Seeking some advise

Mrmancans09z

To anyone willing to help a rookie lol,

So here it is in a really long story made as short as possible lol

Bought 09 370 engine #1 without a doubt my high revving, younger, slightly dumber, first time sports car owner spun his first bearing, melted his flywheel to his clutch if I'm not mistaken that's how it was worded... smh

Humbled greatly and much different driving habits than previously. Engine #2 purchased used from a dealer in Greensboro NC. Smashed lower oil pan and pick up tube with a perfectly imprinted cinder block on the bottom we even had one handy to match the specs. thanks Nissan, unnoticed by "master tech" spun bearing number 2

Car sat for a year

This is the fun part....
Had several thousand saved up over the 3 year period of ownership, nothing to spend it on and loved the car so much I decided to spring into a rebuild yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa yeah eff that....

Went alllllllll out on a solid NA build, no need for FI, love the idea not the cost, and wasn't chasing a number. Not trying to race just burn through the mountains and maybe put it on a track for a beginner experience just to truly test the performance.

Did a lot of research before I decided on a High compression build short block should've done entire
11.5:1 JE forged and Moly coated everything
Around main and head studs
Z1 400hp kit w/ HFC by Russ Rana by far best experience in entire process that guys getting a wedding invite
Z1cai
Z1 25 row oil cooler
Z1 Y-pipe
Soho single exit
Ecutek done by MA Motorsports amazing group if mechanics
Replaced water and oil pump added billet gear to new it
this car sounds absolutely disgusting and is hateful loud lol

Well with all that supposed awesome build I had in the making.....

From the first start up there was taps and piston skirt from one of them, the car is tremendously underpowered it blew 4 quarts of recommended oil in the break in and
had to run mobile 1 15-50 full synthetic after break-in currently doing an oil consumption test, compression testing over the weekend, I had to stop driving the car at roughly 6k because I don't want to do any additional damage.

What is the most beneficial thing for me

So a new used motor is roughly 1600-2000 I now have the facotry service manual and willing to put in the work but don't wanna get another beat to death motor

Do I part out what I currently have eat the loss

I'm not into being dishonest there's only one real issue with it and it's that the Rebuilt motor blows whats this thing worth at 150k on body and trans with a crap ton of new parts both OEM and performance.

In advance I'm no car guy I don't know all my stuff but with the help of reading this forum, Z1, Soho, MA Motorsports, and YouTube University I've learned quite a bit over the last year. Just need help making because I truly don't want to ditch this car we have a bond hahaha.

Here goes nothin!


Thanks guys and gals

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SouthArk370Z

If the engine is the only thing wrong with it, I think I'd replace it.

If the car has other problems, I'd sell it.

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Mrmancans09z

I really wanna keep it and replace the engine I freaking love it and want to continue to learn. I guess this was more weighing out what is my absolute most beneficial option building, parting out, or selling and for what is something like this worth. I have the place to do the work but have never pulled a motor so this is a pretty intimidating task I have to complete if I decided to change the motor a 4th time lol

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SG4247

Man I am confused...

Who built engine #3 with JE forged?

How do you know its got a damaged skirt? Those JE skirts are very hard to break.

I would pull the motor thats in it, rip it open and determine what it takes to fix it right.

That cost, vs cost of another “good” long block would be the telling decision point.

JARblue

Have you considered letting a real mechanic look at it? Maybe someone from MA Motorsports could give you some advice?

From a forum perspective, SouthArk pretty much sums it up...

Btw... pulling a motor is nothing. Learn yourself or pay someone who knows.

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Mrmancans09z

I got all my advise from them. They were awesome and went above and beyond. To far out of my budget at this point. The motor was shotty from minute one being put together. Just to pull the motor 2k to crack it open uggghhhh it makes me sick thinking about the money I wasted putting in this

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Rusty

You need to let MA Motorsports to build the motor. Because from the sound of it. You built motor #3. To blow through that much oil. I would check the rings. Rings up side down, end gaps are in a line, not spaced, too big of end gaps. And when you said taps and piston skirt. You mean piston slap? And if that's the case. What is the bore diameter spec, and what is the piston diameter spec? If you are getting piston slap. Wonder if you have undersize pistons?

