Recap: This happened:

The Aftermath:
The heads came off at Doug Rippie Motorsports to replace the lifters and seal everything back up. It was then discovered that the wrong head gasket was used during the initial build, and that on the drivers side there was some additional damage past the coolant wash: cracked pistons.

The motor came out and came completely apart at the hands of Doug, Randy and Todd @ DRM (excellent guys) and it basically boiled down to needing:

• Pistons
• Rings
• Lifters
• Head Gaskets
• Lifter Trays
• A proper tune
• More Fuel most likely
• Crank Bearings

Because I’m a recluse and have money arrive at odd times I’m going to have the bottom end  re-assembled in town and put the motor back together and into the car myself. DRM is wonderful at what they do but I can’t provide them with the money to take off on the project. As soon as it gets home I’ll post up pictures of the various pieces parts and damage.  Right now it’s all about which pistons and rings, coated or uncoated, change the cam while we’re in there or not … etc.  For the record, I’m leaning towards wiesco pistons: coated and changing the cam since we’re in there and total seal rings. Probably also going with GM LS7 gaskets vs more expensive and pita long-wait-to-be-made cometic ones. Unless we need to adjust the Compression ratio.  Can’t wait to get started.

I’m working with Randy Rippie @ DRM to get my car home after they found several pistons cracked due to detonation/ lean conditions/ coolant wash. The wrong headgaskets were used in the initial build and likely the tune was 100% garbage. I’ll be getting it back together hopefully by June or so and documenting the deal on here.