Has anyone had experience building a 997 motor utilizing Carrillo rods and having clearance issues with the oil pump? We can't seem to get clearance in spite of machining the pump to spec and Carrillo says everything seems fine from their end. Obviously we're reluctant to reassemble the motor, fire it up and hope (like hell) that it doesn't blow up which is what we and several motor builders have told us we could expect. Any insights or reassembly techniques would be appreciated........thanks and a happy gobbler day to one and all!

 

Did you get the kit from EVOMS?

 

Yes, and Evoms machined the oil pump to whatever spec it is they customarily use in such an application but when my motorman built up the bottom end, the rod(s) didn't clear. We are maybe 1-2 mm off. So he sent the pump back to them and they verified that it had been machined properly but declined to shave it any more fearing that the structural integrity might be compromised. One of the Evoms guys said we should just rebuild the motor and fire it up and something to the effect that when it's all put back together they will clear fine and they have done this hundreds of times. Another Evoms guy thought that was a pretty ballsy strategy as did the guys at Carrillo and another independent engine builder whom we consulted with. They all said that without clearance we could expect a catastrophic motor failure so we are choosing to err on the side of abundant caution at this point and not just cross our fingers and hope for the best. Carrillo has verified that we have the correct rods and thought we should be able to do a little additional machining to the pump to solve the problem but we're not sure why Evoms wouldn't do this as it seems pretty simple straightforward. So we are sitting here scratching our heads and wondering what we are missing; is there some top-secret reassembly technique we are unaware of? Do I have an anomalous motor or pump? What??

We are continuing to work with Evoms (which has been quite helpful on a variety of issues so far) and bump it up their chain of command. Eventually we will get some clarity on this issue but I was hoping that someone in the 6Speed community might have had a similar situation and found a satisfactory resolution. Any thoughts? Best,

 

From an engineering point of view it is bad to shave the pump...This should be your last possible solution.

 

Steamboat, I actually received the same package from EVOMS less than 2 weeks ago and my motor-man has been tearing it down and it is on its way together early next week (hes on vacation for turkeyday) and my cams were at the machine shop getting pinned- I opened and inspected the carillo rods that were in the EVOMS box along with their heavy duty head studs, their hell-fire gaskets are what I hear a technique to install with some difficulties along the way..- Im pretty sure my oil pump was not modded because the turbos already have the gt oil pumps but he said he sent an intermediate shaft to the machine shop to get pinned as well. Im going to take a ride over to the shop and talk to his other tech and get some info on the rods clearing .... Ill check back in soon.

 

get a set of pauter and avoid all the potential problems.

 

Agree. Somethings either not right or someone doesn't know enough about what they are doing....or both. Shaving the oil pump down to provide clearance for passing rods sounds very dodgy.

 

No clearance issue with my set of Carrillo connecting rods. Hope your build works out... We have many similar mods, my set up should be fired up before christmas, after the holliday my tech is going to data-log and send some files back and fourth from EVOMs to adjust the tune... And hopefully have an EVT775+, so by the time your set up is complete they can send you a *****in' fast file.

 

Salerno,

That's great news! I wondered how things were going and hope your Christmas present is complete and good! I do think Evoms will go the extra mile to make everything right. Perhaps our cars will meet someday. You and I can enjoy an adult beverage or two!

On my front, Evoms has done good work. We sent the rods and pump back to them and they made the necessary modifications although I"m not sure what that entailed. (We thought we needed another .030 in. / .75mm clearance). In the course of that process they installed my pump and rods in one of their "mules" and sent us a video demonstrating that the rods now clear. That's a very helpful touch, so we know it now "should" go back together. Heaven help us (or mostly my motorman) if it doesn't. We are currently waiting to receive the parts (tomorrow) and then the reassembly process begins - or whenever the holiday spirits allow. Hopefully we are now good to go after many months. I'd be remiss to point out that much of the delay is attributable to stuff on our end and not Evoms......just to keep the record straight.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!! Rubber side down!

 

I'm really glad to hear both you guys are making progress! Is there any guess as to why one fits fine and the other needs modification? Good luck with the rest of the build. I'm sure it will be awesome at the end of the day.

 

Steamboat im glad to hear EVOMS installed your parts in their test mule. They really do go the extra step to make sure their parts are quality. One of the lead motor building techs over at EVOMS was actually at my local tech's shop "TKX-Performance" diagnosing a problem on a EVT1200- on a customers completely stock looking 997tt including stock airbox and Y-pipe with a full motor build and big turbos. While conveniently enough, my parts had just gotten in and motor was torn apart. Even though my tech has some experience building porsche motors, he gave him some tips and whatever pointers they addressed.

p.s Ill take your word for that adult beverage, I hear the Colorado ski slopes calling my name.I also hear Colorado is where all the real people are



TTdude- I assume either the parts were installed wrong or maybe one of the rods were defected. .030" or .75 MM clearance can be as little as a wrong washer or gasket, but dont quote me im no a motor builder; maybe Evoms can elaborate.

 

That's a very interesting question which I will probably get around to discussing with someone at Evoms at some point. When my motorman and I developed our build list several months ago, Evoms included the pump machining as a separate line item. Obviously, they anticipated the need as we didn't request it and were very matter-of-fact about it as in " it's not a big deal but needs to be done". Now, what I do know is different about our respective builds is that because mine was predicated by a catastrophic failure rather than a preplanned upgrade, once we decided to go with Evoms we started by cherry-picking components and didn't buy their 775 kit off the shelf per se. We didn't have a specific power goal in mind when we began aside from "let's make it better and stronger" but once we got far enough along with our thinking and spending, Evoms said we basically had replicated the 775 kit plus adding the bottom end motor components and some other stuff from the 790/850R package and they would redo the flash accordingly. So, given that circuitous path, it's quite possible that my build package is not identical to Salerno's and perhaps that explains the machining, or lack thereof, of the respective oil pumps. If I ever find out, I'll put up a post but for now I'm satisfied that Evoms has provided us with good advice for our respective situations. Best,

 

Nice explanation Steam. Sounds like your back on track. Great news.

 

We use the Carillo Rods on our new Vivid Racing Stroker Kit for the 3.8L or 4.0L. You do have to shave down part of the oil pump housing because of the rod coming close to it. It is no big deal and does not affect any integrity of the part. Here are pics of what needs to be shaved.

 

How close is that distance in the picture?