Sorry I haven't been around much lately with my schedule and all, but I wanted to give you an update on what's been happening with my build-up.

GOOD NEWS:

Got it all together finally after days and months of assembly, tweaking this, lining up that, etc.

BAD NEWS:

All pumped to hear that badboy fire up and 8 revolutions into cranking the engine over she locked solidly. :ohmy: After a little checking I figured out that I could turn the engine backwards and forward one whole revolution, not good. Means only one thing, something is in a cylinder that shouldn't be there. After removing the sparkplugs I find an unused exhaust stud had fallen into the cylinder (problably through a sparkplug hole). Don't ask how it got in there, 'cause if I knew when it fell in there, I could also tell you I got it out before cranking it over. :headache: Next step was to check for leakage from that cylinder. Applied air to the cylinder with both cams positioned so the valves would be closed. Air coming out of the exhaust pipe. Pull the head off to find the piston beat to shit, and the head damaged bad enough to mushroom out the valve seat and keep the exhaust valve from fully closing. How much worse could it get you ask? Further inspection reveals a small crack in the cylinder wall. :cry:

GOOD NEWS:

My insurance company finally agreed to cover it under my comprehensive coverage due to it being accidental damage. They even gave me $$$ to cover my labor to replace the engine. :banana:

BAD NEWS:

Now I get to wait another 2 months while Magnus builds me another engine. :uh:

That sucks Vicious, do you think Magnus was at fault the the stud being in there? If they were they should have to pay for it. If not well then you are lucky for the insurance. But what a time time to happen with the weather getting nice and all.

CRAIG

at least you're getting a new one! how much is your comprehensive?

Hmmm, whatcha doing with the old engine? :smoker:

Wow... the insurance is covering all that... good deal. Maybe I should get some comprehensive for a just-in-case when I fire mine up. :smoker:

OMG, i would be tempted to think of it as sabotage?

Who put the head on the short block? who put on the exhaust manifold?

oh i'd be pissed.. no way that could of gotten there by accident!!!

-E

He lives down south if im correct where they have more then 3 months of summer and not 9 months of winter.
LOL bastard someday i'll be your neighbor in LA

What insurance company do you use?

I have full coverage and would love to get money from the insurance company for my little Car fire I just had.

-Brian

Shitty news... I'd want to die if that happened to me. Considering your engine was sitting at the shop you work at for so long who's to say someone doesn't hate you and played a sick little joke on you?

The insurance company (State Farm) get's the old (new) engine. I put the engine together, so Magnus is not at fault. I don't think it was sabotage, just bad luck. As carefull as I was, I was just a shocked as anybody. The reason State Farm covered it was on the basis of it being accidental damage that did not involve the vehicle being driven and that it was a new engine. That's what comprehensive covers and then some.

I talked to Marco today and the Pauter rods for the new engine are on back order, so it looks like Vicious will be done for 2-4 months again. :wacko:

Brian, if you have full coverage, then you probably have comprehensive on it too. Check with your insurance company.

Man Mike, that really sucks to hear. :( I was wondering where you had been....

That makes me cry inside. If I were you I would have been so pissed off. Im sure you were anyway but man that really takes it all away again.

Nobody wanted to be around me for about 2 days after it happened. :rant:

I am glad to hear that the insurance is going to cover this, at least it isn't as bad for that reason as it could have been. Because I know how careful you are and this still happened, I am going to start sticking the boroscope down the plug holes right before initial startup on all the motors we build. Seems like it would be well worth the extra 10 minutes just to make sure something didn't find its way into the cylinders.

I hope your on the road quicker than predicted, but if you are not and you are bored, at least you have some time to do weight reductions and other work on the chassis you might not have considered ;)

I decided to go ahead and replace the front & center diffs while the trans is out again. :3gears:

Placed the order with Magnus today and put 50% down. I'm hoping they can get it out sooner than expected.

man that sucks mike! could you buy back the old new motor from the insuriance company because it sounds like it could be used for parts? Did you atleast get parts like your cams and such out?

:goodluck: I hope everything goes your way!!!