SinisterEcho's LS3 Mongoose Build Journal

[SinisterEcho]

Look what showed up on Wednesday....

[SinisterEcho]

Progress pictures
In the box


All the wheels off


Front installed


Rears off


Dj taking the rear off


This is how much pad I had left on the fronts.

[SinisterEcho]

This is very long overdue.

Last November (yes week of Thanksgiving 2014) I was driving home from work. I was in the left lane of I-25S heading towards Denver when I heard a strange knocking/ticking sound. Unsure of where it was coming from I (stupidly) continued to drive. At the time i was almost positive that the sound was coming from a nearby truck so I decided to speed up and pass it. At that point, I had realized my mistake. As i accelerated, the knock/tick increased in frequency.

I immediately began damage assessment (as I was still driving) looking at my gauges and found oil pressure fluttering between 0 and 15psi (norm for me is a little more that 30psi). This is when shit hit the proverbial fan. The car, with out warning (aside from the knock and no oil pressure) shut off as I was attempting to merge right to pull on to the shoulder of the highway. Well, if you have ever been in rush hour traffic, moving over is near impossible, so I pulled off to the left at the interchange of E470 and I25. I was able to get off the road with out much trouble and called a tow truck.

I worked on the car over the next few days trying to find out what was causing the oil pressure to drop off so badly and the knock/tick. Eventually I gave up (no the typical hang my head and pout, but kicking and screaming obscenities). I took the car to my tuning shop and had them take a look at it. I also bought a new (2006) car so i had something that would last me and save $180/week in gas. The shop (A.I.R.) called a few days later with some updates. The new CAM was bricked, 3 of my 8 lifters hosed, and some other minor damage done. LUCKILY, no damage to the pistons or walls was done. I had floated a couple of the lifters and that caused the damage. The entire valve train had to be replaced. $3000 later, everything was replaced and the car was running!



I will post more pictures as i can take them. The CAM and Lifters are all at the house.

Fast forward to today, the car has not moved in 6-7 months. Im pretty sure that i need a new alternator, battery, kill switch. The car will not hold a charge and once running does not take much to kill it. I will be working on these things in the up and coming weeks to return her to drive-able status.

Oh, and as a side note, I PAID IT OFF!