This engine has virtually zero miles on it...only in and out of a trailer, and since 2009, it never sounded right. I took in this car a few months ago and it was very hard to turn the engine with the starter. I replaced the battery with a monster one, and even replaced the starter to see if it fixed the slow turn issue. It finally fired up, but sounded like hammers hitting a steel plate....and zero oil pressure. I pulled the distributor and ran the pump by hand and only got 30psi. But ZERO when the car was running. I cut the oil filter apart and it was full of sparkles. Fast forward to today, I yanked the engine and tore it apart. First thing I noticed (besides glittery oil) was that the lifter faces looked worn, and a couple of them were really pitted. As I was pulling lifters out, I bumped the cam with my hand and it moved DOWN. Then I noticed that it was in two pieces. I was able to fish it out and put it aside. All of the bearings were roasted, and the bearing surfaces of the cam were worn so badly, that I think it wobbled around so much that it actually broke the cam. I had first assumed that the rear rod bearings would be toast, but the only damage on them was from the contaminated oil going through them. So we had what was likely an oil starvation problem on cam bearings....why? Front oil galley plugs were driven in too deep. At least that is what I am thinking. We were also missing the oil slinger. And the rear oil pan seal was pushed in, causing a massive leak when the engine was tilted back. Here is what I found, and where I stopped.
And upon further review, they felt the need to stake the oil galley plugs, like they were going to blow out when driven in that deep....