Everything I mentioned. I've seen.

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Mrmancans09z

Sorry they worded it as skirt. Here's all sypmtoms one of the pistons is slapping side to side as well as tapping the top. When I even attempt WOT at about 4-5500 it does something similiar to two-step (bap bap bap) and I must let off or I'll immediately go into limp mode. If I rev it at all, limp mode, if I sneeze near the car while it's turned off or even look at it wrong...... Limp mode

I was told it could be... Tap could be bad lifter or clearances were off. The side to side was a effed up bore, a bad ring or it didn't seat properly and forget the last thing he mentioned.


I just don't have the 6k+ to drop to give it to MA or I would. I really wish I started with them. I guess I could attempt to pull the motor myself and take it there but Im afraid of paying them just to say the motor is trash when a former employee ( left on good terms) gave an honest opinion of what he saw and believed the motor was junk. Basically said it would cost just as much if not more to pull the motor, crack, assess damage, and go through the legal process of getting money back from the "builder" as it would to suck up the loss and try again **palms forehead**
I honestly don't know the specs other than this
My novice rearing it's ugly head

JE Pistons .020 over
Eagle H Beam Rods
ARP Rod Bolts
Block inspected and cleaned
Block redecked
Block Bored and Honed using a Torque Plate
Rotating assembly balanced
Crank magnafluxed and the journals micro-polished
New Moly coated Race Spec main bearings installed
New Moly coated Nissan OEM rod bearings installed
Block prepped and assembled


*** Ceramic/Moly Coating can be added to the Piston Tops and Skirts

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Mrmancans09z

Here's a YouTube link to the me trying to record each tap and skirt. Kinda hard to differentiate the sounds but there are subtle differences in each

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCvhbg...kp4Kt3Q/videos

hope this helps

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Mrmancans09z

To be clear, I didn't build it lol. I hired a very reputable mechanic lol. I know how to change the oil, brakes, MAF sensors, and I once put a header on a Honda hahahahah



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Spooler

Well, the only thing to do is find a good low mileage motor and put that in the car as is. It will be between 1700-2500 or so for a low mileage long block from the junkyard. Then you have the cost of R&R for the engine.

SG4247

Could be a couple of things....

I would look at,

Extra compression from reduced deck height, .020" larger bore diameter, milled heads and larger piston domes will cause detonation with low octane fuel. Prolly need 96-98 octane to be safe for regular driving. I would pump some 100 octane into it when it is nearly out, and then drive it, see what happens. Depends on your tune, as to how much timing the motor will tolerate without detonation. If the sensors see knock signal for very long, that will put the engine in limp mode!

Also,
Piston hitting the head, decking the block, coating the pistons etc... it happens. If the head gasket thickness wasnt increased to offset the other changed dimensions, then interference can happen. Seen it.

Mrmancans09z

How bout this issue lol steer clear of driving my car but wanted some insight on this.... In the video 3rd gear at about 7k it pops the few times I've ever gone WOT it pops hard at 4-5k and provided I let off I won't go into limp mode but has kicked me in it and did in the video.

https://youtu.be/nSr2i8V_hL4

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Master Z

How did you go about "breaking in" the new build.
Why don't you go to back to the "Mechanic" who did the install for you?

Mrmancans09z

Exactly as stated on the directions from the builder from start to finish... Spent far beyond what I expected. I've babied the crap out of it since day one.

For a low low price of 1800 to pull and replace the motor in addition to however much it costs to inspect what's causing all the problems. I can't spend the money at this point. I'm kinda clueless about what else I get to do in this situation..... I received some advice from a prior employee at MA. Verdict from them... the motor is showing all the right symptoms of being trash and i should start over due to the cost of the possible repair.

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