COOKED C4 Corvette LT1 TOP END TEARDOWN! Gnarly Damage! How Does This Even Happen?
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- čas přidán 21. 02. 2023
- Welcome to another installment on 95 Corvette! I bought this car from the auction with minor front end damage. If you haven't seen the other videos, they can be found here: • Rebuilding a wrecked 9...
I first assumed it was just the accident damage but a little investigation in the first video discovered much more work needed, it had low compression and pushed coolant out! So, as always, a quick fix project becomes a big one. Story of my life!
In this video I tear the top of the engine off to inspect the heads and gaskets as I assumed they were blown. WELL! I was in for a surprise! I did not expect to find what I did, and its the first time I've ever seen anything like it!
I hope you enjoyed the update! As always I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism. Catch you on the next one!
-Eric - Auta a dopravní prostředky
For someone that supposed to know cars knows the corvettes whole drive train to back wheels to front wheels needs to drop as one unit including exhaust removing 8-12 body bolts
They are a tunnel transmission
This makes corvette so interchangeable
How did you not know that
Are you suggesting I pull the body off of the chassis to pull the heads which took me 3 hours on camera?
This is why mechanics don’t agree with engineers. There is the “get it done” way. And then there is the stupid book that the engineers wrote. Guess which way is the best. Answer whatever way the guy holding the wrench decides.
@@wrecksandtech I think that engineers don't put as much value on stuff like ease of repair and servicing compared to having a more efficient/better system, which leads to certain stuff just being harder to work on.
Judging by your ridiculous comment, you never held a wrench in your hand…
Who pulls the entire body to remove heads? Well, I guess you do/would... Smh
My brother and I would watch your videos and message each other when a new one comes out so the other could watch it. He passed away unexpectedly last week and I miss him a lot. Now I get sad when a new video comes out but it is bitter sweet because it reminds me of him. Thank you for helping me remember him! I enjoy all your videos.
😥
I’m really sorry to read this. 😥
So sorry for your loss.
Condolences my fellow human.
My Family will Pray for You and Your Family.
Sorry for Your loss, we wish You our most sincere condolences.
You got the dipstick out without no damage .
2 torched heads was the price of that miracle .
The GM Gods work in mysterious ways .
After 55 years in the auto and truck fields I have never seen a burn like THAT!!!!
@mikebaldwin4229 ,Yeah! That was intense... But aluminum does melt at fairly low temperatures... It first becomes annealed and looses it's tempering at around 475*F. Then it becomes very soft, bends and distorts very easily.... Threads start pulling out of annealed aluminum castings... But these holes coming from the combustion chamber, were caused by detonation... An un-controlled burn of fuel that could be caused by numerous events that quickly develop... But one thing is certain with detonation: Excessive heat either inside of the combustion chamber, outside of the engine & it's cooling system or runaway temperature increases, is almost always a major factor of what caused it... In this case on both heads, close to the same areas of the deficiency that lack proper heat transfer abilities, for the materials being used to harness this much energy release.. Major damage, that probably could have been avoided, by using a more proven method to keep the detonation and the eventual thermal runaway conditions, under control...
@@michaelmartinez1345 but those holes weren't coming from the combustion chamber, they were from the water jacket in the head direct through the gasket to the block.
with each upload this editing just gets better and better
Eric Sandler at his finest
Unusual space to burn a head through. Never seen that before. Pistons should have been torched first. Aluminum heads can be welded, but these aren't that hard to find and the aftermarket has better if you went that route.
As someone who has pulled heads from a C4 before, I felt your pain quite intimately when it came time for that exhaust to be removed. Excellent video!
If you were ever wondering why some things cost sooo much to repair…here’s your answer.
I can see where a Chevy flat rate mechanic would be unhappy with working on a Corvette. Everything is a very tight fit, and there's no access panels to help out.
Dude, I’m genuinely impressed with your ambition. To go from rebuilding a Porsche to a Corvette..... just Awesome.
That block's deck still might be worth checking with a straight edge on those hot spots. Even so, that's crazy!
After tens of thousands of cars through our shop in almost 40 years, I've never seen something like that on both sides. I'd guess lean running, not bad gas. Maybe a vacuum leak.
It boggles my age-addled mind that you can remember where all the nuts and bolts go when you put these cars or engines back together somewhere down the road. Glad you got new heads for this engine, although I am somewhat disappointed that the dipstick gave up with such little fight.
