blown motor - what do I do now?

[BOTTLEFED]

I'm starting this thread as a continuation of my blown motor thread
http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/615217-when-best-intentions-blow-up-engine.html

I'd like to get some advice and opinions on where to go from here.
I understand it is still hard to tell what all is damaged and what is salvageable from the pics, but I'm just asking for some ideas on what you would do if it were your car.

At first I thought I would just replace the parts that are bad and not even have to pull the motor out. However, after thinking about it, I'm afraid the cylinders will need to be honed or even resleeved.
The heads are a total loss, as well as most of the pistons. I'm not sure about the rods and crank - anything is possible right now.

To give you some more to think about when giving your opinions, here is a little of my situation.
I'm a certified mechanic and I do ALL my own work, unless it is machining or welding, which I don't have the tools for.
I only have a single car garage so I don't have a lot of space to work in.
I just graduated from college this semester and don't have a ton of money to throw at this.
But I do have some time on my hands since I just graduated (although I'm preparing for my PhD program). However, I don't want to spend all summer with my car down


So there is where I'm at right now. A replacement engine sounds appealing since it will involve the least amount of down time, yet it is expensive. A rebuilt is also a possibility, but will require a lot of time and space. Or a fully built motor from a pro with all the goodies, which will probably cost the most and take the longest.

TIA,
TIm

 

[99 R/T 10]

Hey Tim, you should call Greg Good. Let him take a look at the heads. If they can be salvaged, he'll know for sure. On the engine, if they can be bored and honed out at .030, go for the rebuild. I think the max is .060 on these engines. It will be the best ways to go and you will know the engine will be ready for anything since your going to put it back together.

Was it the pistons that caused the problems?

 

[dave6666]

Agreed that maybe the heads can be welded up and reshaped. Would maybe be cheaper that way, but I just saw a set on ebay advertised as NIB go for like $500.00. Deals like that might be hard to beat, as $500.00 don't buy much shop time.

As far as the bottom end goes, I wouldn't just repair it, I would build the right engine for your desires. You mentioned this as probably not practical right now.

So, Dave's bottom line recommendation:

-> Pull this existing engine out and set aside. Take the time to thoroughly go through it, plan and budget it.

-> Buy a good used engine from ebay or one of the many vendors like Paul Scharf of Viper Larry, and use it in N/A form for ease of maintenance, and also to sell later as unmolested.

 

[SVS Turbo]

Sorry to hear about your engine

I might have the parts you need. Once you figure out the route you're going to take for repairs send me an email with the list of what you're looking for and we'll see what we can do to help get you back up and running.

[email protected]

 

[JUCD VPR]

-> Pull this existing engine out and set aside. Take the time to thoroughly go through it, plan and budget it.

-> Buy a good used engine from ebay or one of the many vendors like Paul Scharf of Viper Larry, and use it in N/A form for ease of maintenance, and also to sell later as unmolested.

A agree... You can also take that broken motor and see about repairing it while your new motor is in the car, slowly repair it, hone it, get new heads, and then re-sell it as a repaired motor and you can probably make some of that money back to offset the cost of the other motor.

 

[RTTTTed]

I didn't read what you found in the oil when you drained it, but looking at the cylinders I'll assume there's chunks and filings in it.

That being the siuation; you'll need everything including oil pump and a new timing case. I'd guess the water pump would be OK.

I don't think you can buy the parts you need, sleeve the cylinders, repair/replace the heads for anywhwere near the cost of a good used engine. The Roe sc and intake should be OK so just replace the engine.

Did you figure out what caused the damage? Tune? Sparkplugs touched? Bad gas?

Ted

 

[BOTTLEFED]

how about this one?
eBay Motors: 98 Dodge Viper 8.0L V10 Motor W/Custom Red Valve Covers (item 170228369076 end time Jun-18-08 14:03:21 PDT)

looks like a pretty good deal
the valve covers and manifold look painted
36k is more miles than mine had
anyone know these guys?

 

[dave6666]

how about this one?
eBay Motors: 98 Dodge Viper 8.0L V10 Motor W/Custom Red Valve Covers (item 170228369076 end time Jun-18-08 14:03:21 PDT)

looks like a pretty good deal
the valve covers and manifold look painted
36k is more miles than mine had
anyone know these guys?

I would call them on the phone to discuss details.

Their feedback is not too shabby. They do sell a handful of big ticket items, including a recent T56 that could have been from the same car. And everyone seems happy with their big ticket purchases.

 

[RTTTTed]

That looks OK. Here's their website link with their phone number,
Cherry Auto Parts Engine listed at $6800 on their webpage. I'd phone them and ask about their warranty.

Definitely worth investigating.

Ted

 

[RTTTTed]

Any further thoughts on what caused the engine to detonate? If you had good logs, what happened? Check your timing in the Vec tables and if they are OK, maybe fuel pump/filter problem?

Dent in fuel line?

You certainly don't want to repeat this experience. Once is enough.

Ted

 

[1TONY1]

Greg can probably repair your heads fairly easy.
This one was on a customers car, when it came back it looked brand new.
I might add..it arrived like this....I had never worked on it before and it was not a Roe car.

 

[plumcrazy]

absolutely call greg good first. the guy will help you out and give you some good advice.

