if you have titanium rods, hand built engines, magnesium craddle etc.... when you have crappy valve springs

good luck slim shady with your repairs

Slim Shady

Look how far the valve is in the head???? The valve is like 2.5'-3.0' inches wide, how the hell did it get in there? Is the half piece 1/2 of the lash cap? I guess the beehive springs are one piece springs. It broke!

I hear you on the dealer treatment of the car! I will be talking with them. But they are the best service department I have ever worked with. GM and GM dealers are not all bad. I am being treated first class. I am sure when I talk to him about the cars exterior paint and a top pro job, that they will respond and clean it up from here on out.

Mike the guy working on it, said he will take the head off for me so we can see inside and get better pictures. I think on Tuesday he said I can come back and see it.

MyBeaches

Wow, does that include shipping and labor costs? I already feel sorry for guys in a few years who buy a used 206 with no warranty.

*C7*

Slim, very sad to hear your experience.... A complete LS7 can be purchased from Jegs for 13K.. My guess would be GM has no more than 8.5K in them at most!!

I wish you good luck on your repair.. I know if it was mine I would be sick but I'm prepared if and when it happens..

burtonbl103

Who the **** is working on your car man !
Parts on the windshield

lt1george

Hey Slim,
Hope everything works out for you. Heck, if the dealer is letting you in the shop and they are treating you good, I'm sure you'll do just fine and they will do everything to make you happy. Let us know how everything goes.
Do you mind if I ask who signed the motor on final assembly ?Good Luck. Happy Holidays.>George

Meegle

The piston more than likely pounded your intake valve against the combustion chamber before it got wedged in the seat area.

The 1/2 piece is a lock for your retainer as the lash cap is a flat round cap.
It actually looks like the locks were not modified for a lash cap? I could be wrong but the locks I have used in past motors have a step cut at the top to accommodate a cap.
Do the intake valves which are titanium have a special stem in order to bypass lash caps?
Now I'm curious, so I will go ahead and pull my VC's off this weekend to find out first hand.

StickShiftCorvette

The problem is that extremely high forces are required to control the (large,relatively heavy) valves AND heavy roller lifters for 7000 RPM operation. Chevrolet apparently isn't ready for the expense of pneumatic valve springs. Highly loaded springs operating at many cycles between large force differences are always going to be prone to fatique (breakage) and the most minor molecular defects in the valve spring wire.

On my '69's engine I chose flat mechanical tappets, giving up the higher cam performance of roller followers, to get reasonable life out of my 7000 RPM valve train. The laws of physics work against high RPM operation of roller cams.......

Slim Shady

Thank you George! You are a very nice person. Happy hoildays to you and your family. Car will be just fine! I know God is looking over me and all that are working on car. I have no worries or concerns.

Slim Shady

Once the heads are pulled
will get more pics.

Meegle

High forces are indeed required to keep valvetrain components stable at racing RPM's. The intake valves on the LS7 are actually extremely light when compared to other valves such as stainless steel.
These (titanium) valves are used in comp/pro type motors that often see traps over 10,000+rpm.
Weak/broken springs will never allow any type of competition engine to get up to racing speed....even 3000rpm+ could create havoc with valve float conditions.

meadowz06

Funny, but I was thinking the exact same thing. Your car is going to have scratches all over it if that continues.

Mallory

Where are they supposed to put your parts? Under the car. You have to know that while they are waiting on parts they will be working on other peoples cars too. I guess you figure them to put everything on their toolbox and shut down till YOUR car is done. Come on people, really think about what you are saying. It is not going to hurt your windshield. Unless you have the diamond studded covers. That is where I put mine when I am working on the car too. The bolts go on the grate. My rant is over.

Sorry to hear that the valve spring gave up the farm. With as much HP that these cars are putting down, you would think they would be putting the best spring you can find. Oh well, maybe next year.

E

AU N EGL

#7 - dang oiling issue on the #7.

There have been severl LS7s and many LS6s with #7 oiling problems causing the bang problems.

outnumbered

The early fatalities were #7 also.

C5A4TT

Its sad GM continues to have these pathetic issues. They are no better than anyone else. Theyve had valvetrain issues on LS engines since the beginning and are still having them.

And for the comment above about the parts on the windshield and cheap fender covers for a $70k vette....doesnt matter if its a $10k aveo...same care should be taken on every vehicle.

Excellent pics sir.