Lechlis's Track Goblin - 06 SS Donor - Chassis #173 - Registered

Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
More engine tear down pictures.

Notice anything different on the two piston pictures? The picture with the higher piston depicts cylinders 2-4. The piston that is lower is cylinder 1. I thought it might have been a bent rod, but I rocked the crank a little less than 1/8th turn and the piston didn’t move.... it needs a 1/8th or more rotation on the crank before the piston moves. So, the rod bearing has failed. I swear this thing didn’t make any abnormal noises and ran what I thought was on par for a conservative 7psi tune.

The rest are pictures from the head and oil pump. The cam journals are scored pretty well. The oil pump has a nice metallic sludge inside

I was hoping I could rebuild the head and block, but that simply isn’t going to happen at this point. We all know the bottom end is most likely a mess without even looking at it.
 

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Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
Check this out...

I got the engine out with no trouble, so I decided to go ahead with the tear down.

I pulled the balance shafts first. The exhaust side was tough to get out and the bearing came out with it... lol. The intake shaft just wouldn’t budge. So 3’ pry bar it was. Applying pressure coming in from the top of the timing chain area worked. Take a look at the attached pictures to see the bearing and how worn the intake shaft is.

I pulled the girdle and found the expected main bearing wear and iffy crankshaft journals. Now for the interesting part. When I pulled the number 1 rod cap, no bearings. Literally nothing. Nothing in the cap or rod. Look at the picture below and you can see how worn the rod is. Number one is on the right, and number 2 is on the left. You can also see where it was hitting the crank. I initially thought that the bearing just wasn’t installed at some point in the past, but I don’t see how it would have made it very far, much less the ~500 miles I have driven it. Based on the amount of metal in the oil, I am now assuming the rod bearing spun and just turned itself into dust over the last ??? miles.
 

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Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
Here it is! ZZP LSJ Gen 3 Short Block. I was actually able to clean up the cam journal scarring with some buffing compound. A negligible amount of material was removed and everything checked within spec. I also received Diamond pistons to replace the DI pistons pictured. The block is drilled for a turbo return but not tapped.

Ready to get rolling!
 

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Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
Today I put the hardened oil pump gears in. I also set the ring gap and verified bearing and piston clearances. I spoke to ZZP and they said that extending the crank keyway isn't something they do on any of their Ecotec race cars, so it isn't something they advise.
 

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Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
A quick data point for those in the future looking to save a buck and avoid ZZP's marketing schemes.

If you want to buy the viton valve stem seals that ZZP sells for $20, just order seals for a 2014 Buick Regal 2.0 Turbo. RockAuto has a set of "EngineTech S200V" seals for $13 per 20.
 
ncgoblin

ncgoblin

Goblin Guru
@Lechlis your engine situation is near identical to mine except for your rods were in worse shape. I went with the LDK (LSJ 3rd Gen) block and stock head and swapped out the pistons with Diamonds the engine has been great so far. What compression pistons did you go with? I am supercharged looks like your going the turbo route.
 
Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
ncgoblin said:
@Lechlis your engine situation is near identical to mine except for your rods were in worse shape. I went with the LDK (LSJ 3rd Gen) block and stock head and swapped out the pistons with Diamonds the engine has been great so far. What compression pistons did you go with? I am supercharged looks like your going the turbo route.
Click to expand...
I am using the 9.5:1 set from ZZP.
 
Lechlis

Lechlis

Well-Known Member
It was a good evening working on the Goblin! Most of the remaining parts rolled in and I went from essentially a bare block, to having the powertrain bolted in. I am still lacking valves, but they should be coming soon. My plan is to get everything except the head, and related items like the timing chain and coolant hoses, wrapped up this weekend! I am also replacing all engine sensors with new GM ones while I am at it.

Small tangent, I finally took my 4 deadly Harbor Freight jack stands back for the recall. I was given a gift card with a little over $60 on it. One pair of equivalent stands was around $55... So, I have resorted to cinder blocks until I can figure out if I am willing to cough up the cash. It may have been worth keeping the stands and risking it. Lol.
 

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OptimizePrime

OptimizePrime

Goblin Guru
Props on doing this rebuild yourself - everything looks great so far!

Sounds like you got bamboozled on that recall lol Harbor Freight pulling a quick one
 
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