Oh dear. Best take a closer look at this then...
The oil came out looking fresh and clean but let's check the sump
Pants. Hope none of that's steel...
Oh Joy. Big chunks of steel.
Better get the rocker cover off
Now there's some marking on the cams but hopefully that's it right?
Let's check the plugs.
Oh look a stick. An actual stick! Yup. That's a stick wedged down there next to the spark plug.
Can't get any worse can it?
Oh yes. It can. What is that inside the sealed rocker cover? Sand. Yup. Actual big ass bits of sand.
So with a horrible sinking feeling we refit the rocker cover to protect it from any more heavy aggregate and start to strip the engine down.
Can't see it too well here but the valves are covered in a dusty white coating. Not really ideal from a engine longevity perspective...
I wonder what the water pump looks like?
Sludgy orangey black stuff? That's a good sign, right?!
Now I want to be 100% clear on this subject. We have spoken to Terry and this is
NOT a Butler Motorsport engine. Terry has never had his hands inside this engine apart from fitting the ARP bolts before supplying it as a donor engine to a race team that wanted to build it themselves.
Our jobs for tomorrow:
- Taking the head off
- Wincing
- Prizing open the wallet for a full rebuild or worse
- Taking advice
- Having a conversation with the people that sold us this engine