RIP LS3 - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

CALLAWAY11 · 05-03-2017, 03:35 PM

Hey there, so I'll have two versions of this story, a short one and a long one.

Short- So pretty catastrophic, a piece of my rolling lifter broke off and it ran through my motor and chewed up my camshaft. Which then ran more metal through my motor, Awesome!

Just how I wanted to start this season after all I've done to the car over the winter.

Long- At the end of last year, I started to hear a faint tick coming from the motor on the passenger side. Probably should've stopped driving the car, lol, but thought that sound could've been in my head, it wasn't. Parked the car for the winter and had other things worked on instead of the motor, oops. Fast forward to nice weather and started driving the car and didn't really hear the tick and thought maybe it went away but wanted my tuner to check it out and had a date scheduled to take it in.

Two weeks before that date, It was a beautiful warm and sunny sunday and took the car for a cruise and all was well. I was heading home and I saw a hellcat at a light and figured I would mess around with him. So we are both at the light and he had drag radials on and my eyes lit up. He never even glanced at me the whole time and he gunned it when the light turned green, took me by surprise and I was playing catch up, I catch him and the next thing I know, I hear this beeping and look at my gauges and it says "low engine oil, turn off motor"

Then I heard this sound coming from my motor but it went away. When all this happened, I was literally shaking, like I was in a accident or something. U just knew this was bad. I was two blocks from my house when this happened and my car seemed ok, that low engine oil light would come on and off. I nursed it back home and was hoping it was just low on oil, i put more oil in hoping to turn off that code but that didn't work. I started it and it sounded like crap, turned it off immediately and didn't start it again. Took it to the shop and thats when i found out all the horrible news.

I could go in to more detail about what happened all my options of what to do. Since the motor was out and had to be completely gone through and at my power level, if I was going to forge the motor, now's the time. For him to go through my block, heads, cam plus other parts, I could buy a forged bottom end and aftermarket heads for literally the same price. So thats what I did. So no more LS3, I now have a fully forged TSP LQ9 stroked to 408 with TFS heads. Holy crap! This motor has so much potential. I cant wait to get her back together and back on the streets.
I'm going to essentially bolt back on all my old parts, cant wait to see the numbers on the car.

CALLAWAY11 · 05-03-2017, 03:38 PM

This is not where my motor is supposed to be.

CALLAWAY11 · 05-03-2017, 03:40 PM

Here's all my parts that's supposed to be on my motor

CALLAWAY11 · 05-03-2017, 03:42 PM

Here's the view from underneath the car without the motor. I have the power hood option on my car so that you can look at the motor, not anymore, lol

InFiD3ViL · 05-03-2017, 03:43 PM

This is my biggest fear, as I am still running stock L99 rockers/trunions and am at 91k miles.

Good luck man! I know this has to hurt. Especially on a beautifully put together car like yours.

CALLAWAY11 · 05-03-2017, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InFiD3ViL

This is my biggest fear, as I am still running stock L99 rockers/trunions and am at 91k miles.

Good luck man! I know this has to hurt. Especially on a beautifully put together car like yours.

Thanks, it sure does hurt but its going to be better then ever, that's the only good news.

Spec · 05-03-2017, 04:19 PM

Man, sorry to hear... and I can relate. I had a rocker and spring on cylinder 3 go out on me at 83K miles while just cruising at 77mph on I-15 one early morning. Dash lit up and the car sounded horrible. I called a tow truck and we took it to a GM service center where they broke the news to me. Luckily though, none of it made it into the internals and the repair only cost me around $500. Car's been great since.

On the other hand, yours looks like a blessing in disguise... that's definitely seeing the glass half full after you're all said and done with that bad boy.

05-03-2017, 03:35 PM	#1
CALLAWAY11 Drives: 2011 2SS/RS Callaway Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Macomb, MI Posts: 631	RIP LS3 Hey there, so I'll have two versions of this story, a short one and a long one. Short- So pretty catastrophic, a piece of my rolling lifter broke off and it ran through my motor and chewed up my camshaft. Which then ran more metal through my motor, Awesome! Just how I wanted to start this season after all I've done to the car over the winter. Long- At the end of last year, I started to hear a faint tick coming from the motor on the passenger side. Probably should've stopped driving the car, lol, but thought that sound could've been in my head, it wasn't. Parked the car for the winter and had other things worked on instead of the motor, oops. Fast forward to nice weather and started driving the car and didn't really hear the tick and thought maybe it went away but wanted my tuner to check it out and had a date scheduled to take it in. Two weeks before that date, It was a beautiful warm and sunny sunday and took the car for a cruise and all was well. I was heading home and I saw a hellcat at a light and figured I would mess around with him. So we are both at the light and he had drag radials on and my eyes lit up. He never even glanced at me the whole time and he gunned it when the light turned green, took me by surprise and I was playing catch up, I catch him and the next thing I know, I hear this beeping and look at my gauges and it says "low engine oil, turn off motor" Then I heard this sound coming from my motor but it went away. When all this happened, I was literally shaking, like I was in a accident or something. U just knew this was bad. I was two blocks from my house when this happened and my car seemed ok, that low engine oil light would come on and off. I nursed it back home and was hoping it was just low on oil, i put more oil in hoping to turn off that code but that didn't work. I started it and it sounded like crap, turned it off immediately and didn't start it again. Took it to the shop and thats when i found out all the horrible news. I could go in to more detail about what happened all my options of what to do. Since the motor was out and had to be completely gone through and at my power level, if I was going to forge the motor, now's the time. For him to go through my block, heads, cam plus other parts, I could buy a forged bottom end and aftermarket heads for literally the same price. So thats what I did. So no more LS3, I now have a fully forged TSP LQ9 stroked to 408 with TFS heads. Holy crap! This motor has so much potential. I cant wait to get her back together and back on the streets. I'm going to essentially bolt back on all my old parts, cant wait to see the numbers on the car. __________________ 2011 Callaway SC572 2SS/RS, TVS 2300 Supercharger, 1-7/8" Kooks LT Headers, Fast 85# injectors, E85 Flex Fuel Conversion, Fore Twin Fuel Pumps, MGW flat stick short throw shifter, McLeod RXT twin disc clutch, Liberty Gears Tremec trans, DSS 1000 hp axles, Nitto NT555r drag radials, 10#'s of boost, 702 rwhp/ 697 torque, Recaro seat upgrade