My thought, as well. Usually, when I take something apart, the bolts are bagged and tagged. Or bagged and zip tied to the part they held in. It takes time, but it is SO worth it. At least for an amateur such as myself.
I thought the same. But if he gets stuck, he could check his video.
Eric's arch enemies are dipsticks. And with reason.
Absolutely amazing that the block wasn't damaged.
It had sacrificial aluminium heads to look after it
I try to watch all of your videos. Not once have I read some one bad mouthing your business. If I need an engine I would not hesitate to buy from you. Carl
I think that was a regular HG failure to start with, but someone kept driving it hard and what you are seeing is the erosion of the cylinder head by the combustion gasses.
Agree. I would expect piston damage if it was lean enough to torch the heads.
I wonder if somehow improper head bolt torque (on those cylinders) at factory may have played a part.
Um he did say it was in a collision, the cooling system was breached and it ran til it burnt up.
@@nbrowser "Um" he also thought it was caused by a fueling issue, which is very unlikely IMO.
I'm really fascinated by this head damage. It looks like highly concentrated heat, like a plasma cutter focused right at those two spots. The rocker chambers look pretty clean though, not like heads from an engine subjected to long term high temperature abuse. This damage probably occurred over a short period of extreme use, some relatively abnormal event for this vehicle, a high speed police chase would be believable.
If I recall, the '95 Corvette used an early OBDII, or OBD1 Enhanced, engine control strategy. It came out during the transition so it's not impossible to think the program may have been less than optimized. Under extreme operating conditions it may have been running some way out of bounds timing and AFR parameters. It would be interesting to know what secrets the ECM holds.
The damage is low in the head's installed position, so if the engine were low on coolant, the high side of the combustion chamber, on the opposite side, would be the first subjected to untransferred heat. The effect would be mooted however if the coolant left the system all at once, like if the bottom of the radiator were ripped out and the engine continued to be run at high speed. Curiously, the damage is toward the center of the block, not furthest away from the water pump and radiator outlet, like the #7 and 8 cylinders would be. Here again, if the system had no coolant at all the center of the engine is where heat would concentrate. Also, the center of these heads is where two exhaust chambers come together, again, more concentrated heat. That all seems consistent with identical damage occurring on both heads, in the same location, at the same cylinder positions, 5 and 6. Combustion chambers #3 and 4 probably weren't far behind for the same damage.
Aluminum liquifies from its solid state pretty fast, just a few degrees is all takes to go from soft to molten. It also conducts heat very rapidly, and in response to heat, it expands a lot. All of this would come into play during a brief period of extreme high temperature operation. Also, abnormally high temperatures would have excessively expanded the heads exerting high tensile pressures on the bolts and spot faced bolt perches. Once cooled and contracted that would have left less yield pressure allowing the bolts to break free more easily during disassembly then if they had been at their specified torque/pressure. We saw evidence of that.
The failure does not seem to be at the thinnest part of the casting, but does seem to be along the most direct route from the combustion chamber to the exterior of the engine. The escaping heat did not deflect and dissipate into the water jacket, it continued on through the next layer of casting ejecting out the exterior of the head. That means the hot gas jet first blew out the bottom of the combustion chamber into the steam port, then focused on the exterior wall until it blew that out, and finally had an escape path to the outside. Wow, crazy sequence of events! Would love to have had an inside view of that happening...
In all it seems like specific mechanical design features, extreme engine operation, a highly compromised cooling system, and possibly unoptimized engine control, all conspired to produce this really weird material failure. For sure I've never seen anything like it, but way cool to see and consider. Thanks Eric, this one's a real hoot.
I am guessing that the head bolts stretched it were not torqued properly. I had a car that kept leaking coolant no matter what I did, chased it for almost 80k miles, when suddenly a bad "exhaust leak" started. I pulled the valve cover off, and there was a busted head bolt, no valve cover gasket (tons of rtv instead) and no exhaust manifold gasket at all. The manifold was sealing from carbon build up, pretty obvious it had been run that way for quite a while before I got it.
Pulled the head off, and it was leaking coolant between cylinders, right where the head bolt was broken. It passed a cold compression test, and on short drives, no problems at all, but it would eat coolant and need topped off every 10k miles or so. My guess is as it heated up, the head gasket would start leaking, probably only under load.
You can see in the video some of the head bolts are really tight, others look almost hand tight.
