How would a piece that big leave any of the bearings? There isn't a whole lot of space that I know of.

 

The only part of a bearing that is magnetic is the backing. If you got all the way into the backing then a brg would have spun and there would be a serious knock.

 

Humm..... That's interesting. To me, those look like drill bit shavings or something. Don't really think it bearing material, as with pieces that big, you would have some serious engine noise going on and also lots of fines in the oil making it look very sparkly/metallic. Woulds also have some copper color to it. Maybe some casting flashing in there too. The black stuff looks like some loctite or sealer from assemble.

Shavings that big would have to come from some serious metal to metal contact and I don't see how that could be in your motor. Like the others have said, I'd pull the timing cover and the valve covers and a few bearing caps look things over. If I didn't find anything obvious, (which you should with metal that big) I'd clean it up and put it back together.

 

mmmmmmkay.....I will be checking mains and rods tonight after class. I'll try to get into the valvetrain tomorrow. Where is the thrust bearing? I called a couple of shops around here abotu an oil pump and one told me the thrust bearing was the important one....

I dunno where drill bit shavings would have come from, I haven't drilled into anything. And none of those were there when I installed the engine, which supposedly had about 10K miles on it. I don't suppose the crank pin kit would have dumped metal shavings into the oil pan.......

 

How would pinning the crank get shavings in the engine? Your drilling into solid material, but your not drilling through the crank.
It is definately something. You said you lost oil pressure. That's a sign something is failing. The metal shavings are the give away.
I'm thinking possible cam bearing or oil pump material.
I'm trying to stay on the light side for you!
Though even if it is a cam bearing, that will still be major work getting the old ones out and placing new ones in.
I would rather try and find the issue than just putting it back together and ignoring it. IMO
Good luck to you.

Jim

 

Oh I'm definitely going to find out what it is. If I pull everything apart and can't find anything then I'll put it back together, but I'm at least going to check all of the bearings to see if any of them are failing.

On the bright side, if I have to replace anything I'm going to build a 402 or a 408

 

408 would be fun...

on page 3 some guy had a point. the black pieces could be from the lifter valley. I dunno if that would really mess up the oil pressure, unless you have some of that material blocking/clogged up in the oil pump.

good luck

 

I have to ask this this but could these not be chips from when the engine or some of it's components were manufactured? They just don't look like stuff that would come off any part of the rotating assembly, unless you had a near catostrophic failure.
These shavings look more like chips made from a machining process, not a part failure. JMO

 

Yeah that's the thing that is weird, if that came from something like a bearing I should be hearing strange noises, which I am not. Like I said, if I don't see any bearings messed up I'm going to replace the oil pump and put the motor back together and run it.

 

Run it till she blows IMO