After 3 blown engines... Is the nightmare over?

[Aevus]

Ok, a (very) long story short:

Bought my stock gen 3 (2005) 3 years ago. Month of may 2021 I blew the stock engine on my first (and last) visit to the track.
Cause: poorly designed stock oil pan. Ok, fine, my bad so to speak.
Solution: bought a used engine and a Compe Coupe swing arm oil pan.

Month of may 2022, the 2nd engine blew (apparently previously rebuilt, and not in a good way, but wait, maybe something else...)

Month of may 2023, my stock engine, fully rebuilt with forged pistons/rods, balanced crank, high CR and a big camshaft, light valvetrain, the works... lasted 600 miles before that bad feeling of worn out bearing pops up again... Never felt so much despair for a thing made of metal and rubber.

Now, I'm no expert nor a mechanic. But the engine builder inspected the freshly rebuilt but blown engine and told me that corrupted oil is the culprit. Metal particules everywhere. So basically the mechanic (who is not the engine builder) never changed the oil lines or the oil cooler, since the begining, which means the 2nd engine in 2022 might already suffer from the oil lines/cooler not being changed at the time.

Obviously, as you can imagine, no one wants to take the blame, no one wants to be involved in anything... How surprising. Lawyers war will begin soon, etc.. etc.. But hey that's **** for later.

NOW, the huge problem i'm facing is ... I have 2 engines and ''none is rebuildable'', because both crankshafts can be machined (at best) at 0.020'', which means I can't find (quality) bearings nowhere.... AND the crankshaft from the G3 is discontinued.

So, is there, anywhere, please, someone who can point out any glimpse of hope so I can drive my car in june 2024, and maybe expect my car to last something like an entire summer?

I truly love that car, spent so much time in it, but damn that feels like a neverending nightmare...

Any help would be very appreciated.

 

[Kai SRT10]

I blew my stock engine at the track.

I put in the Comp Coupe oil pan along with a 3 quart Accusump system.

Spent a lot of money building a bullet proof engine. (You can see what I did in my mod list.) Since modding, I have thrashed my car really really hard at the track. No problems.

 

[MoparMap]

I've rebuilt my stock engine twice now due to oil issues at the track. First one I got "lucky" and caught it while it was still knocking the rod bearing, second time I wasn't so lucky and shattered a rod. First time around I managed to salvage the crankshaft. Second time it was toast. I managed to get a used one from Prefix though. There are some other options I was exploring at the time. My original plan I was pursuing was to use a gen 4 crank. My 04 still used the crank trigger flywheel, so it didn't matter if the gen 4 trigger setup on the counterweight was there because I could just ignore it. The crank needed to be redrilled to clock the flywheel correctly as I understand it, but that was pretty minor. Would have needed a rebalance as well due to using the gen 3 pistons, but that's not too big a deal.

So there are ways to make it work, but it takes some looking and doing. You can check the thread I made about gen 3/4 crank and block differences. That's where most of my crazy ideas started. I'd check with Prefix as well. They might still have some gen 3 cranks sitting around. Mine evidently came out of a Drag Pak Challenger engine. I believe I saw someone selling some complete NOS gen 3 crate engines as well. Certainly more of a hail mary option, and I'm guessing you don't want a third engine taking up space, but could be the nuclear option. On my second rebuild I did a full oil system upgrade as well. Prefix machined the block to add grooves to the cam journals and extra holes to the main bearing saddles, then I went with the gen 4 full swinging pickup/pan as well as the gen 4/5 style relief valve and a higher volume pump, all of which I got from Prefix.

 

[RandyM]

Accusump Accumulator

For over 25 years the simplicity and effectiveness of the Accusump has made it the accepted method for providing more continuous oiling and adding longevity to road race and drag race engines. Today supplying oil pressure to the engine before startup for the purpose of pre-lubricating engine...

www.cantonracingproducts.com

 

[BadAzp]

Timothy Kyle Bomar

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Has .010, .020 and .030 bearings by the crate load.
Probably has 05 cranks still also

 

[Jim Myke]

Check with Prefix in auburn hills Michigan, they have engines on stands in show room, they did alot of production work on vipers when they were in production, they build stock to highly modified engines, I would recommend.

 

[Fire196]

Talk to Prefix I just rebuilt my engine and put all Gen 5 internals from Prefix in my gen 3. The parts came from a 9L build. The parts had less than 100 miles on them and total cost was under 5K. That's crank, pistons. Rods, new rings and bearings.