I don't know why someone would be messing with head bolts on a 45k mile motor, but this screams tinkeritus to me. I think someone pulled the valve covers, started retorquing the heads and forgot two.
Excellent deductions! I tend to agree with your theory. 🤔
I just wanted to say thank you. My wife and I've been watching you since you started this channel and we always enjoy it, you're funny you're clean and I get to learn a lot. Especially the vehicles and engines I don't want to buy. Go Ford!!!
This channel keeps getting more and more entertaining, man. Your content is fantastic. Keep it up. One of my favorite automotive channels these days!
That's some wild blow out. I've seen some perplexing things under warranty, but nothing even close to that.
Man, I was so pumped I I thought this was part two of this c four corvette project! I want to see what ends up happening to this car so bad it is one of my absolute dream cars
14:11 If I could move my hand that fast, I'd never leave the house.
Underrated comment! 🤣
Lmfao
I really like the super-accelerated wrenching and the accompanying sound of that.
I am surprised the pistons tops didn't take more damage, they look great!
Man, in the 21 years between when my '73 was built and this '94 they sure managed to cram a whole lot more stuff into the engine bay!
A mid week tear down and loosening the manifold with supreme editing that takes me back to middle school… it almost feels like my birthday!! 🎉😂
made my back hurt just watching !!
these vids are my favorite way to relax after a 14 hour shift with a cold one 🤘🏾. you sir are awesome keep making great videos!
A mid week tear down! What will Eric give us next? I've never seen the kid of damage that this car had. Good luck.
I could be wrong, BUT I don't remember a teardown this last weekend.
@@briananderson8733 There was one Saturday,
Kid of Damage is my new punk band name.
Looks like maybe Nitrous
Cooked the heads but saved the engine, and someone sent you new heads! I call that a win-win! Hope there are no more big surprises with this vehicle.
I have an entire LTI engine short block and heads in my garage that I tore down completely to make a 383 for my 1995 Z28. Then 2008 housing crash, and job market went to crap, and I sold the car to make bills. Still have the block and heads, tore down sitting in a corner of my garage.
hope you r doing well now. i am from far away country, bad times pushed me sold 6 rare cars (for my country), they gone very cheap, now got 20-30 cars for repair-sell. still my heart beat for old ones. but they are now very rare very expensive. job and family first.
yes, as a man never cry for bad things happen, just that cars tear me down.
LOL - The sound of a socket or wrench clanging as is disappears into the harness/bracket void. Waiting to hear that 'hit the ground' sound is the longest 1.5 seconds of your life.
I'm supposed to be doing homework, emails, and looking for work post-graduation. Video gets posted, all that stuff can happen later 😎
So glad to see I’m not the only guy who drops wrenches!
That’s why I love pre 80’s cars none of the bs… so simple to work on
What makes your videos fun is that you are doing the work.
I've seen a ton of C4 videos and the person only explains the process. You're doing the work and talking us thru the process. It looks complex till an expert. Shows us it can be done.
I'm grateful for your channel and knowledge. (:
That's a really interesting teardown!
Thanks, as always!
I can admit when i did head gaskets on my old 5.7L vortec suburban it took me two frustrating days to get the dipstick tube back in there.
I always learn something from these, Thanks!
Thanks for an educational tear down, you are the MAN !
Thanks for the update video on the car, take care of yourself and family and be Blessed ❤️👍✅.
Weekly project updates! Wonderful news! Thank you!
love watching you tear stuff down!
I love your videos, and you helped inspire me to start recording my work and post it on CZcams. Keep up the amazing work!
These videos are getting so good 👍 easy to follow but gets to the point of what's going on
Keep the videos coming and I'll keep watching dude.
My 94 Trans Am I bought new has 337.000 miles on it now. LT1 engine, never been touched, even the timing chain is original. Still runs like new.
Original Optispark as well, right?
@@michaelkrenzer3296 my 95 corvette z07 has just over 40k and it is completely original. I have never had problems with the Optispark, but my water pump started to fail and leaked water onto the Optispark. Fortunately, I caught that within the day of it starting to fail, and replaced the water pump before running the engine again. I know that a lot of Optisparks have been killed by failed water pumps, as the weep hole is just above the Optispark, and the coolant gets past the Optispark seal and destroys the internals. That’s one of several things you have to be vigilant about the lt1 engine.
