SS down, possible engine damage

[V]

im writing this from my laptop in hawthorne nj, right outside hawthorne chevy. i was driving on 208 pulled off and going down the off ramp heard a big bang and parts let loose under the car. i limped the car here since everything appeared to still work, and then a horrible grinding noise and it wanted to stall.. i popped the hood to find out i had blown the SFI balncer to peices. chredded the one belt and the main belt is on the edge with 2 ribs holding. the pulley part went back into the front cover and thats what stalled the motor.

luckily i have AAA and my laptop with me, i happend to be lucky enough to be able to connect to some random unsecured network haha. so ill be here for up to 90 min waiting for a flatbed..... i hate this car...

[Teds89IROC]

oh man, sorry to hear paul, I'm about 10 minutes away from there if you need any help

[maroman88]

ouchhhh

[Knipps]

jeez paul, i guess your car likes your garage more than being outdoors

that sucks to hear.. hope you can get it fixed up again soon

[The Fixer]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I hope it's nuttin' major. Just get her home and diagnose in good light, don't even fool with it in the dark.

[V]

i have a feeling the front cover is toast, i was just talking to a cop that drove by, he found it funny im online right now

[BigAls87Z28]

DAAAAAAAAAMN!! Not good mang.
This just means one thing....El Es Seven.

[V]

at least its a nice night out, nice gentle breeze, temps around 70... perfect for standing in the road, with my laptop on the roof.....

[SteveR]

That sucks man! Was there a warranty on the new motor?

[V]

yes and no, GM crate, i put on an aftermarket SFI balancer plus a camshaft so i wouldnt even try that. if any damage was done may just be the front cover, new sfi balancer, fluids and belts, not bad but still im not happy about it

[qwikz28]

just out of curiosity, whats a sfi balancer for?

[V]

sfi means its certfied for racing and shouldnt blow apart like it did


and in a text message, kasey just brought it to my attention that back when the original motor blew, the gas i had gotten here in hawthorne... i hate this town soooooo much right now

[V]

i wanna go home.... i called AAA at 10:45... its 12 now.... they said 90 min or less... they got 15 min. and some poor tow truck driver had to get out of bed for me hahahahahahaha..

...im really bored.... :-(

[V]

uh oh, laptop battery go bye bye... ill post up again one im home..... :-/

[Savage_Messiah]

just gt a text... "Still waiting for the tow truck..."

[SteveR]

just gt a text... "Still waiting for the tow truck..."

Ouch. I bet Paul's piiiiissed. That tow truck driver better have a bullet proof vest when he shows up :lol:

[V]

ok, 2:30, i JUST got home.... WHAT A NIGHT!!!!!

Heres a lil picture of what happened...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/balancer.jpg


Heres a pic of my car with my laptop on the roof, thats where i was typing from hahaha...

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/ssbroken2.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/ssbroken3.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/ssbroken1.jpg



The tow truck showed up like 15 min after i texted Kasey that message.
First thing the guy says when he gets out is "oh looky, stripes and all the bells and whistles..." he asks what broke so i tell him. he then says "lemme guess... not a GM part that broke... These car companies invest millions into their parts unlike those racing part companies..." That annoyed me right there on top of everything, mainly me sitting waiting for 2 hours. Anyways... he finally loads up the car after asking if its the same motor as a 96 impala SS, i had to explain lt1 vs ls1/ls6 only to be told ls6 was a vette motor in the early 70s, which i do know.

