[00vabchgt]

So the wife and I were driving up to Gloucester VA yesterday to hang out with her brother. We were just cruising in the Mustang when the dreaded marble sound made its presence known to us. I went to turn the motor off, and it just cut out on me while I was trying to get to the side of the road. And so began a 3 hour ordeal involving trying to get enough of a cell phone signal in the middle of BFE (actually, I think we were somewhere in Yorktown), getting a hold of me brother in law to come pick us up and waiting for a damn tow truck. My car's sitting at Rick's Car Care right now. I stopped by there earlier to check in with him since I got stuck in Gloucester last night and proceeded to smoke a whole fucking lot and get shitfaced. He said it doesn't sound good, which I feel is an understatement. To me, it sounded like the most horrible thing I've ever heard in my life, and I took my little sister to see that Spice Girls movie when she was a kid.So it's pretty fucking bad. It's probably mostly because I know my car's hurt, and once the car gets back on the road, my wallet's gonna be hurt. I'm about 90% positive that it's a rod. motor's got 102,000 miles on it. i take care of her and so did the previous owner, but i can't speak for the original owner. Rick said he hears a lot of chatter up top, so it may just be the valve train. now my dilemma is this: i'm getting out of the Navy next month, so i'm trying to be smart about how i spend my money. and being smart and buying stuff for the car seem to be mutually exclusive. if the block can be saved (nothing punched through), i was thinking about just throwing in a forged rotating assembly to save some cash instead of the whole long block, and then doing the heads and cams further down the road. or, should i just go with a stock replacement and save up for the longblock like i was planning to do? oh, yeah i almost forgot. my brother inlaw let us borrow his car so we could get back to Virginia Beach. know what i drove? his Honda Civic. what bothered me the most about it was the fact that everything in his Civic feels lighter. the clutch is hydraulic, so there's like no effort at all. the shifter is stock and it's easier and smoother than my Tri-Ax. even his e brake handle is so light a child could pull it up. so all in all, yesterday was a really fucked up day. and i'm sad.
i feel like i've been

[gills99stang]

Sorry to hear it dude!

FRA FTW!

[03 R Code]

Damn, tell Rick to give us some pics of the carnage when it's exposed!

[LeadFoot_GT]

Damn bro, that does suck...but if the block is good then slap a FRA on that Biotch and call it a day . oh, and like 03 R Code said, pics of the carnage lol.

On a serious note...hopefully you can now get the stuff you always wanted to put on that car given on how deep your wallet can go . But whatever you decide man...get that car back up and running.

[00vabchgt]

Originally Posted by LeadFoot_GT Damn bro, that does suck...but if the block is good then slap a FRA on that Biotch and call it a day . oh, and like 03 R Code said, pics of the carnage lol. On a serious note...hopefully you can now get the stuff you always wanted to put on that car given on how deep your wallet can go . But whatever you decide man...get that car back up and running.

yeah, the old wallet can't support a whole lot right now with me getting ready to change careers. i'm just trying to be smart and not spread myself too thin. depending on how fucked to motor is, i may just go with stock replacements for now and keep saving for a longblock. my whole goal for right now is just to get my car running again without having to sell any organs on the black market. on the upside, though, since Rick's going to have the motor out of the car, i'll probably have him put my long tubes on.

[00vabchgt]

Well, i got the word from Rick a little bit ago. a rod bearing puked on me. i'm stopping by the shop tomorrow morning to survey the damage and talk to Rick about my options. wish me luck it doesn't break the piggy bank. also, i'll be at the Luau in Va Bch. if anybody's gonna be there, pm me or something and we'll hook up and drink a few beers. i'll probably post pics on Sunday if i'm not too hung over (yeah, right lol)

[raceruler03]

hope its not too bad, good luck

[gills99stang]

Originally Posted by 00vabchgt Well, i got the word from Rick a little bit ago. a rod bearing puked on me. i'm stopping by the shop tomorrow morning to survey the damage and talk to Rick about my options. wish me luck it doesn't break the piggy bank. also, i'll be at the Luau in Va Bch. if anybody's gonna be there, pm me or something and we'll hook up and drink a few beers. i'll probably post pics on Sunday if i'm not too hung over (yeah, right lol)

Damn, that's the exact same thing that happened to mine too. Rick rebuilt mine when it happened. Get performance rod bearings, that's what Rick installed in mine.