4 questions that need to be answered...

are you always gonna keep the ROE
what is the final (real) rwhp goal
how much time do you have (does this have to be done NOW)
how much money are you willing to spend

 

[Venomiss]

From many moons ago...Greg Goode.
Tom Sessions maybe to pick his brain for ideas? Good luck with it.


http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/570246-greg-good-gives-good-heads-pics-inside.html

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Any further thoughts on what caused the engine to detonate? If you had good logs, what happened? Check your timing in the Vec tables and if they are OK, maybe fuel pump/filter problem?

Dent in fuel line?

You certainly don't want to repeat this experience. Once is enough.

Ted

check back on the other thread

The fuel filter is a good point. The previous owner said he changed it not too long ago so I left it alone.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

absolutely call greg good first. the guy will help you out and give you some good advice.

4 questions that need to be answered...

are you always gonna keep the ROE
what is the final (real) rwhp goal
how much time do you have (does this have to be done NOW)
how much money are you willing to spend

yes, I think greg will be the man to go with on this
I PM'd him about it and we'll see what he thinks

Phil,
I plan to keep the S/C for the foreseeable future, but maybe step down to a 8# for a while until I get my confidence up enough to put the 10# back on.

I don't have a rwhp goal, but between the S/C and N2O my goal was to break into the 9sec. 1/4mi. times - now my goal is just to have a drivable car that I'm not afraid is going to blowup at any time

I don't have a time-frame right now. I was hoping this was going to be a quick fix when it happened but that has obviously changed. I'm figuring 4-6 weeks would be tops before I start going insane from not driving it

As far as money, I don't have a lot to spend. This is going to have to go on credit as I just spent my extra $$ on the S/C. So I don't have the extra$$ to go all out with a fully-built race motor

 

[chimazo]

Like others have mentioned, if (when is more like it) you pull the motor, send the heads one place, the block to another, start ordering parts, etc., your car will be in purgatory for who knows how long, maybe the whole summer?

Since you can do your own work, buy a low-mileage longblock from Ebay or a vendor, drop it in, swap the blower over, and you're on the road in two weeks. Just a thought on what I would do...

 

[BOTTLEFED]

That's the way I'm leaning right now - get a low-mi. motor and maybe have the heads done by GG and do rockers.
This option seems to have the least down-time, easiest labor, and moderate cost.
But I'm still open to opinions and ideas.

 

[plumcrazy]

based on what ya said keep in touch with greg good and 1TONY1. nobody knows more about a roe + nos than him i bet.

 

[big-n-italian]

here is my thought.

lets say you decide to rebuild the motor you have now. would it be cheaper than buying a used motor from somewhere? possibly. but keep in mind too all the time and money its going to take to ship your parts out, have estimates done, track down all the parts you need, make the phone calls, do the research, blah, blah, blah. you more than likely wont have a car for many months, and probably even longer than that due to delays with parts and/or people.

screw all that. buy the best used motor you can find, drop it in, and get back to driving.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

very true

The more I think about, I'm just not really interested in rebuilding, and the time and stress wouldn't be worth it

 

[93VIPERBOY]

Chuck Tator Give him a call 914-763-3136

 

[Unclestu]

Maybe I'm off base but I don't see the source of all the shavings (I guess aluminum) in the photo's of the heads and cylinders you posted. Have you looked carefully at the sc?

 

[99 R/T 10]

I believe the metal shavings came from the pistons and block liners.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

there are no shavings
maybe a few chunks of aluminum

probably what you are seeing is the nicks, dings, and gouges from the detonation
all those marks are in the metal, not lying on it

 

[nfelmlee]

Call Chuck Tator! He's rebuilding my Roe car as I post this. Only hurdle thus far was waiting for head gaskets since February...

Tator's Dodge
914-763-3136
[email protected]

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Actually it is stuff like that makes me want to just buy a stock long block to drop in.
If I have it rebuilt, then I have to worry about parts and labor taking longer than expected.

Tony and I discussed just buying a good, used long block for now and using it stock with my S/C but only using a 5# pulley to start with.
I think that is the way I'll go. I'll keep this thread updated with what I buy for this project.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

Hey guys,
I'm selling some of my extra parts to make room for this project (and to help pay for it )
Check out the classifieds and let me know what you want.

thanks,
Tim

 

[dave6666]

Hey guys,
I'm selling some of my extra parts to make room for this project (and to help pay for it )
Check out the classifieds and let me know what you want.

thanks,
Tim

Post a link to your ad. Couldn't find it.

 

[BOTTLEFED]

still awaiting approval...

 

[BOTTLEFED]

OK, so I won this motor on ebay for only $3500
eBay Motors: 98 Dodge Viper 8.0L V10 Motor W/Custom Red Valve Covers (item 170228369076 end time Jun-18-08 14:03:21 PDT)

Looks like it is in good shape
I called about it before I bid and they said it was well-within factory specs (but could not provide me with comp#s). They offer a 1 year warranty.
I'll be getting the valve covers re-powdercoated.

I'll also be doing some maintenence items while I've got the motor out. I will replace the throwout bearing, pilot bearing, motor mounts, belt tensioner, thermostat, intake manifold gaskets, spark plugs (of course)...
Anything else I should check before I drop the new motor in?