LE5s have become the MOST common ecotec engine in salvage yards here. They seldom sell for over $500 as a longblock anymore. I'd call LKQ if I were you.

 

Freight charges are criminal, if i pay them it will be with zzp. Then at least I know what I'm getting.

Mechanic pushed balt onto lift, popped #2 piston and measured bearing oil clearance. specs called for .003 to .007, he measured .0025

Popped the remainder to be sent off to his machinist buddy for some rod bore gauging, thinking maybe a couple rod caps got mixed up. Unlikely, but eliminate the simple and the problem will isolate itself.

 

damn, after reading the whole post I was hoping it was going to be something easy for you. Sucks you built the motor to have the crank go bad, but I'm glad to see you getting it taken care of. hit to the wallet though

 

Yep, doesn't look like I'll catch a break on this one.

Rod bearing clearance, according to GMPP:

0.029-0.073mm
0.0011-0.0029in.

 

Caught a break, sorta.

Rod caps got switched somehow according to machinist, I had them punched with dots so that will never happen again.

Took advantage of the balt being on a hoist and had them install the zzp neutrals.

Crank free spins now (they say), so back in business...sorta.

Apparently the balt slipped off the front end of the lift, blamed on 'the kid' and my zzp s3 h/e is crushed and the rad may also be fucked. kinda funny when something like that is only a minor detail.

having it flat bedded back home right now to assess the new damage, mechanic has 6 hours in plus the machinist bill and rod bearings so we'll square up once it all gets sorted out.

edit: oh awesome, I've got a box of parts they took off for whatever reason. And my battery is dead.

 

How did you manage that? They are cracked rods, they will only properly clamp down with thier correct partner, as each rod/cap pair is unique

 

Me, a 'helper' and a bag of weed.

 

Yeah, not a good idea to put an engine together high...

 

Lesson learned, first and last time that happens as this began Easter weekend and has dragged on this long in part to me smoking weed when I should have been working to get this back on the road. Had a few other issues, like dealers who didn 't know the difference between crank and rod bearings, mechanics who took 1.5 weeks to bill 6 hours, my 'helper' who transfered the old head peripherals onto the new head but mixed up the INT and EXH cam actuators (surprised no one noticed that on the video), broken parts like the phaser and oil squirter among others.

She cranks with ease, thank god so back on track save the h/e and rad...

Mechanics must have a thing with crushed zzp s3 h/e because this will be my third and both times I never got the old one back. Everything but, so they likely sell them to the scrap yard and pocket a few bucks at my expense. Glad they like them!

 

As my understanding of cracked rods goes...the stock rods are cracked the ZZP rods are not. I swear they were smooth and had pins to line them up.

 

lol@italjoe, read post #32.

this site can be lulz.

 

Maybe you can explain that to me then?

 

Powell was just referring to the fact that the OP was high when he did this lol

 

Nm...now I'm on weed...I swear it originally said post 35.


So do you have an estimate to when youll be back on the road?

 

Ahh, you are right, I went back and looked at the pictures, they aren't cracked. I was thinking he had stock rods. Makes more sense now.

 

Before Dec. 21st 2012

First I had to reinstall the starter (no idea why that was removed), AC motor and tranny/engine bracket. All that lead me to believe they didn't listen when I told them the subframe had to be dropped to install the nbs but rather tried to cheat by dropping the block instead. That didn't work and they dropped subframe a foot and no doubt reused the tty bolts.

They couldn't find torque values for reinstalling the shafts so they said they used red locktight and 'took the air ratchet to them', but wanted me to recheck...yeah will do!

I'll be putting it all back together over the next 2 days and then I work Fri-Sun 6-6 (my new work schedule yay) so by late next week all the tty bolts and S3 h/e should be here from CED and ZZP and I pick up my new rad from the mechanic tomorrow.

 

Sounds like they found a dime bag stashed under your passenger seat.

Earlier you said you were getting a crank, then it spins freely. Did the mechanics deem your crank reusable? Nice if so cause thats a good chunk of $.

 

Crankpin journal was fine. Once the caps found their proper rods they got plastigauged and tolerances were good across the board.

 

I tried filling it up to see if the zzp quality would win the thread, but sadly it has a slow leak out one of the end caps.

 

lol dude did the shop compensate you for that?

 

I got a lightly used radiator and I'll be deducting the cost of an S3 from the final bill. Gonna have them press on my ATI when my last bunch of parts arrive from CED and ZZP. S3 HE from ZZP and all the tty bolts (again) from CED.