@@jvaubry Mine was more a tongue cheek comment about the high mileage engine I responded to with no issues. The LT1 has a special sound to it that will always make it...special. both crossfire and optispark got a reputation that is only partially deserved. For GM, both systems were cutting edge with some less than perfect design touches but the systems themselves were not inherently bad. The Doug Nash transmission I have a harder time with.
I have an 87 with the 4+3 and can concur that the ratios make no sense and the shift feel is like a John Deere tractor.
@@michaelkrenzer3296 No, its on its 3rd.
I just remove, rebuilt and reinstalled a 2006 C6 corvette motor without a hoist. It made me smile watching you, it was/is a tough job. I think the C6 was easier than the c4 and I thought the c6 was tough. Good job.
Love your videos, from the mid week updates about your projects that is you just fiddling wit stuff to the weekend teardowns of the engines, I don't care if I've seen the same engine type if the failure is different, heck even just the quality of core is interesting to watch, keep it up
Great to see the engine taken apart while on the car instead of outside, shows how difficult it is!
Each video is so amazing, you’d make a great teacher
Love seeing a skilled person! I really like your tear downs, not at least that you understand how to dose timelapse so nice. Thanks a lot for hours of entertainment!
Thanks as alwasys for your great content it was nice seeing you disassemble an engine while it was still in the car like most of us have to do. i love how relatable you are and the great way you know when to fast forward and when to let it roll. Love your channel thanks for all you do.
You took something apart mid-week, Your the man.
I haven't a clue what the original problem is, but it must have been running like shit.
And didn't happen at idle.
That is insane to have torched out both heads like that! Would never have expected to see that.
Thank you man! I am an idiot. I have been watching this channel for some time and it never occurred to me that I had not subscribed yet. I watch so frequently that YT always recommends your videos as soon as they come out, just like if was subscribed. Anyway, I have now corrected my mistake and subbed officially. You really are good at this, the car part and the being on YT part. Thanks for all your work. It'll be fun to watch when you hit 1M subs!
I like the regular updates. I'd like to see this engines running. Nice vid.
Thank you brother from the bottom of my heart. You inspire me to learn more about engines and all their parts. Im saving up for an lt1 firebird and watching your videos on the ls1 and lt1 breakdowns always peak my interest. I learn so much from watching your vids, great shit man
Didn't need the "Safety Tote" even once!
Started watching this channel last week from an engine teardown video that was in my recommended videos feed. I was pleasantly surprised to see some C4 content.
I have an 85 I bought for pretty cheap in 2020. These cars are a blast. Tons of parts out there, lots of fun projects to take on and they really aren't too bad to work on considering how capable they are and how realtively cheap they are.
Nice job, and hopefully everything works out well... I don't envy anyone working on this new stuff... Well done as always
Thanks for uploading. Love your videos
A very good machine shop can save them aluminum heads. I have seen this a lot on boosted engines. Once you get it back together. Have the tune on the ecu checked (Or Prom) that is a really bad lean spot in the map.
That sturdy iron LT1 short block is a big reason for why i like the LT1 so much!! If that was an aluminum LS that whole engine would have been garbage!!
Serious damage to the heads very very impressive! Happy to hear you found a pair of heads to install, look forward to the next update Eric!
Liked for the crazy failure mode. Definitely drove like it was stolen. 😄
After watching your fun with this car I'm never going to look at a corvette with envy again. Your patience is infinite.
Nothing is easy to work on, on a corvette,
I’m doing all 8 body mounts, without removing the body, on my wife’s c3 this weekend.
Even the rear end pinion seal replacement, was no fun!!!
Great video, I feel your pain, and also your passion! It’s why we do cars!!!
Great video as always!!
Always the same with every car: "Oops, room for a wrench - let's place a bracket there ASAP!"
I found, when working on vettes or ETypes taking the front tires off makes it easier. Whe you get older working leaning that far over plays havoc with your low back.
I noticed that they were in the way as well. For the 30 seconds it would be a wise move, hindsight 45/13
I'm probably in the minority of your viewers but I watch every project update and enjoy them more than the tear downs. So, hearing that we're getting an update very week is awesome!
Eric you are a Legend for saving cars from the scrapheap. You get the job done with humour and style. Your friend from Australia Tim.
sounds like a great bit of luck eric and i am tipping my cap to jeff for setting you up with a good set of heads, thanks to you both for keeping another rocket on the road
I'm so glad I flipped the 92 Vette I bought to part out after watching this video . Extremely awesome video as you have more patience than I would have had . After just a very few minutes of looking at what it would have taken for me to do what you did I saw that " I ain't even gonna try to part this car out " . Great video sir
New heads, nice. Be good to see it run. 👍
Corvettes are so much fun to work on. Use to work on them years ago.