So by now the car is on the flatbed, and i get in the truck. He asks if i want coffee... 7-11 or dunkin... i said no thanks. He then asks if i'm a car buff. Of course i say yes, and he starts telling me about his project car, a 1968 Checker. Ok, to each their own i figure. He then says "oh, well go back to the yard, theres somethign i think youd like to see" OK, now im gettign kinda worried, lol. We start driving into haledon or paterson, i wasnt sure, back to the tow truck yard. I follow him in through the yard gates around to the back garage door and inside. I'm thinking im about the get jumped or something. I turn the corner to one side bay and my jaw dropped.. sitting in front of my was that corvette conversion "789" by N2A motors. holy crap... thats car is awesome in person, so low so sleek.. top down and all. Pictures do not do it justice. Before we left i asked if i could just take some pics with my cell phone, he said sure. It was dark so they didnt really come out, but you get the idea....





























http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/789a.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/789b.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/789c.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/789d.jpg



We then drove deeper into patterson by another yard so he could poitn out his Checker. After that we were finally on the way back to my house. We were flying through paterson and the whole truck was shaking. We finally got on Rt 4... doing 70mph... hes cracking all types of jokes, im just watching my car to make sure it stays on the flatbed lol...
When we finally got bakc to my house i had him just drop the car in the street and I was gonna leave it and call the police to let them know so i wouldnt get a ticket, but after he left i decided to push it into my garage myself. So now the car is tucked away and i'll get a better idea of damage tomorrow....

but all in all, it was a pretty decent night..... haha

[j0n]

damn...crappy night with at least a somewhat-decent ending

[98tadriver]

*howard dean-like scream* that sux assss. thats pretty much how my luck would be with cars man.. wish for the best of luck, hopefully nothing is too fragged

[maroman88]

lol wierdd

[The Fixer]

WTH was that car doing in the middle of the 'hood???? Man, that's some crazy business right there!

So, are you up yet? Any autopsy results?

[V]

it was a very unique night. That car was so unexpected to see there. They just picked it up from another shipping company and have to bring it to some car show in the city or around here soon.


As for damage, i think i lucked out. This morning i pulled the belts and the balancer off. I believe those were the only things damaged. Besides that, theres just a ton of rubber dust on everything i gotta clean off, a few spots of burnt up powder coating on a bracket, and two shiny spots on the outermost edges of the front cover. The outer ring didnt hit the cover hard enough to do any damage it seems. As for the front part of the balancer.... thats somewhere on the RT 208 off ramp....

Now i get to make some calls to the balancers manufacturer, and have a few words...
Then summit racing(thats gonna hurt, lol)

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/balancer2part.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/enginenobal.jpg

[Tru2Chevy]

Looks like you got away pretty clean Paul.

Are you gonna try to get the balancer replaced free?

- Justin

[V]

Are you gonna try to get the balancer replaced free?

- Justin


that would probably be the easiest, but now i will never trust this type again. For an SFI approved balancer, it should NOT have come apart like that, on the street, AND with only 1300 miles on it. I'm going to be getting an ATI harmonic balancer. I'm going to do everything in my power to get my money back.

[Tru2Chevy]

Isn't this the balancer that you had trouble with when you originally ordered it?

What brand is this one?

- Justin

[V]

yes, the first one i was sent was obviously used. I bought it through LS1Speed inc and only after i complained, sent pics, AND returned the first one... they finally sent me another one. At 11(8am PST) i'm calling Professional products and speaking with them. I may also try ls1speed right now.

Its made by Professional Products, and called powerforce-plus. When i was reading up on them, apparently alot of GTO people use them and no one ever had any issues. It was only around 150 bucks, whereas the ATI one is about 460.

[V]

OK, i just got off the phone with someone over at Professional Products in CA. I explained what happened and they are sending me out a new balancer right away. I said i really wasn't sure if i wanted another and more of a refund. But that, i know, i'd have to take up with the company i bought the part from. That is LS1Speed.com and they dont seem to like answering their phones ever. So i'm just gonna take the new part and maybe resell it and still buy an ATI dampner.

The rep at professional products was pretty suprised by what happened and he said especially since it was the SFI version. I sent him pics just now and once i get the new one, the old one is getting sent back to them so they can see what went wrong. Plus then they can go by dates on it to know more about it. He asked where i bought it from and turns out they arent a "registered" dealer for their products so he couldnt be sure where they got it from, but he was still very helpful.

