Well I finally got the chance to disassemble my Sarah's original motor and find out what part failed. #5 Rod bearing spun, scored the crank and put alot of bearing material in an other wise healthy engine. I think the crank can be turned and repaired, I am going to be taking it to a shop here soon to find out. I plan on rebuilding this engine and putting it back in my car once it is finished. I am prolly just going to leave it stock, I dont want to have 2 projects and I want an SS for a toy not a 3.8

I will post some pics later of the crank and bearing. It looks like to rod survived.

Massey

 

That's good you figured out what the problem was, but it sucks you had to tear it apart and rebuild. Hope it all goes well and doesn't cost you too much.

 

Make sure that the big end of the connecting rod involved is resized, or the rod replaced, otherwise you are going to have the same problem.

 

+1 I always resize factory rods. The last time I got some done it was $8 a pc if your getting other work done at the same time. Also you will want to upgrade the rod bolts. That is the most likely reason for the failure. GM bolts have a lot of variation in them. Some are good some not so good.

 

I plan on rebuilding this engine pretty much back to stock. I dont want to deal with the tuning involved in porting or bigger cam. Right now the only plans are .030 over in the bores, regrind the rod journals on the crank, and have the rods checked/resized. just from my messing around the other bearings that didnt take a hit will fit nicely in the one that failed and it does not appear to be out of round. I will know more when I get them to my Dad's place so we can Mic them. The bearing spun by the looks of it more than once. The first time it happened the car was still in the driveway and didnt get run for but a few seconds. The second time it happened I was driving down the road and it happened and I could not stop so I was driving with no oil. Yea bad stuff there. I think the block weld I used last night has helped my new engine, I dont smell antifreeze now after I drive the car.


My Wife wants me to trade Sarah in for a Z28 or SS. I want to keep Sarah and also have a Z or SS.

We'll see

Massey