[Back To Pray]

Today I got a call from my local mechanic diagnosing my vehicle saying that 2 pistons failed and that I melted my catalytic converters.

He recommended I go with the stage 3 kit they offer, it's estimated around $18,000 - $19,000.
(long tube headers, cam, bigger Procharger pulley, better blowoff valve, intake)
At that point I asked how much it will be to just get me rolling again, he said he'll get back to me with that by tomorrow.

After hearing that, forged pistons and a cat delete might be what I end up going with.
I was really hoping to keep my budget under 10K.
18K just seems like a lot of money but I'd love to upgrade what I can while I have the engine apart.
Thoughts?
Here are some pictures.

[Back To Pray]

Texas Speed has this sweet kit.
https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5649-t...RoCbtIQAvD_BwE

[s346k]

what was the setup on the car before it broke? what broke it?

[Trochoidal]

Originally Posted by Back To Pray

Today I got a call from my local mechanic diagnosing my vehicle saying that 2 pistons failed and that I melted my catalytic converters.

He recommended I go with the stage 3 kit they offer, it's estimated around $18,000 - $19,000.
(long tube headers, cam, bigger Procharger pulley, better blowoff valve, intake)
At that point I asked how much it will be to just get me rolling again, he said he'll get back to me with that by tomorrow.

After hearing that, forged pistons and a cat delete might be what I end up going with.
I was really hoping to keep my budget under 10K.
18K just seems like a lot of money but I'd love to upgrade what I can while I have the engine apart.
Thoughts?
Here are some pictures.

You can’t catch a break. Is this the replacement Fireball 700 engine from a few years ago?

So did the mechanic tell you what caused the failures? I recall you were having fuel pump issues.

I’d go with all new forged internals and make it better than before.

[SATINSTEEL1LE]

This is a normal LT1 failure with too much boost.

[Back To Pray]

Originally Posted by Trochoidal

You can’t catch a break. Is this the replacement Fireball 700 engine from a few years ago?

So did the mechanic tell you what caused the failures? I recall you were having fuel pump issues.

I’d go with all new forged internals and make it better than before.

It all happened while I was cruising @ 40mph and I used an MSD 2step set to 4k rpm.

And yes, it's been an interesting ride, the engine and trans were warrantied.
The fuel pump issue was pretty weird. The vehicle had been back and forth to my local dealer half a dozen times with no resolution. In the end, I was unplugging and cleaning contacts and ended up resolving the issue after discovering a charred contact on a wire harness located in the trunk above the rear-driver side tire.
The issue has only come up again once since cleaning the harness originally, but a wire brushing seems to take care of that.

[Back To Pray]

Originally Posted by s346k

what was the setup on the car before it broke? what broke it?

pretty much stock everything with a D1SC procharger and a tune.
The day it broke, I was hooning it a bit with a MSD 2step I had just received and it just went.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by Back To Pray

pretty much stock everything with a D1SC procharger and a tune.
The day it broke, I was hooning it a bit with a MSD 2step I had just received and it just went.

Drop the compression ratio with some forged pistons. What is your fuel system setup?

[LT1ornothing]

[QUOTE=Joshinator99;11165867]Drop the compression ratio with some forged pistons. What is your fuel system setup?[/QUOTE]

I would also really like to know as well. This situation screams pump 93 sbe LT1 with a blower and many prayers.

[KingLT1]

You could easily get that running back up again for less then 18k.

Get a set of lower compression drop in forged piston/rods kit(GPI)
LT5 cam
DOD delete
LS7 lifters
Headers
LT4 fuel system

Now that you lowered compression you can run 93 octane a lot further and the LT4 fuel system will support a decent amount of power on pump gas. I don't see why you couldn't make upwards of 700-750whp and the car will drive like a stock Camaro.

Or do a mild cam instead of the LT5 but that adds substantial cost to the build. Now you need better lifters, valve springs, push rods, VVT lockout kit, trunnion kit...etc.

[95 imp]

What do the cylinder walls look like?

[ZL14ever]

MSD 2-step==>unburnt fuel in exhaust==>melted cats==>increased backpressure==>broken piston