If you got that car after it was totaled by the insurance company they probably blue them holes in the heads the outer hole is to round like a torch tip having been a mechanic for over 40 years I have seen this done several times
Yep, at 28:24 you can see the burn pattern coming from the outside to the inside of the head.
Not doubting your theory, it actually makes a lot of sense. But any idea why they would purposely wreck the heads?
I believe you are 100% correct , just like @ the clubhouse said , the burn pattern is totally wrong.Thank you Thomas for your astute observation.
@@jaredbawden6707 they do that so that you can't resell them
@Thomas McNulty I assume this is because it was in an accident? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me if the car was sold as a repairable write-off
Really like your videos especially the ones you do on vehicle restoration.
Congratulations on your WIN with the "Nemesis" dipstick!
You know, I work on my own cars, a '14 Cayman S and an '01 Subaru Outback LL Bean, and for 19 years I drove and worked on an '85 Porsche 928S2 5 speed. I'm an amatuer driveway mechanic, but it sure seems to me that it would just be easier to drop this engine and work on it on a stand.
Excellent video, very interesting!!
I like playing these at higher than normal speeds just to make the frustration more palpable.
I had a '94 LT1 six speed that I sold a year ago with 51,000 miles on it. Loved it. Did replace the ignition behind the water pump, installed a factory CD player and a few other mods. Enjoying this video!
That’s insane. Great video if this is the new norm I like it
Who needs a freakin engine stand, huh?! Impressive teardown from above. Look forward to the next one
Wow, that's crazy! I've never seen that before.
Another great teardown video. Keep it up
Watching this reminds of why I don't works on cars anymore. I was getting frustrated and cussing at the motor for you.
That is a good lesson on the effects of uncontrolled lean fuel mixture. We've all heard about lean combustion damage but it has never been seen quite like this!
Yuk, that's more deep than I would do with anything chevy. God bless you!
Another great one, cheers
My fav channel 😊
It's your channel, surprising holes in engines are contagious.
Like watching a Surgery. Awesome work!
When I finally have the money and knowledge to ls swap my Jeep commander the old 4.7 is yours. I’d love to see you tear it down.
Nice work, I have a c4 as well and it is tight for space under the hood, strange damage to the heads thought! Strip down the trashed heads and save some of those valve train parts.
I’d say it’s the easiest car I have ever worked on. Being able to sit on the tire and work is a dream compared to any other car where I am in a standing hunched position. I have a ‘92 6sp 🤙
@@DR.P3RKY you have a point about sitting on the tire! Mine is a 1989 Z51 coupe and they come with the ZF and 3.33 in the rear end.
@@DR.P3RKY Wait until you have to get under it. You do have a point about the fenders being out of the way, tho.
C4 probably has the most aggressive layout of any Corvette. It's like looking at an Indy car.
It also has one of the lowest seating positions of any Corvette while maintaining ground clearance, meaning, it's has a lot of room to be lowered, if someone wants to.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Every once in awhile I get the urge to buy a Corvette. I think YOU have cured me of that urge. The lack of service room, the extensive electrical connections and superfluous plumbing and detritus attached to that car has permanently dissuaded me from ever being Corvette curious again.
Enjoy your channel. Both the engine teardowns and car fixes/updates.
I have a '95 that I turned into a track day car. Stripped everything out of it (including the complete hvac unit). If you need anything, let me know. The C4 has a conventional drivetrain, engine, transmission, driveshaft and rear axle. The C5 has the transmission at the rear. I bought a '95 because it has a conventional drivetrain and doesn't require a lift to work on it. With a few engine mods, upgraded to Gen3 PCM, cam, injectors, individual coils, etc. and race level suspension with Toyo R888R tires, the car is so much fun to drive on the track.
It's great to see an 'in situ' tear down
This is a first. I never seen that happen to cylinder heads before. Yeah definitely check the fueling issue to prevent from going lean again. I really like this channel and updates on your projects.
OMG love this guy, no homo, being able to watch these catastrophic wreck tear downs without having to get dirty, amazing. Gr8 entertainment bro. Much better than like totally boring Might CAR Mod, which is really stale.