502 Update

[Scott Heidt]

Hey everyone,

For those of you who remember my post "Just Can't Win"
Here are some recent photos of the block and heads. Two cylinders never fired and two cylinders are burned badly. Also from the photos,I believe answer how water got into the block.

One of the tuff things that I am facing is that I am not a mechanic. MY uncle who installed the engine, the guy who sold me the engine, and numerous co workers have all chimed in, and I am stuck in the middle with a $6,700.00 that for all intense and purpose will have to be rebuilt. My thought is that the damaged was caused by either an improper breakin and or incorrect distributor/ faulty distributor/ or inccorect timming adjustment.

I welcome input and questions because, I want to know the exact cause of this. I do not want to sink anymore money into this engine untill I get answers. Too much money has gone down the drain and the big bucks that will be needed to get my boat going again.... well I just don't want to think about that.. This has really taken the wind out of my sails.

Any way here are the photos. :puke:

[Scott Heidt]

Here are the rest of the photos!

[BUIZILLA]

Before we get started with online diagnosis, what has the selling agent told you so far as to failure reasoning and cause? I see a couple glaring irregularities already, but we need to hear from the source first.

J

hint... I was right all along... partly anyways...

[GKricheldorf]

Scott,
In your "just can't win" post you said you were not sure if it were a marine block or a passenger block. Were you able to determine what you have?

Look for tapped holes over the oil filter, drilled and tapped holes for camshaft thrust plate.

[mikev]

it looks like the head gasket went bad in one of the photos thats where the water cam from you can see the rust trail from the water passage to the cylinder. the two that didnt fire i bet the plug wires were swapped.

[DUCATIF1]

Didn't you post earlier that the two cyl's with low compression were on opposing banks? Your pictures of above would contradict this? How did he get good reading out of cyl that in pic appear bad. What has dealer told you as far as warranty issues?? Good luck, but next time NEVER use a relative.

[springs]

What was the cam shaft duration?

[Scott Heidt]

What was the cam shaft duration?
Quick Note! This will be short. Just got back into town and very tired.

1. Note taken on having a relative work on the boat! I love my uncle to death but there is no recourse if things go bad!


2. I spoke with a third mechanic today, and he shed some light on things. I will try to describe what he told me as best as a layman can. One of two things happend. It was either the cam timing was way off when the motor was assembled or when my uncle installed the distributor he got the firing order wrong/ timming was incorrect, or maybe the distributor issue. Basically, my understanding is that with a major timming issue the pistons fired incorrectly causing two pistons to burn up. The one piston that was really cooked , you can see where the gasket failed, thus allowing water to get into the block.

Regardless, it is time to move on and look ahead. I found a good mechanic and we are going to tear the block down and magnaflux the engine, see what parts can be saved, and get a game plan together. Since this will be a total rebuild, I am going to do some upgrades and build a slightly bored out sweer lil engine.

Thanks for the input! Have a great weekend guys!

[Scott Heidt]

Didn't you post earlier that the two cyl's with low compression were on opposing banks? Your pictures of above would contradict this? How did he get good reading out of cyl that in pic appear bad. What has dealer told you as far as warranty issues?? Good luck, but next time NEVER use a relative.


Yeah I thought about that to when I saw the pictures. I got those numbers from my uncle. Maybe he made a mistake when he told me the numbers over the phone.

At this time I don't feel that I have any recourse. I feel that the cause may have been on our part. The only recourse would be if the cam timming was incorrect when it was built. The motor is with the dealer and I am sure that was one of the first things they looked at, and that is something that can easily be repositioned. We are picking up the motor Tuesday and that will be the first thing we check.

One thing I have learned about litigation is that unless you have an air tight case. Sometimes it is better to put your money into repairing the problem. Because nothing is certain and you could just wind up paying boat loads of money to an attorney and have nothing to show for it in the end. It is a tuff call.

Thanks for your input

[DUCATIF1]

Still confused as to what actually happened to your engine but just a little advise; Do a little research on machine shop as many have this local legend thing going for them that really doesn't reflect their actual work. The best advise I can give you is pay the $3-500 to have your assy dynoed. This assures it is properly broken in, tuned, and ready to go. If anything goes wrong it won't be on you this time. If they do not offer this service you are in wrong place. I would also have all accys re-tested. There are plenty of gearheads on this site that can direct you before you make a choice in a QUALITY performance oriented machine shop. I would never use an engine that I personally haven't seen run. I build cars and just in a boat there is just too much work to do things twice. Good luck!!

[Donzi22zx]

The motor failed because of detination, look at the piston it clearly shows that. there are many reasons this could have happened.

[Scott Heidt]

The motor failed because of detination, look at the piston it clearly shows that. there are many reasons this could have happened.

That was the term I was trying to remember! The mechanic I met with on Saturday discussed that with me. Does this type of thing happen very often?

[Scott Heidt]

Still confused as to what actually happened to your engine but just a little advise; Do a little research on machine shop as many have this local legend thing going for them that really doesn't reflect their actual work. The best advise I can give you is pay the $3-500 to have your assy dynoed. This assures it is properly broken in, tuned, and ready to go. If anything goes wrong it won't be on you this time. If they do not offer this service you are in wrong place. I would also have all accys re-tested. There are plenty of gearheads on this site that can direct you before you make a choice in a QUALITY performance oriented machine shop. I would never use an engine that I personally haven't seen run. I build cars and just in a boat there is just too much work to do things twice. Good luck!!

I hear ya on the Dyno. It is a small price to pay. I will be posting updates. We are picking up the engine today and my new mechanic will start to go through the engine and take a close look at the accessories this weekend to see where we are at and formulate a game plan. :sombrero: