anyone ever seen this before.pulled my head last night and some metallic debris had gotten under the cam journals on the exhaust side and scored them pretty bad. after seeing the cam damage we started pulling the ARP head bolts and studs.one of the washers was crushed completely,and i'm guessing that is where the debris came from.

how much torque would this take?200ft-lb?couldn't believe it.i thought maybe they lost one and just used a different washer,but it is the same as the other,just destroyed.

hope you can see it in the pic.it is completely distorted and has shartp edges all around now.it is also about half the the thickness of the others.

 

It looks like the washer wasn't installed flat on the head bolt holes before it was tightened. When you install them, they often hang up on the valve springs. You have to coax them in place on several studs. If tightened down without being flat, it binds the valve spring every time the cam pushes it down.

 

makes sense,but how did it get torqued and how was it crushed?wouldn't they notice when torquing the head bolts?

i didn't build this motor.just took it apart b/c it started smoking about 3000 miles after i bought it.sucks too b/c when i bought it it only had 2000 miles and it ran great(although it was a matter of time) and made zero noise.drove it for a couple thousand miles and then had it tuned for E85 and it made 708whp(dynojet).when i bought it it had a conservative 93 tune and was putting down 440whp(dynodynamic),right after the big numbers it started smoking.

the cylinder walls look awesome,but we haven't pulled motor yet to look at the bottom.

it's a shame whoever built it screwed the pooch,b/c now i'm going to spend some big bucks and do it right.i'm getting one of Jack's Transmissions 2.4LR crate motors,which are actually unbelievably cheap for what goes in them.his crate motor is about as much as some of the short blocks assemblies i have seen while looking and it's loaded with billet goodness.

 

you're 100% its exactly the same? Is it much thinner than the others because of being crushed?

Honestly, to crush that type of grade washer, you would of cracked the head IMO.... if it is indeed an ARP washer, its a bad part.

 

If it seems too good to be true it probably is. Why not just rebuild what you have? If the cylinder walls are good and you just need to freshen up the motor that would be MUCH cheaper than a new longblock.

 

I just looked and their 2.4LR rebuild with a core is $7400 which isnt less than a shortblock anywhere else except the 2.3RR from AMS. Price sounds about right to me.

 

You can torque it down even if it's not installed flat. The side catching the valve spring is only a mm our so higher. I don't know if that is what actually happened though. I check everything 4 or 5 times myself because I'm kinda compulsive and afraid I'm going to make a mistake. I just don't believe a steel washer would squish from torque before it squished into the aluminum head.

 

I really don't think that last one is an ARP washer... even crushed, it would not add that much diameter to the washer...

 

Looks to me it's the wrong one too you can see where it left the impression in the center what would make the whole washer flatten if the nut only covers a portion

 

i am not 100% sure,but it just appears to be made of the same material and i put it and another good one on a scale and they weight the same,the exact same,5 grams.i was just guessing since the weight was so close.

but you guys are probably right,i don't see how they could have crushed it,inless maybe the springs did it over time like steven said.

never seen anything like it.

 

i am not going to name names in here,but there are several.

 

That can't be an ARP washer... Who installed them?

 

i say the builder lost one, went to home depo, got some bbq paint, he will never notice lol

 

the guy i bought it from's buddy,who actually runs a legit garage in Chicago.

i guess it's got to be some other washer,like XAN said,he lost one and went to Depot and bought one that looked close.odd they weigh the same though.i sure ARP washers are going to heavier than most any washer a hardware store sells.

 

the carnage which i believe this f'ed up washer caused: