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Hey mate how's the licence issues going ? Have you got your car back yet ?

Just when you think the end is near. So a couple of days ago I get a call from PLR and a long very fiery conversation I've been told his insurance company are not going to pay the claim. He is prepared to pay half of the work the RDP did in removing and refitting the engine twice. So now I'm stuck with no car and a large bill. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE TO GET ANY WORK DONE BY PLR ENGINEERING AT BRENDALE

So it's been a long and stressful journey but she's alive and sounds oh so sweet Big things to come This is just the run in tune

So got off the phone this afternoon with the builder and he was apologetic that there was still a problem that he overlooked. He is picking the motor up tomorrow to "fingers crossed" fix the problem for good. On a rare good note he has told me that the extra cost in engine removals he will pick up the bill.

I'm waiting till Real Dyno puts a report together that states what has happened. I'm not letting the engine builder have the engine again he has had two chances at fixing the problem first attempt was to just change the oil gears. Second attempt was step the motor down and check and reassemble thinking it was the VCT gears leaking. I myself and Real dyno asked the builder to check the oil pickup and on both occasions he said that it was fine. Once the report from Real Dyno is completed as well as a report from a independent engine builder with pictures and total costing I will write a letter stating the problem and the costs that could have not been needed had the checking been done in the first place, and registered mail it to the builder.

So Friggin Pissed Offfffffffffff. !!!!!!!!! So the motor is back at Real Dyno Performance and they tried to fit the gearbox up to the engine but the sump was not on right. So the pulled the sump off to look at it and found fillings in the bottom of the sump. On closer inspection they found the rods were not done properly and then had a look at the girdle. AND ......... Guess what they Oil pickup to girdle had a clearence of 1mm... 1 f*cking mm how the hell is any amount of oil meant to get to the pickup with 1mm of clearence !!!!!! So all this time of engine out, engine in, engine out pulled apart put back together and not even double checking the pickup is beyond a JOKE !!!!!! The engine is now with RDP engine builder to fix the problem and write a report up on it. I'm going to have to lodge with Fair Trading to try and recoupe the extra costs that were not needed had the job been done right in the first place.

Well got a call on Monday from the builder and he said he change the VCT gears and re pressurised the system and the gears did not leak as much as the original set, so fingers crossed that was the problem. The builder also said that because the gears aren't able to be checked normally that he is not going to pay for the 2 times the motor came out. Wait and see that this was the problem.

So got a question for everyone. Does anyone know if the factory VCT cam gears are meant to bleed oil ? Th exhaust one is leaking more than the intake one. I asked brad from atomic and he's pretty sure that they aren't meant to.

Yeah he did balance the bottom end.

The other thing that keeps popping up when talking between the builder and the dyno shop is the fact that the rods have 30thou of side clearence. The standard rods have 10thou I'm just got no idea and its driving me bonkers

Only thing I can think of the builder said he had to do some milling to get the atomic street girdle to fit. I was pretty sure you only had to mod the race plate. Does anyone know if the girdle sits very close to the oil pickup ?

First had spool gears and original pump casing. Now has atomic gears and a new standard pump casing. Not sure what oil was used sorry I'm away with work but head home next week so maybe get to the bottom of it.

The head was decked and bench flowed and ported.

He said he pressure tested the motor and the timing tensioner loses pressure as well as the vernier gears (factory) are the next thing to lose pressure. But surely those two items would not make the engine lose 15psi at idle and continue throughout the rev range. He said he has done quite a few spool engines and not had one ever come back

So time for another update The motor has been checked out and still no fault found. I'm starting to get disheartened over the whole thing I JUST WANT MY CAR RUNNING. I just dont know what to do now John at PLR has no clue either which is making it hard to, do I take the engine to another builder and pay more money to fix the problem ? Do I put new rods in and hope that is the problem solved. Has anyone else every had any issues with Spool Rods ?? I know atomic have some super awesome rod do I bite the bullet and use theirs I really dont know what to do :(

Nah not the gauge they used a separate gauge not a on car one. They had a standard xr6t in the shop to compare with using the same gauge and was about 10psi lower throughout the rev range. Some might say that is just on the borderline of being ok but lee knows this car and the potential that it has and does not want to let it go because it would fail down the road.

Mine has the autometer cobalt gauge but was hooked to the factory sender. So while the engines out Lee is going to put a adaptor in with the autometer sender to give correct readings

Don't know yet mate John has not got the motor yet

So I got a call this morning from John at PLR to let me know that he is very sorry that I won't have my car going for the Xmas break and said that all of the costs involved in fixing the oil pressure problem he will pay for and said I won't need to pay anything. This is good to know that there is still ships out there that will not only cover the cost of the repair but also the labour that another shop has charged to remove and refit a motor. The motor will be sent to John next week and he will start on fixing it on the 7th of January so when Lee at RDP comes back on the 14th the motor will be ready to go back in hopefully for the last time.

Yeah if that is the problem spool need to supply new rods. I've got ARP head studs on it instead of the factory bolts cause under high PSI the head can lift

He said the bearing were spot on Once he has the motor he is going to pressure test the cam bearing to see if there is a problem, then pressure test the rod clearances with the thin oil to find the leak. John understands that I wanted the car before Xmas and will try his hardest next week to fix it but probably won't have enough time

I've been told by Lee that John from PLR said the rods had a side clearance of 30thou meaning the bearings are exposed by 30thou and not 10thou which is what the factory rods and atomic rods are. In older V8 engine this is ok as they run a thicker oil but because our engines run a super thin oil this much clearence is believed to be cause the oil to weep out and cause low oil pressure.

thanks mate and have spoken with the builder and said he has to pay for the engine refit this time as he had the chance to fix the problem first time and is not my fault this time round. Ahh the highs and very lows of building a engine.

Time for a RANT rrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. So the motor got pulled out change the spool oil gears over to Atomic ones and new pump casing and put back in. Oil pressure only raised up another 3psi which is still not enough ffffffffffaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkk. So the motor is now coming back out and with discussions with Real Dyno Performance and PLR engines and Atomic the problems is something to do with the Spool rods have to much end clearance. Hopefully this time the problem is found but the thing that suxs the biggest balls is Xmas time shut down of both shops meaning won't have the car for Xmas and won't be running till mid January raaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I have to say Lee from Real Dyno has got to be the best dyno shop operator in the country he has gone above and beyond any shop with regards to this problem and I thourghly recommend him to anyone in South East Queensland.

Hey mate sorry to hear I was in a similar situation years ago before they impound cars. Did you get caught driving while disqualified ? If so I would suggest you get a lawyer cause there is possibility of jail time. I had a lawyer and was given a 6 month suspended sentence and a good behaviour bond of 2 years. They restart the 2 years for the disqualification. The scary thing is you can't do anything wrong at not even drunk in public as that is seen as breaking the law and instantly take you to jail. It scared me straight I can tell you Hope it all works out for you