It wasn't really that bad. I do wish that I had a bigger jack, though. Ramps would be nice too, but I'd be afraid of hitting them with my lowered front end and I don't know where I could keep them in my apartment.

well we drove it up onto the 2x4s so we could get the jack underneath, then we jacked it up a bit more after that. And yes, the new radiator is in.

 

Latest mod:

 

So...I went to Milan for a test and tune tonight. My first run--first time I ever went down a track--went 13.86 @ 98.something. My second run I over-staged, then the lights triggered before I even had a chance to put the car back into D. So my r/t was something like 7 seconds :lol: but the timing tower messed something up and I didn't get a slip for that run. On my third run, about a third of the way down the track I noticed that the car wasn't shifting into 3rd. The revs just kept going up, but I wasn't accelerating. I also noticed that my oil pressure was SERIOUSLY low at idle. It also really didn't want to start when it was already warm. Oil looked a bit low and ATF looked fine, so I let it sit and cool down for a while and added a quart of oil. About an hour later I tried starting it. It started better and the oil pressure looked better, so I thought I'd have another go. Ran down the track, did the same thing. After letting it sit for a half hour or so, I started it up again. Oil pressure was pretty much zero, and it was sputtering and knocking. So...I think after 151k miles, this motor (in its current state) is toast. And I don't think I even have 3k on the trans rebuild, so hopefully that's not screwed up too.

 

sounds like it blew because it wouldnt shift not the other way around. better pull the pan on the trans and see whats in there.

 

I'll forgive the car if the engine went, but I'll be PISSED if it was caused by my trans. I have probably 3k miles on a $1600 rebuild. I'm going to see if I can get a hold of an OBD2 scanner tomorrow and scan the transmission for codes.

 

Don't know why the slipping trans would have damaged the engine, unless you had the rev limiter defeated? How high did the rpm's go?
Could be the engine was almost at the "that's all she wrote" stage, and that last play session sent it over the edge.

 

The RPMs approached redline, but it's not like I had it revved way up past that. I noticed the loss of acceleration before that and just took it easy the rest of the way down the track. And I think I agree...the engine was nearing the end, and this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. After all, the previous owner ran it for almost two years hitting on only 6 or 7.

 

So I drained the oil to see how it looked. When I got under the car, the first thing that I noticed was that there was oil all over everything...











Drained the oil:



Ran a magnet through it, and here's some of what I found:







Here's what was left in the drain pan: lots o' metal


So...looks like the engine's going to have to get pulled. That means there's a lot in store for this car over the next few months:

Full rebuild
Cam
Heads
LS1 driveshaft
engine bay painted
2500 stall
New rack/pinion (needed for a while)

And I'm sure a bunch of other stuff

 

You can clearly tell that the point of origin for your oil leak was at the level sensor in the pan, and the dripping oil would be blowing back as you drive which is what coated everything behind it. How many miles since the last oil change?

 

Probably about 1000 miles, if that. I got the oil changed once I got it back together late last fall, then it's probably only been driver about 2 months total other than being in storage since then.

There was a lot of oil much farther up on the block (toward the rear) than what could've come from that sensor.