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Clyde broke a Crankshaft this past weekend...in the middle of "Nowhere Arkansas" ..... Thankful to have had AAA.... they got us home...

I am starting the teardown now to see how bad it was... Happened at 35 mph while accellerating to 55mph.. Not hard on the throttle at all .. Appears to have broken right behind the flywheel at the rod journal ....

Well after a couple hours and crying in a few margaritas..... i decided to get to it.... Upon teardown engine looked normal for a 30,000 mile motor .... oil looked good, the water came out clean.. No noticeable indicators of trouble...

Upon pulling the oil pan i found the trouble... Broken crank right on the #6 rod journal... It was flat twisted off... .....The bearings were great condition except for where the damage happened.. the wobbling main journal scare the bearings up a bit but no other damage to be found... Block good, rods will be checked anyway... Looks like the crank just gave up... I guess i'll make some decisions as to what direction i'll take with this motor... some friends are egging me on to change to a 4.3 Chevy 90 degree motor...

I'm looking at the GM Performance crate motor in a 3.4Liter and add fuel injection .....

Anyone have some money i can borrow...

Yikes, is that a cast crankshaft?

sideshow wrote:Yikes, is that a cast crankshaft?

Yep..... Looking for a forged one now.. or just go bigger..

Clyde's getting a Factory new 3.4Liter Stroker Crate motor........ Just ordered it from GM's Performance Catalog... More torque and a stronger engine in general... Can't wait to get it in...

I'll probably rebuild the original 2.8 and sell it local for some S-10 driver..

Nice, no replacement for displacement!
I'm pretty shocked at that crank breaking like that. I'm making a guess that you weren't drag racing the Bus! Can't imagine what would cause the crank to break like that, other than a factory defect/crack in the original casting? Should have easily lasted 100K miles.

The new motor should make a nice swap.

[quote="GS guy"]Nice, no replacement for displacement!
I'm pretty shocked at that crank breaking like that. I'm making a guess that you weren't drag racing the Bus! Can't imagine what would cause the crank to break like that, other than a factory defect/crack in the original casting? Should have easily lasted 100K miles. [quote]


I was shocked too... sure was glad i had AAA... i'd never used it before but it paid for itself in one tow..

The 3.4 Liter will be a stronger and more reliable motor i hope... GM dropped the 2.8 and replaced it with a 3.1 then the 3.4. Both have a stronger crankshaft.. I'm hoping the extra HP and torque will be worth it.. It came with a 3 year - 100,000 mile warranty also from GM.. Can't wait for it to get here..

CLYDE IS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

Well i finally got it installed this past week and started it up today...... It sounds awesome and runs very strong. After some break in runs and oil change, i'll finish buttoning him back up for a road test... I can't wait... Good oil pressures and water temps also ..
The oil temp guage is actually my water temp gauge...

Clyde has a much deeper rumble now. I haven't rode in him with the 3.4 yet -but I will!

After a few days of inital driving... Cycling through different driving styles i feel the engine is ready ... I changed the oil yesterday with no event.. reset the timing and Clyde is on the road.. He definatly has more power... very smooth powerband and just goes....

I decided Clyde needed his offroad lights back on..... so while looking for the ones i took off i realized they were in bad shape.... So Clyde got some KC Daylighters .... now he's Happy...

You had put a link on one of your posts for hardcore axles that you thought about using, but they were like $700 ea side. I looked back but couldn't find it. What was that link again? I swapped some standard 930 cvs back in place of my race prepped 930s in hopes that it would get rid of the clackity clack clack clack... It made it alot quieter, but they still make noise, so I may upgrade to the axles you posted in the future.

Here ya go ... I still want these...


http://www.highangledriveline.com/sandrails.html

maybe later.. then i'll reinstall my lift.. i really miss it being up more..

After driving Clyde for a week with the new motor, I've decided that i'm satisfied with my choice...
This 3.4 is so much smoother on acceleration, has a deeper tone at the exhaust and definatly more power... I have about 100 miles on it so far and am driving it everyday... Oil pressure is great and the temps remain normal.....

I have one small oil leak at the distributor mount gasket... I'm going to have to replace it.. Other than that it's dry..

More to come...

fastmc25 wrote:More to come...

Video...? I'd like to hear that rumble, and Louisiana is a bit far from Oregon to just cruise down for a listen.

Tristessa wrote:

fastmc25 wrote:More to come...

Video...? I'd like to hear that rumble, and Louisiana is a bit far from Oregon to just cruise down for a listen.

I would but my camera is toast right now... but i do have a small video from my phone..... it's not he greatest but it's right after first start up...

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i160/ ... deo004.mp4