Photoshopped picture?

[ziembic]

Sweet

[mattw]

[ziembic]

Did you have to pull the motor again? Something looks different?

[mattw]

Originally Posted by ziembic

Did you have to pull the motor again? Something looks different?

I wasn't going to fess up to being a total bone-head but since you have such a keen eye I might as well..

So before I even had it all together I had it out in the alley datalogging and making sure everything was working. I was super anxious to see how it would do with a little gas so I gave it about 1/3 throttle. It started to accelerate like an animal, I started to grin ear to ear, then POP followed by it stalling out. It sounded like a charged air coupler had blown apart. I assumed that is what had happened until I started it back up and..... knock, knock, knock, knock, etc....

So this happened on a Wednesday I think.. That Friday Spencer, Renz, Renz's nephew, and I pulled the motor out.

This is what we found:



So, I ended up refreshing my 350 from my old V8 blazer and throwing that in there. I ran a ridge-reamer on the cylinders then honed them. Totally disassembled and cleaned the short block. Put everything back together with new rings, bearings, and an oil pump. I checked my ring gap on all of the cylinders as well as the bearing clearance on the rods and the mains.. Everything was within spec..

I had never completely disassembled and reassembled a short block so I was pretty nervous about the whole process. Luckily everything seems to be working fine. It started right up, great oil pressure, no smoke and no blow-by.. I guess the real test will be if the block stays together once I start driving it...

I'm pretty sure I found the source of my problem.. I had purchased the wastegate used and I never checked the spring that was in it.. After this incident I checked the spring and it took ~17psi just to crack the valve. It took about 19lbs to get it to fully open.. Needless to say, this engine will never be able to handle that much boost!!



So I've replaced that spring with a 3lb spring..



This new spring cracks at 3psi and is fully open at 5. I'm thinking its going to work MUCH better..

Hopefully once I get a proper shortblock built I can move back to that heavier spring... Baby steps....

So its all back together now and waiting for Keith to come to town so that he can spend a day teaching me to tune and getting a safe, driveable starter tune on there for me to build on from..

It starts right up and idles well. Revs right up without hesitation. It really feels like you could take it out and drive it now but I am waiting for Keith this go round. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time..

I did use it to pull to pull the boat out of the shop and back in a few days ago...

[s_blazin]

Curious....how did you check the wg spring rate? I need to check what spring mine is and hadn't thought about it long enough to figure out a way to check it

[mattw]

Originally Posted by s_blazin

Curious....how did you check the wg spring rate? I need to check what spring mine is and hadn't thought about it long enough to figure out a way to check it

I just put a regulator on an air hose and kept increasing pressure until the wastegate opened. My regulator has a gauge on it so I just watched to see what pressure it took to crack the valve..

[Quickstop [UK]]

What caused the broken rod? Bummer! Looks good now though!

[nastety92]

I would also suggest checking this spring ever year. If you are like me and don't drive the truck in the winter I've had the spring rust up. I've had numerous spring replaced in my Racegate.

Good luck, looks great.

Nick

[mattw]

Originally Posted by Quickstop [UK]

What caused the broken rod? Bummer! Looks good now though!

Too much boost + no tune = boom...

Originally Posted by nastety92

I would also suggest checking this spring ever year. If you are like me and don't drive the truck in the winter I've had the spring rust up. I've had numerous spring replaced in my Racegate.

Good luck, looks great.

Nick

Thanks.. I'll be sure to do that.. This winter I plan to swap in the 80e and AWD case so it will definitely be sitting for a few months..

[mattw]

OK, no lectures about my driving with my little girl in the car.... I didn't mean to kick it out like that at the end...

I am still taking it kinda easy. I'm but no means flooring it and I am kinda afraid to(don't want to blow it up again...) I'm not seeing any knock, my fuel is rich(for the most part) and my timing is mild...

[MikeRenz]

Originally Posted by mattw

OK, no lectures about my driving with my little girl in the car.... I didn't mean to kick it out like that at the end...

sounds like someone got lectured by mommy

[ziembic]

Who doesn't get lectured by Mommy about their driving?

[mattw]

So Renz gave me his old intercooler. Its not as big as the one that I wanted to run but it will certainly do for now..

[MikeRenz]

Originally Posted by mattw

sexy pic.

are you gonna trim that chin spoiler at all to allow a little more flow? or put a scoop on the ic?

[mattw]

Originally Posted by MikeMuffins

sexy pic.

are you gonna trim that chin spoiler at all to allow a little more flow? or put a scoop on the ic?

Thanks! I'm not sure yet.. The next time I go to my parents I am going to see what I have laying around as far as those plastic spoilers go.. I def want to do something to increase airflow.

The truck likes this intercooler BTW.. I can push 14lbs of boost with no knock... My MAT is way lower now with the intercooler. They would go just over 150 without an IC. Now they stay nice and cool..