My Camaro went home to Oshawa to die......

[Huggerorange73]

Originally Posted by Camarowguy

Any valves broke? Bent? Contact the piston? Looks like cheesy stock litters by the looks of that wire retainer. What pushrods? Springs are double? Single? Beehive? There's a reason behind this failure and I'm anxious to know. What was the rev limit set at? Unfortunately there's alot more to putting a cam in than just sliding it in and putting the recommended springs in. Geometry of the rocker arm must be correct. Installed height must be correct. Piston to valve clearance must be checked. Retainer to guide clearance checked. Coil bind. I hope your shop did all the correct installation precautions.

Do you see any pits on the piston top? They might be really really small.

So far, it appears that no valves or springs broke. I know for sure the intake valve on # 1 is bent...I can see that through the port. Pushrods are from Trick Flow ( 7.400 pushrods ) Springs are dual Patriot Gold LSx kit. I have to verify the exact RPM of the limiter. The car ran perfect from the time the cam was installed 9/2/10 till destruction day 6/10/11.

Haven't pulled the heads yet...stay tuned.

[Huggerorange73]

Originally Posted by Wandering Scot

Imo once you make the decision to mod your engine you lose any warranty coverage on the engine if not any attendant drivetrain components as well.
It's called accepting responsibility for your actions. I have a s/c on both my 2SS and my SRT8 knowing full well that if anything were to go wrong it would be my baby.
While it sucks that you had an engine let go, you are the one that chose to modify the engine and void your warranty, it's unreasonable to expect GM to accept any responsibility when YOUR ACTIONS voided the terms of the warranty contract.
Deal with it.

Fair enough....but I would think GM would have some interest in this failure..this one is EPIC.

Originally Posted by PQ

I hate this shit. I've posted just now like 5 times. It keeps locking up.

I'm assuming that was oil on the ground? Did you ever get a chance to check the level?

I checked the level before we hit the road, but not after the chunk hit the car...you never know I guess.

Originally Posted by mikeSS

welcome to michigan

I now can say your roads suck worse than Chicago roads.

[Jamie Mac]

Originally Posted by Wandering Scot

Imo once you make the decision to mod your engine you lose any warranty coverage on the engine if not any attendant drivetrain components as well.
It's called accepting responsibility for your actions. I have a s/c on both my 2SS and my SRT8 knowing full well that if anything were to go wrong it would be my baby.
While it sucks that you had an engine let go, you are the one that chose to modify the engine and void your warranty, it's unreasonable to expect GM to accept any responsibility when YOUR ACTIONS voided the terms of the warranty contract.
Deal with it.

He is accepting responsibility for his actions so quit being an asshole. Is voiding a warranty a reason to not find the root of the problem? His work may or may not be the cause of the problem. Personally I would think GM would want to get their hands on this engine to make sure they don't have a design, material, or process or quality control problem. That's not to say they should be buying him a new engine unless there is indeed a problem on their end. God forbid a set of p-zeros actually hook up on an unmodded early car like Huggers using launch control, it'll shear the defective output shaft. I've an early car too and know it's when not if and even though they know it's a problem I'll probably be footing the bill.

[mikeSS]

might be a dumb question but i can not remember,is it recommend to change lifters with new cam ?

[Huggerorange73]

Originally Posted by Jamie Mac

He is accepting responsibility for his actions so quit being an asshole. Is voiding a warranty a reason to not find the root of the problem? His work may or may not be the cause of the problem. Personally I would think GM would want to get their hands on this engine to make sure they don't have a design, material, or process or quality control problem. That's not to say they should be buying him a new engine unless there is indeed a problem on their end. God forbid a set of p-zeros actually hook up on an unmodded early car like Huggers using launch control, it'll shear the defective output shaft. I've an early car too and know it's when not if and even though they know it's a problem I'll probably be footing the bill.

Originally Posted by mikeSS

might be a dumb question but i can not remember,is it recommend to change lifters with new cam ?

On an L99 without a doubt...on an LS3, not so much....but LS7 lifters can't hurt.

[RubyCamaro]

:( So sorry about this. I hope you will find a way to make it come out okay. Keep up posted.

[rally yellow ss rs]

It is unfortunate, but you sound like you had fun with it while it lasted. If GM had these cars putting out more stock HP and TQ, to counter its heavy weight, owners wouldnt mod as much. Maybe doing the mods just shortens the life with this car, and getting the LSX S/C combo...ZR1 setup...may be the best for longevity. Its a fact GM pumped these off of the assembly line, ecspecially the early models, and rushed with assembly. I too have a early 10 model, and bet I will have defects under 50k.

[CraziGuy]

Dang man that blows.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by Huggerorange73

So far, it appears that no valves or springs broke. I know for sure the intake valve on # 1 is bent...I can see that through the port. Pushrods are from Trick Flow ( 7.400 pushrods ) Springs are dual Patriot Gold LSx kit. I have to verify the exact RPM of the limiter. The car ran perfect from the time the cam was installed 9/2/10 till destruction day 6/10/11.

Haven't pulled the heads yet...stay tuned.

Check your timing belt tensioner. I bet it's broken. Skipped timing and the rest is the result. Poston hits tdc while piston is full open and the rest is obvious.

Was talking to GTAHVIT and it's a known issue. (known as in owners. Not GM)

Hard to say wether the tensioner breaks and creates the chain result or the chain result breaks the tensioner. But some tensioners have been found missing or broken without an engine failure.

[Elykson]

Well, I was right behind Mike when this happened and I don't think he was doing anything wrong. We both took off at the light to get ahead of traffic to merge, but he wasn't leaving me in the dust. He was just blowing it all out of his exhaust pipes onto my freshly cleaned vehicle. Haha.

Just let me know if I can do anything for you Mike (I'm not buying you an engine) I hope you enjoyed the other aspects of the trip.

[rally yellow ss rs]

Your loss, as well as others, should be added to a Cam build master thread. This will allow us what combos work, and if something should be upgraded prior to the swap.

[PQ]

Originally Posted by rally yellow ss rs

Your loss, as well as others, should be added to a Cam build master thread. This will allow us what combos work, and if something should be upgraded prior to the swap.

At least an engine failure thread, could help to find any common problems and reasons for failure.

[SSOOCH]

This thread is bullshit! I wish it was never created. Sucks Mike :(

[mikeSS]

Originally Posted by rally yellow ss rs

be the best for longevity. Its a fact GM pumped these off of the assembly line, ecspecially the early models, and rushed with assembly. I too have a early 10 model, and bet I will have defects under 50k.

here the thing. you don't hear a lot about stock engines having failures maybe leaks and such. i think the problem is his cam setup+ shop. something there messed up.

i remember the last thread i was reading, was this guy put a small GM cam in without changing the valve train. and other thread was when this guy put a cam into his car, and the toke out the cam, and put the stock cam in then blew his engine with the stock cam. i have have heard people in the forced induction blowing engines.

i think people under estimate the level of expertise it takes to mod a engine like this. i even remember Ted at JRE in one thread said, to many shops these days do not dial in the cam right. ( something of those lines)

in the end, when modding a camaro, you need to get the best parts, and have the best in you area install them. you cannot go cheap on ANYTHING.