1999 Longhorn Nauique Restoration

[dhmcfadin]

Dang! What a huge set back. That sucks!

I hope you've found a reputable engine builder. Hopefully, you can get it on the water before the weather gets cold.

It’s unfortunate but everything will work out just fine.

[dhmcfadin]

Yikes. Good thing you stripped it down. Probably on to something with the wrong oil pump being installed - all that damage can be oil starvation related.

The hone in those cylinders looks like it was done with a drill and 60 grit. What a hack job.

Yeah, the hone is something else.

[Evening Shade]

Dang! What a huge set back. That sucks!

I hope you've found a reputable engine builder. Hopefully, you can get it on the water before the weather gets cold.

[SilentSeven]

Yikes. Good thing you stripped it down. Probably on to something with the wrong oil pump being installed - all that damage can be oil starvation related.

The hone in those cylinders looks like it was done with a drill and 60 grit. What a hack job.

[dhmcfadin]

Small update. The engine is now completely broken down. The damage was much worse than just main bearings. Below is just a couple pics. The damage includes:
-all 8 cylinders have scoring
-piston rings are shot
-main bearings shot
-cam bearings shot
-3 of the 8 wrist pins were seized upon removing the piston from the cylinder
-Crank is scored and has to be re-ground
-Once the heads were off, it was apparent the engine had been burning a substantial amount of oil in the short 10 hours it was run.

Couple other interesting things found:
-Instead of the cam being installed straight up, it was set retarded.
-A high volume oil pump was used instead of high pressure pump. The way the pump was setup and with the small oil pain on this engine, the pump was essentially sucking the oil pan dry at higher rpm.
-The cylinder wall honing was horizontal not crosshatched.

Since the engine had to be taken down to the bare block, cleaned, and re-honed, I looked at this as a second chance to build something nicer. I am going to stick with the pistons, crank, cam, and heads I already have but this time, I am going to have the engine completely balanced. I want this thing to be absolutely perfect this time around. I just hope this suit isn't drug out. Either way, I don't think the boat will be ready until next summer.

[dhmcfadin]

I can almost understand a hack wiring job from an engine builder... some people just hate wiring, but the valve cover and material found in the engine from that grinding is just plain uncalled for!!! Did the builder do the machine work as well or just assembly? If he did it all I would definitely be checking bearing clearances, bore size/roundness, etc... If he thought grinding a hole in a valve cover while on the engine and reusing headbolts was okay then there's no telling what else he decided to "save money on"!

What heads are you pulling off... I can't remember?

He did not do the machine work. A very reputable local shop did. And I was present for the mechanical portion of the build. Attaching pistons to rods, installing the crank, installing the cam, etc. He also reverified all of the clearances in front of me. That's what is so weird about the whole thing. Initially it seemed like he did quality work. Once I left his shop, things went way down hill.

The heads on there now are Windsor Seniors. The original and what I am going back to are GT40P's

[core-rider]

What was concerning to them is that this oil wasnÂ’t the break-in oil. The engine had been run/tuned on the dyno for about 10 hours over the course of a few days. Oil was changed. Then the engine went to the new shop. They did their inspection and ran it for about 5 hours on the engine stand. The oil Blackstone tested was the second oil change. They said had it been the break-in oil, the results would be almost normal. But being the second oil change, they said that initial material should have been somewhat purged.

I definitely donÂ’t want to have to pull the engine again once itÂ’s back in the boat. I think if the cylinder walls are ok, replacing main rod bearings should do it. IÂ’m already doing a head and intake swap to maintain a little more originality (going back to a ported version of the gt40 intake and gt40p heads). Might as well dig all the way in so I can sleep at night. Reliability and longevity are key.

I can almost understand a hack wiring job from an engine builder... some people just hate wiring, but the valve cover and material found in the engine from that grinding is just plain uncalled for!!! Did the builder do the machine work as well or just assembly? If he did it all I would definitely be checking bearing clearances, bore size/roundness, etc... If he thought grinding a hole in a valve cover while on the engine and reusing headbolts was okay then there's no telling what else he decided to "save money on"!

What heads are you pulling off... I can't remember?

[dhmcfadin]

If you paid by credit card for all the work, call your credit card company, and get them involved. They will help greatly if you are not happy with your service. I have had them refund the purchase, contact the service provider, and work out many things that i thought were impossible. Paying with a Credit card has more advantages than just the possibility of paying over time.

Unfortunately, I did not pay with credit card. He is retired and does this as a hobby.

[Stevemo14]

If you paid by credit card for all the work, call your credit card company, and get them involved. They will help greatly if you are not happy with your service. I have had them refund the purchase, contact the service provider, and work out many things that i thought were impossible. Paying with a Credit card has more advantages than just the possibility of paying over time.

[Evening Shade]

Sounded like you had found a great engine builder. Sorry the guy turned out to be a hack. I was thinking that the engine would be one of the easier parts of the build. Good luck in court and keep the updates coming!

[dhmcfadin]

Sounds like what I might do..pull the heads, check the bores, put in new bearings and believe in the goodness of the almighty. Be interesting to see what your new shop thinks is the right plan.

Aluminum was normal so I am hoping the pistons are ok. Bright side of this situation is I’ve learned a lot. End result will still be worth it.

[SilentSeven]

Sounds like what I might do..pull the heads, check the bores, put in new bearings and believe in the goodness of the almighty. Be interesting to see what your new shop thinks is the right plan.

[dhmcfadin]

Interesting. Initial break in generates a lot of materials I suspect. I've only used Blackstone to check the wear on broken in engines. Never during the run-in period. Looks like they didn't have any strong opinion one way or the other.

Is there any way you can run it for 10 hours like they suggest or will you just do tear down? It might almost be better at this time to have your new builder check the bores and - if they look good - replace the mains, rod bearings, reseal it and call it good. Hard call... :/

What was concerning to them is that this oil wasnÂ’t the break-in oil. The engine had been run/tuned on the dyno for about 10 hours over the course of a few days. Oil was changed. Then the engine went to the new shop. They did their inspection and ran it for about 5 hours on the engine stand. The oil Blackstone tested was the second oil change. They said had it been the break-in oil, the results would be almost normal. But being the second oil change, they said that initial material should have been somewhat purged.

I definitely donÂ’t want to have to pull the engine again once itÂ’s back in the boat. I think if the cylinder walls are ok, replacing main rod bearings should do it. IÂ’m already doing a head and intake swap to maintain a little more originality (going back to a ported version of the gt40 intake and gt40p heads). Might as well dig all the way in so I can sleep at night. Reliability and longevity are key.

[SilentSeven]

Interesting. Initial break in generates a lot of materials I suspect. I've only used Blackstone to check the wear on broken in engines. Never during the run-in period. Looks like they didn't have any strong opinion one way or the other.

Is there any way you can run it for 10 hours like they suggest or will you just do tear down? It might almost be better at this time to have your new builder check the bores and - if they look good - replace the mains, rod bearings, reseal it and call it good. Hard call... :/

[dhmcfadin]

Here is how they deliver the results and what they test for: