For those with their 2nd, 3rd, 4th built engines, im just wondering why some of you are on the 2nd and 3rd built motor. What happened to your 1st built motor. Did it blow up or did you rebuild it with stronger internals. And if you did blow up built engine, how many miles before it went and what caused the destruction. Post up.

 

Most of the failures were due to cooling/headgasket/headlift issues. At lot of these guys on multiple engines have been around since the beginning and had to suffer through the VQ growing pains, when what was "the right way to do things" turned out to be anything but.

 

I built my motor again because I make bad decisions and love wasting money. Mostly just for fun...I love blowing $hit up what can I say?

 

350rookie: Thanks for this thread!! I'm also very interested in this information!

 

 

sleeve install screw up

 

Exactly what he said to a T

 

-dont sleeve

Get Forged Performance S1 short block, that is more than enough and it is the most soild motor package out there. Roughly 30%+ are running this setup with no problems. Their motors can take a beating.

 

I'm only on the first built engine, but my research shows that L19 headstuds and a proper headgasket are items of high importance.

 

There is another thread similar to this I would suggest you read through, the built motor guys sticky. Just as spoilsofwar said, most of the rebuilds are due to head gasket issues. There are many reasons these can fail, be it deck prep, tuning, tq procedure, etc. Just having the right parts isn't enough, assembly is key too.

The only motor we have had to rebuild was our own drag motor, and it broke when we intentionally pushed the limits of the BC rods. We broke the rods at 1200+whp, and then rebuilt with stronger ones.

 

^^^ Dayum! 200whp per rod~ :-)

 

I have L19s and the hks headgasket. The studs were torqued to 93 ftlbs

thats what i also have. the s1 block

 

started of with the timing chain guide breaking, tensioner expanded and busted up my camshaft. my rods and pistons never broke. still running stock headgaskets

 

What bad decisions was it?

 

fixed...and werd

 

good thread,

I im in the process of getting a built motor and upping boost to 15PSI.

http://www.importpartspro.com/st1blon.html

I am considering this short block to minimize down time, but whats your opinion, should i build my stock blow 20K+ miles on it?

what would the machine shop charge for boring, machining and cleaning the block?

would it be less of an error to purchase this short block from Import and just swap the bottom end?

 

Hal,
Every broken motor tells a story of what potentially failed. From the looks of the motor in your above post, it would seem that one end of the motor fell apart while the opposite end held up. What in your opinion "Could" be the culprit?
Do you think there is a potential that one end of the motor has better cooling or better oil delivery than the other? Just a thought. Always looking to see if there is any way to improve on what we know...
Thanks for sharing.

 

I say call forged performnace for this one. I got my block from them and i have 3k miles on mine still running strong, boosting real hard too. and sharif is a great person. willin to help with anything.

 

^ i know he good, but its also 1k more, I will be boosting 15psi on my tiny t25 turbos, max whp will be around 480 and im done

 

ed we all know you are just getting prepared for your built motor to blow again