Originally Posted by yschmidt

He bought complete heads from Dart - then charged to disassemble, inspect and reassemble. Didn't get my money's worth there.

Got the information back from the bearing engineer - won't waste time with a whole lot of facts, but in his words, "you had a recipe for disaster".

Originally Posted by MILD THUNDER

Its no secret at this point the Builder was Dean Gellner.

Ive been to Deans shop, he took me on a entire tour of the shop, explaining in depth what he does step by step in a engine build. He was very detailed on everything. I am no engine builder, but then again I'm not exactly a novice around engines. I was impressed with Dean's knowledge, from machining, to rigging fuel systems, oil systems, etc.

I've never heard anyone complain about Dean's work, and have had many conversations about him, and they've all ended with "Dean builds one hell of a engine". I'm sure thats why you brought your engines to him in the first place, because of his reputation. With that being said, it really doesnt mean squat in this scenerio.

Questions

Did Dean assemble the entire engine?? Im assuming yes because you say the intake gaskets were torn, and we are seeing signs of water in the oil.

What was the water PSI after installed in the boat? Ive seen intake gaskets blow/leak from too much water PSI, same for head gaskets too.


Water in oil can kill bearings, lifters, rockers, cams, in a hurry. Overly rich carburetors can wash down cylinder walls and ruin a perfectly good set of rings in a hurry. That will also lead to excessive bearing wear, cam wear, etc etc. Not enough timing can tulip valves in a hurry. Too much timing can take out pistons and headgaskets in a hurry.

Its almost looking to me like the problem was in the rigging or tuning,
Who did the rigging?? Who did the tuning??

Originally Posted by yschmidt

He was a Mahle engineer...and those actually were some of his exact words. You wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway. Maybe you should do your due diligence, so you could believe what you hear.

Originally Posted by yschmidt

WOW...The first thing that makes sense and really explains what probably happened. Explains how clearances could be correct, temps and pressure good, but still wear the bearings.

So the combo made the oil "drain" out and not allow it to do it's function. An obsolete full groove bearing combined with a hack job grind on the journals (all of them leading & trailing and too wide) caused the excessive wear.

The rest of the issues just look like poor quality.

Originally Posted by mrhorsepower1

Yankey , just to note your crankshafts were already " chamfer" from the prior build and there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the chamfer, bearing clearences, running fully groove bearings....ect. I use the same oiling system on the wetsump engines that we have won the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS with over and over...