In these close tolerance engines, it's unbelievable the chain reaction that can be set off by one failing part. Sometimes you can determine what the source was, and sometimes you'll never know for sure. One of the greatest parts about this forum is the advice from owners who have had the problem and share the cure with others. Building the engine carefully will build reliability into it. We did the rebuild too fast the first two times and paid the price with spun bearings. Honestly, oil pressure is the blood supply for these engines. If your bottom end machining isn't right (no, out of the box "new" isn't "right") and your bearing tolerances aren't right, you can bolt on all the go-fast goodies you want to, and she's gonna blow. Those bottom end bearings, balance shaft too, have to be right.

Decided to do a 1,000 mile and a 2,000 mile check on the latest rebuild. Guess what? The oil pump gear bolt had loosened both times. Tore the belt side down and thread-locked and tack-welded that bad boy! Boosting while getting well over 600hp to the wheels is no time to doubt what might let go.

You should look at your rebuild as a chance to study and learn why these cars are such an amazing engineering feat. Seriously, what manufacturer even comes close to the output per liter of these cars? Take your time on the rebuild and then you will have confidence in your engine, and the reliability will earn you the respect of others.

After almost a year and a half of her sitting on jackstands, and person after person flaking out on selling me an engine, a big leap forward was made on Saturday morning. I now have a freshly bored .020 over block, nice cross hatching on the walls. The shortblock came with Manley H Beam Rods and Forged Weiseco pistons. He also claimed the crank is forged but it looks like a factory crank to me. The whole assembly has been balanced. Either way, I got forged pistons and rods, a good crank, and a good block, off Craigslist for $700. I will be having a machinist give it the once over, and I will blue print the rest and make sure to plastiguage my bearing clearances and such. She will live once more.
I do have a question though. My 20g Turbo had less than 300 miles on it when the engine went. What can I do to ensure that my turbochargers internals do not contain any engine metal debris? I do not want to gamble with a brand new forged build, but it would kill me to junk a brand new Turbo. It spins free with no grinding or resistance and it had zero shaft play.

Disassemble, clean, inspect, reassemble.

What about inside the CHRA itself?

thats why youd disassemble it...

you may be better off sending it out to be checked out through a supporting vendor or specific turbo shop. im sure justin could help you out with it.

TurboLaserRS said:

What about inside the CHRA itself?

Click to expand...

As tametalon92 says, that's exactly why you would disassemble it. I'm not talking about pulling it off the manifold and looking at it.. you would have to disassemble it entirely.
If you do not feel comfortable with doing that, and being able to reassemble it properly, parts and balance, then send it out.

Here's some more carnage for you guys. Finally got the engine and trans out. The clutch friction material is in astoundingly good condition for a DSM with 162K on the clock, and I wasn't nice to that poor clutch either. As you'll see in the pictures, the failure occurred at cylinder #3. An oil squirter was broken off by collateral damage. Only 1 rod actually exited the engine, but even then the damage is immense.

daaaaaaammmn
perfect candidate for a coffee table though..