Hey guys, So I was at the Shootout on Friday night. My car had just made its 2nd pass when I heard some knocking in the upper rpms. At idle it was quiet, but when I brought the revs up to around 2k and higher, the knocking would come.

I drained the oil today and sure enough there were some fine metal specs in the oil. So it looks like a spun rod bearing. I still am gonna take the oil pan off to be 100% sure this is what happened.

The block was only a month over a year old. Purchased from Buschur Racing, brand new. It was a standard 2.3 with an oem 100mm crank(which was my old crank and was tested by Buschur and given the clear). The motor had around 2k miles on it.

The motor never leaked oil or burned oil that I noticed. I actually had a little higher than avg oil pressure. It was tuned by Devin at Boostin, rev limit set to 8200, I was shifting at 8 for the two passes I made Friday night.

Just wanting to get some ideas on what to look for as a possible cause as to why a fairly new motor would spin a bearing.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

send it to Buschur for his diagnosis!

 

I have just contacted Buschur on this subject.

When I had my motor built, I supplied my oem 100mm crank. This was the same crank that came out of my old 2.3 which threw a rod. Rod #4 is the one that let go. Buschur said if the crank was tested and checked out ok, that they could use that crank in the build.

Well, the rod bearing that went was #4. I pulled the pan off today to check it out. Seems awful funny to me that the same journal had issues. I cant help but question the machine shops work and inspection of the crank.

 

I haven't had much luck with Buschurs engine either, from day one it was going through ton of oil (0.5qt / 100miles) and then when I did a track day, it spun a rod bearing after about 20min in the first session.

Engine had about 3k miles all together on it.

 

Sorry to hear about your engine. Was it a 2.0 or 2.3?

 

Hmmm, that's interesting. My motor wasn't burning any oil at the time. I have contacted buschur. He said nocould send it back, but he said the chances of him making the mistake is slim to none. I think I'll just take it to boostin instead of wasting money on shipping fornhimbto most likely tell me I'm sol.

 

I've had no luck with buschur motors as well. Had one last me 1000 miles. sent it back to et it rebuilt almost payed the same for a new one. Then sold it to someone locally and they had nothing but issues with the block

 

did u replace your oil cooler?

 

you should never reuse a crank and has already spun a bearing.

 

If you damage a motor, you should have the courtesy to have someone who knows what they are doing take a careful look at it before you start a thread speculating that the motor builder could be at fault. That's particularly true when you refuse to send it back to them to have it checked out.

There are lots of reasons you can spin a bearing that are your fault. You could have low oil pressure, a too aggressive tune, or a host of other causes... I am not saying that it was your fault, but it's impossible for anyone else to tell from behind their internet keyboards.

The best way to identify the cause is to have a motor builder who knows what they are doing carefully disassemble the motor, measure what they can, and identify the most likely cause of the damage. Unless you've done that, the rest is just a guess.

Good luck with getting the motor rebuilt and back on the road.

 

Oil cooler was replaced with abrand new oem one as well as brand new oem lines. New oem front case and oil pump, as well as a brand new oem oil pan.

The last motor wasnt the victim of a spun bearing that I was aware of, it just had a rod failure.

I understand what you are saying. I havnt REALLY thrown anyone under the bus just yet. I am simply stating that this is the 2nd motor to have failed with the same crank, on the same journal/cylinder. It just simply makes me question the shop Buschur uses to machine and inspect his engine parts and/or Buschur for telling me the crank was just fine. There is a chance that the crank did test just fine, it seems a little ironic to me is all.

To answer a few of your questions on the car, I actually had a slight higher than normal oil pressure. As for the tune, Devin from Boostin tuned the car and it was no where near aggressive for what the motor should have been able to handle.

I am gonna have the motor checked out, but by someone that I have more trust in. Its gonna go to Devin at Boostin and I will let him check it out for me. I can drive the block up myself and get a face to face interaction.

There is some distrust in Buschur to be honest, but the main reason why I am not sending him my block is because its roughly $200 to ship the block one way. I am not gonna throw $400 for shipping there and back for him to most likely tell me I am screwed. He himself is saying the chances of him making a mistake on the build are slim to none. So in that case, why waste my money??

 

I get that it hurts when you lose a newish motor. I feel for you there, for sure.

If the last motor lost a rod, it could certainly have affected the crank journal on that #4 throw. You'll get a better idea when the motor has been disassembled.

I'm not a regular Buschur customer, and don't own a Buschur motor. All I'm saying it that this thread (and many others like it about any number of motor builders or parts vendors) should not have mentioned the builder unless and until you had a good idea what happened and presented it to the builder first to see if he agreed with your diagnosis and would make it right if it was his fault. Lots of people will read this thread and never come back to find out what the cause was after the teardown gives you a better idea of what happened. It's just fair not to throw guesses out there w/o doing your homework first...

Again, good luck with getting your car back on the road.