blew up my first engine

[69camarokid]

so yesterday night i was at adams motorsports track in riverside for their grip driving tuesday nights. I was racing my 69 camaro with a mildly modded LT1 and t56.
It started out well as i beat my buddy in his 08 STi. This is particularly impressive as his engine isnt stock. hes running a stroker kit that brings him to 2.7L and is running 24 lbs of boost. plus long tube header, exhaust, intake the whole 9 yards.

but he still wins overall as his car is still ALIVE.
Mine not so much. I blew a rod out the side of my oil pan. My gf was in the car filming so when i get the vid from her ill post it. This is the first time ive ever blown up and engine and im not to stoked on it. Im waaaay to poor of a college student for this to work.

But im planning on rebuilding the LT1 with forged internals and lower end and stroking her out to a 383 while im at it. Ill be posting in the engine section if anyone has any knowledge or good advice about either LT1s of 383.

[69camarokid]

what ive found thus far.
more pics once i open her up

[Jim Nilsen]

Sorry to hear you get to join the club.

it sounds to me that you would be way ahead to just look for another engine that runs and put it in for now until you can really decide what you can afford and want. Lots of good deals going on out there and you should be able to pick up something for $1,000 or less that will get you down the road and if you are lucky you might get a hot deal on something really good for around $2-2,500 that would be way better.

Save the bigger $$$$ for an LS swap and you won't suffer from LS envy like I know you will when you see how much more power for the money and better mileage.

[GeoffP]

Oooo that looks nasty. Look at the bright side - it seems you can't give away LT1 parts anymore so you should be able to pick up what you need to fix it fairly cheap or possibly free.

[shmoov69]

Sweet!! I mean suck!! LOL!! Well, did it go down in a blaze of glory or just a kachunk and quiet!!??? Lol. I would offer to sell you a fresh LT1 I got that needs assembled, but you are on the other side of the world and shipping would cost a ton!
Hopefully you got some "sympathy" from your chic....and NOT sarcasm! Lol

[JRouche]

Ok, first off, solly for the loss. Racing costs money, but this type of expense is not a good one VS some expense due to power adders. But it happens so yer not alone.

Now, looks like the rod whipped around a few times before it holed the pan, the pan took some hard knocks before it gave up. Did you solid the track pretty bad? They hate that.

Carnage pics!!! We love them. Not so much because it looks good (although carnage pics do give a sense of the awesome destructive power that was present). But just to see what failed and how the rest of the lower parts were effected (besides the pan and the rod).

You might not be in too bad of a condition. One, maybe two rods, a rebuild set of bearings, a pan. Hope it didnt crack the blocks pan rail. But as much damage that was done to the pan (for and aft) looks like the broken part was loose and did some free flying around the bottom of the pan before it got holed. So that would be the cap flying around in the pan area before the pan got holed. If it didnt wedge itself into the other rods and just got bounced around then thats a good thing, if you can even think of any of it as a good thing. Ive seen some engines where the cap got flipped up into other rods and ruined them also including cracking the web.

Bummer the rod or cap let go. Curious to see if you will be able to determine if it was the cap, rod bolts, nuts or rod that gave up. JR

[Scott Parkhurst]

That just happened to me last May. It's part of the deal- if you race long enough, you'll grenade an engine.

If you want to get back on the road right away, buy a running stock engine and just swap it out. If you want to upgrade, now is the time...but plan on sacrificing the summer's events to do it. Rebuilds take more time and money than they should, but it's necessary evil. If you're as broke as you say, get a stone stock engine back in there and keep the car on the road until you can afford to build another engine outside the car (maybe starting with what parts you can salvage off this one, like the heads/intake). Once the 'new' engine is done, swap it out and sell the stocker to get some cash back.

Worst case scenario- you pull the engine for a rebuild and the car sits for more than a year while you wait on the machine shop and save up the dough to pay for it all. When mine went, it took out 2 rods and the block and the cam got bent. They don't make those rods anymore, so I was into it for 8 rods, 8 pistons, a new block, new cam, and all the machine work required on the new/old block. The heads were damaged, but repairable, and I bent a few valves so I got a fresh set of those, too. Of course, a new oil pan, pump, and pickup were also needed. Even being able to re-use my heads, crank, intake/carb, distributor, etc... I was still out over 5K and the car was off the road for 5 mos (all last summer from May-Sept). And I had the cash!

[1969CamaroRS]

Sorry to hear about your engine. Any engine rebuild classes at GWCC? Lot of money to be saved rebuilding the motor yourself and if the CC has classes you can do the machining yourself.

[67zo6Camaro]

Sorry to hear you get to join the club.

it sounds to me that you would be way ahead to just look for another engine that runs and put it in for now until you can really decide what you can afford and want. Lots of good deals going on out there and you should be able to pick up something for $1,000 or less that will get you down the road and if you are lucky you might get a hot deal on something really good for around $2-2,500 that would be way better.

Save the bigger $$$$ for an LS swap and you won't suffer from LS envy like I know you will when you see how much more power for the money and better mileage.

Im with Jim, this way you will not feel the pain of not having your car to enjoy during the new engine build. Loved the pics....Adams if a fun place to thrash...and it looks like it got the best of you that day. Get the car back on the road so you can enjoy and start building that dream engine that can beat the track next time...

Brett

[69camarokid]

whatever i decide to do i want to do it right this time. The LT1 was a mismatch of parts that were brand new go fast goodies and reused 140K mile parts. I may just drop a stock LT1 in as they are dirt cheap engines, and if i do ill either build up the LT1 or save my money and get my hands on an LS1.

The problem with hte LS1 idea is that i already have the T56 for the LT1. I dont think i can get that to sync up to an LS1. I look and see if anyone makes a bellhousing kit that will let me run my T56 from the LT1 on an LS series engine.

But if the cost for stroking the LT1 and getting my hands on an LS1 are the same then ill probably sacrafice the extra time and cash and go LS1.... i would looooove to have an LS series engine.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

Welcome to the club of hotrodding man... hell think how it felt blowing an LS7!

hahahaha