So by the time the new balancer comes, i will have decided what i'm going to do.

[WildBillyT]

I'm glad that the damage was not great and that you are getting proper service from PP. Go with an ATI damper and never look back. It probably broke because of the QC at their manufacturing plant in China being sub-par, but I digress, I don't want to take this thread on a tangent.

[98tadriver]

phew you definately lucked out!

[V]

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with John at Professional Products again, He called to tell me that he will NOT be sending a new balancer. Instead he wants me to fax a copy of the reciept from when i bought it to show how much i paid. After that, they will send me a full refund instead. He said that there were known issues with the balancers and he currently has no good ones in stock. All the bad batch were supposed to have been "purged" but apparently not. He said hed be afraid to send another and if it happens again hed feel bad personally. I bought the part from LS1speed.com, which is not a registered dealer for professional products so they have no idea where they got them from. And therefore ls1speed probably obtained the bad batch balancers some other way.

John at professional products was very nice and very helpful so i would definately recommend their products, however, just be aware of WHO you buy the parts from....

Now once i get the refund, i will be buying a Fluidampr from summit racing.

[j0n]

somewhat good news brosef!

[Knipps]

glad to hear you're getting what you want
customer service knows how to deal with people too so that's a plus

[BonzoHansen]

PP is standing tall, nice to hear. No go find that rcpt!

[best of both]

i wanna go home.... i called AAA at 10:45... its 12 now.... they said 90 min or less... they got 15 min. and some poor tow truck driver had to get out of bed for me hahahahahahaha..

...im really bored.... :-(
Its too bad you dont know someone who works for AAA. Maybe you will if I can make one of the events this year...

[ryanfx]

wow.. what a night!

[V]

UPDATE....

NEW FLUIDAMPR was installed Tuesday May 1st.
I made 7 runs at island at the Wed BBQ event.

Heres what the balancer looked liek before i installed it, so pretty....

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/balbefore.jpg



and
.
.
.
.
Heres what it looks like as of the 1000ft mark on my 7th pass....

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/balafter.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/ssdamage2.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d50/SmokingSS/ssdamage1.jpg


The new bolt apparently just backed out and the balancer came off... It was all torqued to spec so i dunno... When it came off, not only did it do the damage seen in the pics(k member, tierod, a/c idler pulley) it also hit the water pump pulley which now spins ever so slightly off center. so new water pump is needed now too(electric this time though). I'm also getting yet another fluidamper but an ARP balancer bolt this time and going to locktite the hell out of it..... but on the bright side, 5th run broke into the 12s at 115mph... still on street tires with a 2.257 60'.

[Knipps]

:w00t: for getting it all fixed up
the pics you showed me initially were pretty bad :-?

[trashman01]

hm u and 98tadriver going for the crown of most broken parts? u gotta beat melissa soon!

[V]

so far on the SS, this is my damage list...Currently at 49k miles...

stock clutch(splines spun in the disc itself) @10k miles
driveshaft @36k
Torque arm @36k
rear 1, initial destruction(part of carrier went out through the rear cover) @40k
rear 1, after GM rebuild @41k
block,rod,oil pan @48k
steering rack @48k
Spec clutch and stock clutch slave were wasted @48k
Balancer 1, professional products @49k
Balancer 2, Fluidampr @49k
Tierod @49k
Waterpump @49k


Repairs now will be in the range of $1100...(2k if i decide to do a tubular k member). Dumping more money into it is something im not looking forward to but what can i do. The car will be back at Island soon, but this time it'll be coming on a trailer just in case.... I'm waiting for rear 2 to go next.... i gotta do the axle brace soon too... thats another 300...ugh....

[trashman01]

haha that is why i got a truck, got tired of fixng my car more then i drove it. and now with my truck, i go down fishing trails and loggin roads but thats it. im just trying to get it to look nice nad maybe get some whips