First I would like to explain the entire situation.
I had these bearings installed by a professional engine machine shop.
This car has only been ran for about 6 months.
I was running 25psi on a big 16G ported 7cm exhaust and 34mm wastegate.
I have a custom valve train setup, consisting of LS1 and SBC components.
The cam is a custom grind from comp cams.
Still using hydraulic lifters.
Over summer the main engine mount, to head mount, the one that holds all the accessories, came loose while driving.
This caused massive vibration in the belt assembly.
Leading to the timing chain tensioner to fail, how ever it did not skip any teeth.
I have an oil sandwich which is running my pressure tranducer, and my -4AN oil feed line, which has an .030" restrictor at the turbo.
On the sandiwch I have a remote locator plate, which runs to the filter, then to the "steel" oil cooler, then back to the remote locator plate.
On hot days I would only be running 5psi at idle, using 0-50 synthetic Eneos oil.
While running it would be between 20-40psi.
Im also running the HV, HP oil pump swap.

You can see the damage in the pictures that has occured on all five bearings and cam lobes.

Upper portion of cam bearing.


Lower portion of cam bearing.


Cam lobes.


I have a few possible reasons, if anyone can verify or elaborate.

-Cam bearing werent installed correctly, blocking lubrication holes from block?
-Steel oil cooler not working properly, should I replace with aluminum with temp switch activated fan?
-Valve springs, too high pressure?
-Slop in timing chain?
-Starving bearings due to turbo feed / sandwich location?
-PSI too low?
-Blocked passageways in block?

Any other information would be greatly appreciated.
I have been also trying to find a oil flow diagram, does anyone have this?

THANKS!!!!!

Damn Dude.

Do the oil holes line up?? Also when you remove the bearings the rest of the story will be onthe other side, usually in the form of color. Could you take pictures of the other side?

I havent taken the bearings out yet, I just ran into this yesterday.
The machine shop will take them out, but I will have them be saved, so I can get some pictures.
Im going to take some pictures of where the oil galley holes are installed, then once removed,
compare them to where the actual oil gally's are in the block.
This wont be for a while though, im finishing up my boat first.

Sweet, let me know what happens.

Yikes, I'm also going with oil galley misalignment. I've seen the same thing on an LT1. Although your sandwich/cooler situation is definitely unique, I can't see it causing any problems unless something is clogged or defective.


"In Oldskool we trust"

Mine was not a high-performance application, but it looked exactly the same. I attributed it to low oil pressure.
dennis

Im going with low oil pressure. Youre running 0W-50? Thats interesting. Running too thick of oil can cause starvation problems in the top end especially since from the sounds of it you have a lot length for the oil to travel and it may be taking the path of least resistance (somewhere other than your cam bearings). Ive never been a fan of running anything that thick in a modern 4 cyl. Bearing tolerances are too tight for it.

Was the block line bored before the bearings were installed?

Brian (TheSundownFire) wrote:Im going with low oil pressure. Youre running 0W-50? Thats interesting. Running too thick of oil can cause starvation problems in the top end especially since from the sounds of it you have a lot length for the oil to travel and it may be taking the path of least resistance (somewhere other than your cam bearings). Ive never been a fan of running anything that thick in a modern 4 cyl. Bearing tolerances are too tight for it.

Was the block line bored before the bearings were installed?

The block wasnt line bored, I just had the shop install the bearings.
Im thinking I need to run a better cooler setup.
I was seeing 250-280 temps while beating on it.
That is extreamly high.
I might also run a -3 AN fitting, only slightly smaller, but it should reduce the volume going to the turbo.
I looked at the block last night, and there are two ports on the oil gallies above the filter, is anyone using these? Or both?
Im a little frustrated with this car, so the next few weeks are crutial, they will dictate weather I fix it or part it.
I have been builing this since 2005 and it has been in the garage more than on the road.

Thanks

Bobby Higgins wrote:I looked at the block last night, and there are two ports on the oil gallies above the filter, is anyone using these? Or both?

Most people use one of those for the turbo feed.




fortune cookie say: better a delay than a disaster