05-03-2017, 03:38 PM	#2
CALLAWAY11 Drives: 2011 2SS/RS Callaway Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Macomb, MI Posts: 631	LS3 out of the car This is not where my motor is supposed to be. Attached Images __________________ 2011 Callaway SC572 2SS/RS, TVS 2300 Supercharger, 1-7/8" Kooks LT Headers, Fast 85# injectors, E85 Flex Fuel Conversion, Fore Twin Fuel Pumps, MGW flat stick short throw shifter, McLeod RXT twin disc clutch, Liberty Gears Tremec trans, DSS 1000 hp axles, Nitto NT555r drag radials, 10#'s of boost, 702 rwhp/ 697 torque, Recaro seat upgrade

05-03-2017, 03:40 PM	#3
CALLAWAY11 Drives: 2011 2SS/RS Callaway Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Macomb, MI Posts: 631	Here's all my parts that's supposed to be on my motor Attached Images __________________ 2011 Callaway SC572 2SS/RS, TVS 2300 Supercharger, 1-7/8" Kooks LT Headers, Fast 85# injectors, E85 Flex Fuel Conversion, Fore Twin Fuel Pumps, MGW flat stick short throw shifter, McLeod RXT twin disc clutch, Liberty Gears Tremec trans, DSS 1000 hp axles, Nitto NT555r drag radials, 10#'s of boost, 702 rwhp/ 697 torque, Recaro seat upgrade

05-03-2017, 03:42 PM	#4
CALLAWAY11 Drives: 2011 2SS/RS Callaway Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Macomb, MI Posts: 631	Here's the view from underneath the car without the motor. I have the power hood option on my car so that you can look at the motor, not anymore, lol Attached Images __________________ 2011 Callaway SC572 2SS/RS, TVS 2300 Supercharger, 1-7/8" Kooks LT Headers, Fast 85# injectors, E85 Flex Fuel Conversion, Fore Twin Fuel Pumps, MGW flat stick short throw shifter, McLeod RXT twin disc clutch, Liberty Gears Tremec trans, DSS 1000 hp axles, Nitto NT555r drag radials, 10#'s of boost, 702 rwhp/ 697 torque, Recaro seat upgrade

05-03-2017, 03:43 PM	#5
InFiD3ViL Drives: 2010 CGM 2SS/RS LS3 Swapped A6 Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Spring Hill, FL Posts: 4,574	This is my biggest fear, as I am still running stock L99 rockers/trunions and am at 91k miles. Good luck man! I know this has to hurt. Especially on a beautifully put together car like yours. __________________ 2010 CGM Camaro 2SS LS3 Swapped A6 - GPI LS3 SS1 .647/.638, (224/237, 112 +4, 7º overlap) on CamMotion 8620 core, BTR Platinum .660" Dual Spring kit w/titanium retainers, CHE bronze trunnion upgrade, stock heads milled @ .015, Melling HV 10296 oil pump, TSP 1-7/8" long tube headers (W/Catless Off-road Pipes), Corsa Xtreme 3" Catback, GPI Ported/Rod Mod Intake, Stage 2 Ported Throttle Body, Vararam OTR CAI, Mike Norris Gen 2 catch can + GM 1LE clean side separator, 160º thermostat - Megan Racing adjustable coilovers (lowered 1.75"), MRR M017 10/11" wheels-Tuned by Ryan @ GPI

05-03-2017, 04:19 PM	#7
Spec Account Suspended Drives: 2010 Camaro 1SS LS3 Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Riverside, CA Posts: 4,018	Man, sorry to hear... and I can relate. I had a rocker and spring on cylinder 3 go out on me at 83K miles while just cruising at 77mph on I-15 one early morning. Dash lit up and the car sounded horrible. I called a tow truck and we took it to a GM service center where they broke the news to me. Luckily though, none of it made it into the internals and the repair only cost me around $500. Car's been great since. On the other hand, yours looks like a blessing in disguise... that's definitely seeing the glass half full after you're all said and done with that bad boy.