+10

I say take yourself and your "secret source" and find a new hobby. The OP was asked several times who built the motors and he said nothing.
You think all builders are perfect and don`t make mistakes .. ok buddy good luck with that.
One more thing Tick Tack, CAPITAL letters go at the beginning of sentences and those are some awesome run-ons if that`s what you were going for.

Is it summer yet................. .....

recess is over,get your coloring book out and play with your crayons PUNK:bon g:

good point....those coincidences are not very likely. there was def a culprit either in the rigging or the build.

either way...the builder is trying to help, and the buyer will have none of it, and by doing so he is shooting himself i nthe foot IMO.

if you wont let the builder make it right then just take your lumps, as we all have at some point, and move on.

Ive said it a few times in this thread. For the most part, i dont see anything wrong with the actual assembly, but from what damage I can see, water looks like the culprit to me.

Pitted rollers on the lifters.

Cams showing signs of heat/maybe some pitting, hard to tell from the pics.

Bearing wear.

Water in the oil will do this. 20 Hours runtime don't mean squat to me. If you have water in the oil, and it dont take much, will wreak havoc on parts, especially if its saltwater. Just some moisture when the engines sit for a week or so, can start rust forming on the cam lobes. Guess what happens the next time you start the engines and the cam lobes have rust forming on them?

The pictures posted of the intake gaskets clearly show water was leaking in from the intakes, and the intake gasket around the ports was/were completely split, allowing a serious vaccuum leak. The vacuum leak can lean things out to the point of ring damage, valve damage, etc.

To me, the problems I see with this situation leads me to believe the intake gaskets were the culprit. I dont think the machine work, parts used, was the problem.

It looks to me that the intakes just were not torqued down properly. Everything happens for a reason, and this is the only conclusion I can come to about these engines issues.

If water was leaking into the oil, and the intake gaskets were leaking (pretty clear they were), and one decides to keep running them like that, not knowing something is wrong, well then you end up with junk in less than 20 hours.

Since I see everyone is jumping all over Mike here, maybe some of you guys should go back to the beginning of the thread.

Mike started out asking questions, and offering advice. Mike has been playing with and building engines for a long long time. From twin turbo stuff to his current 8.3L whippled engines. He's no dummy when it comes to this.

He considered buying the cranks for mr schmidt, on the up and up. All he did was ask for pictures of the journals, and Mr. schmidt blew up at him! With sarcasm and cockiness, because Mike wanted pics of the journals before he sent any money?? That is what triggered Mike's responses towards schmidt after all that. Try to help and get blasted?

Everyone is being really thin skinned. Grab a tampon, stop the bleeding, and lets get back to engine talk.

-1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000:lol hit:

From what i have read , engines were run with stock Merc exhaust resulting in a bad case of reversion . Intakes were removed to clean foamy milk maybe by someone who did not know or had ever seen what reversion will do . Reinstalled intakes thinking this is a simple nonthinking process only for the problem to continue and get considerably worse . Engines were free revved to hell trying to make them idle . Good headers installed but it was much too late , damage was done . Not pointing fingers.....pure speculation on my part.....just trying to piece together the evidence as presented . Read the complete thread and draw your own conclusions . Engage brain before running mouth . One more thought , Knowledge gained IS in direct proportion to parts ruined . Have a nice day.........