Hey guys i put in my new GSC turbo cams tonight and when changing the motor oil i found this stuck to my magnetics drain plug. ONly thing i can make it out to be is a sprialock to hold in the wrist pin or maybe a thred from the drain plug hole. Help me diagnose. was going to get tuned friday but thats getting put off now. will probably have to tear down the motor.

Doesnt smoke, doesnt knock has been running strong for 30+ thousand miles. Always run rotella t5 or t6 in the car and oil is changed regularly.

 

it could be a wrist pin
but if you just remove the oilpan you can see them
on the side of the pistons with out full tear down

then only have to sort out one piston

or while your at it do a rering and inspection after those miles on it

 

It's the right overall size, shape, and thickness

 

That's a spirolock.

 

Is that just threading from a joint? I'm curious as well

I spoke to a few techs and engineers where I'm at and they think it could be metal left from machining or threading that came lose from the oil pan. They asked how the engine is running and told them what you said and they said you would know if something came off the wrist pin but you may want to get the thickness and measurement of that part you found and compare it. Hope that makes sense

 

Pull the rod caps off and inspect the bearing wear. I'd imagine you fitted the locks correcty so my finger is pointing at a slightly bent or twisted rod that may have pounded the clip out over time. If you can't see it then you'll need to remove the pistons and inspect them.

Sorry to see this man... look at the bright side though, you've SURE caught it at the right time.

 

 

Not all spiral locks are created equal.

 

You would think if that thing came out during operation it would have really scuffed up the Cylinder walls and side skirts of piston.

 

The groove would have burred if it has been pounded out which maybe the only thing that's stopping the piston pin been pushed into the cylinder wall. Think of the piston to pin clearance and all what it would take to take the clearance up. I think he's very lucky (if it is what I'm thinking)

 

A lot of piston companies still sell their products with two spirolocks for each side, some do not. I've seen this where the last tail end of the spirolock did not seat and it works itself out of the bore over the hundreds of thousands of tension and compression cycles. If there is still a lock in there, you'd never know until it finds it's way to the drain plug.

 

thats why i like circlips... so much easier to install/remove and they normally don't just pop out

they make a tool to firmly seat circlips and install spiralocks with a turn of the wrist...

 

Thanks for all the reply's guys. looks like im tearing the motor down and doing a rebuild. Hopefully no damage other than the one pistons or even something simple like a new spirolock. Can i use circlips with my srp pistons ?

I think im just going to pull the head and the pan and see where I'm at. If the cylinder wall is chewed up its going to sit for a while untill I sleeve it. if walls look good ill stuff it with whatever parts I need. Already have a set of SRP pistons on the way same size for my buddy's car ill bum the pistons off him LOL

 

Unfortunately theres no way the spirolock got out without scratching the piston & wall.

 

if he got really lucky that small portion simply fell out of the relief at BDC... really really lucky?

 

X2 Wiesco and JE both use the Circlips. Well the models i have used anyways.

That was my concern as well Muckman. Maybe he did get lucky and it came out at the bottom of the bore. Even still would you really want to have a now weakend spiaral lock(damaged piston skirt) to risk coming out and creating even more damage? You wont get that lucky Twice. Looks like you might need to step up in cylinder bore and get new pistons. From what i remember your on Stock sleeves too, are you at 81.5 mm now?? That sucks man keep us posted.

 

Yes currently at 81.5mm bore. Hoping i dont have to go larger im not comfortable at 82mm on stock sleeves. Im going to drop the pan first and go from there later today. Ill be posting pictures as i go along

 

If you need to rebore then why not just fit a set of Darton replacement sleeves ? They don't cost much...

 

If its getting sleeved it's getting sleeved. Lol then I can just go all
Out.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed but enter ally I don't have good luck with this car

 

Through my experience and others close to me I would say loose the Shitty Racing Products pistons and get some CP's or Wiesco's. They have serious problems with the receiver groove breaking and wrist pins coming loose. My friend Chris had one come loose and so he called SRP and they told him the pistons aren't supposed to see more than 500hp or over 9k rpm.

 

Here's the tool I was talking about. Makes installation a one handed affair

http://www.circletrack.com/enginetec...e/viewall.html

 

well its probably at 500 flywheel HP and reving to 9200 so there ya have it folks time for some CP's and hopefully not sleeves

 

Sorry to hear this and good luck with your rebuild sir. I was looking forward to seeing you push the stock sleeves too.

 

how much is not that much

 

http://realstreetperformance.com/sto...18c5-2739.html

Its not a HUGE job to install them as well. As long as their installed correctly there not a bad option. You won't crack one easily...