Oh woe is me!!!...sort of,
So my 2 year old G.M. crate motor with approx. 5-6000 miles on it, turned out sour...It would seem that the rings never properly seated and now have relaxed to a minimal 65lbs. of compression all around along with a couple of other tolerance issues in the valve trane....S.O.a Btch. this ones gonna cost me! this 330 hp engine was probably one out of every 26 motors that didn't get measured on the prod. line when Hjesus and his brother "Won- mo- time" did their assembly work in "Meckicko"....
G.M. is discontinuing this model and will generate more LS engines but rumor has it that they don't want to be building crate motors at all anymore! This is due to production errors such as my scenario and the lack of quality control...Frckers!
My Sunbird has been towed to a professional engine building facility in Edmonton where it is presently undergoing a rebirth of a "Pro-built" mill by Pro-Max racing engines and these guys know their Shit! Having said that, it was kinda shitty to hear that my crate was a crate and now will undergo all of the bells and whistles, machining re: Decking, line boring, and all other necessary machining required to insure their generous 6 month warranty, new rods, pistonias, alloy heads, new everything and perhaps my old crank and cam if salvageable.
This shall serve as a lesson to us all. As explained in detail by these two successful and well known guys in the industry, and they've been building super-charged and ultra high horse racing motors for years, the quality of a crate motor just isn't there in most cases. My scenario has played forward in many instances as I found out and all due to assembly line crate mills. No Q.C.
My eyes and ears were treated to a supreme shop with all of the equipment and so far am feeling pretty excited for the day I roll off the lot in a couple of weeks,(they're getting busy with builds including converting Poncho Blue blocks to 4 bolt main 500 + hp earth movers)568 cube fire breathing monsters!
Although my "mouse-motor" will live again, and the $ value will increase for the car, a conservative mind must prevail, that is to say, no "launching off the line" unless I'm willing to rebuild the body as well.. the once 330 hp will now be a meer 400 hp and some noticeable torque increase with it's new enhancements. .....that strange tingling is starting all over again down under.. ...stay tuned and wish me luck! thanks, Ron.
P.S. one thing that I really want to stress, I've been using the "ZDDP" zinc additive from G.M. along with Shell 15W40 diesel engine oil with zinc...this probably saved my crank and cam..the crate still carried 60 psi oil pressure!...just sayin's all....