Pics??

[00vabchgt]

pics inside
http://www.moddedmustangs.com/forums...k-vt37372.html

[GTsetGO]

looks good brah. can't wait to see it after it is done.

[00vabchgt]

i think i'm going to be going with the VT Sportsman shortblock. although i am worried about breaking the piggy bank, the price difference versus what each shortblock offers makes it kind of a no brainer as to which one to go with. i've got to make some calls tomorrow and hit the bank up about a loan to help offset the cost of this whole fiasco. still don't know what caused that rod bearing to take a dump, and i probably won't. it's not like my car was making insane amounts of power (not even close lol) on stock internals or anything. oh well, what can i do, right? i need my car back cause i can't be seen driving my brother in law's Civic lol!

[GTsetGO]

i think that i am just going to buy all the forged internals and do the work myself.

is your block no good??

[00vabchgt]

Originally Posted by GTsetGO i think that i am just going to buy all the forged internals and do the work myself. is your block no good??

i think the block is good. Rick couldn't give me an answer about the block because it hadn't bee ripped apart yet when i stopped by on Saturday am. they pulled the oil pan and out fell pieces of rod bearing. i figure that for the money i'll spend on having the stock block machined and all, i may as well just go with a shortblock. versus the cost of just a forged rotating assembly, it just makes more sense to me to go with the short block. i'll put the stock heads back on and then just do the heads and cams further down the road.

[00vabchgt]

quick update on the car situation. last monday i ordered a forged rotating assembly from VT. here it is:
http://www.vtengines.com/store/index...oducts_id=1333
I went with the 19cc dish pistons since i plan to throw a centri on the car. pistons are 0.020" overbore. Problem is, they haven't shipped yet. i understand that this has been an ongoing problem with VT, and i'm sure they make a great product, but damn. i know i'm not the most patient guy, but i want to drive my damn car! i'm planning on hitting the show in Hampton this weekend, but i will be attending sans Mustang. I'll be driving the Exploder, though.

[GTsetGO]

that sucks brah. i have heard that they take their sweet time some times getting thigns out.

just go rent one of the GT-H's from hertz and call it a day. :-)

[00vabchgt]

Originally Posted by GTsetGO that sucks brah. i have heard that they take their sweet time some times getting thigns out. just go rent one of the GT-H's from hertz and call it a day. :-)

you know, i hadn't thought about that!

[00vabchgt]

just heard back from Scott at VT. apparently, the pistons are backordered from Diamond. no word on when they'll be coming in. fuck.

[GTsetGO]

uggghhhhh. sorry to hear that brah.

[TheUNZippee!]

This is horrible, 00va! Good lord, I hope you're all right, brother. I'd buy you a beer if I was there. What a traumatic, life altering experience. That is definitely the most horrible, brain-hurty sound one can hear....it's like an ice pick in the ear, over, and over, and over.......you're thinking "I'm hearing this noise, but I can't believe it sounds this bad. What the fuck could possibly make such an egregious, annoying sound like this? IF IT DOESN'T STOP I WILL KILL MYSELF, BUT ONLY AFTER I TEAR MY OWN EARS FROM MY SKULL!"

I know this, because I too, have been where you are.










I had to take our daughter to see the Spice Girls movie.

*shudder*

[00vabchgt]

thanks for making me laugh, Zip. you had me going, i thought you were talking about the marbles sound coming from my motor. but i agree on the Spice Girls thing. my sister still owes me for that one. i don't think she could ever repay me.