What would you do?

If you are even a little mechanically inclined the R &R of your engine is fairly straightforward - as was said biggest issue may be hoisting it out of the boat. And yes, take lots of pics - before unplugging/ disconnecting and after as well.
I'd certainly remove as much of the interior as possible in & around the work area since it doesn't take much to damage the skins. I'd also cover your carpet with a poly tarp and tape it down as best you can - oil & grease can and will soak right through canvas.

Finally, be sure you get an exact explanation, in writing, of everything the machine shop is actually going to do to the engine. $2k seems really cheap for everything that should be done. Or at least as Ken indicated, they should be tearing it completely down to CHECK for spun bearings and the like. That in and of itself is a lot of labor. My 2 cents

Thank you all for the valuable feedback and input. I've done some reading online and have this book on the way from Amazon. I've decided that I'm up for the challenge and am going to tackle the pull and teardown.

On a quick browse of Craigslist today, I happened upon this listing.

Would I be able to do a straight swap and solve my problem? And then part out the stuff that isn't broken on what I have? Or is that just asking for trouble?

Heading into Memorial Day weekend without a working boat is just about killing me and I want to get back on the water ASAP! If I were able to swap these parts in, that would eliminate time spent in the shop and I'd be able to teardown and rebuild the same day, right?

Been a busy weekend! Built a gantry, pulled the motor, and stripped it down to the long block. Dropping it off at the machine shop tomorrow AM! Thanks all for the words of encouragement, I ran into few issues along the way and documented as the engine came apart. Hoping that reassembly will be just as smooth!

While I was stripping the engine down, I managed to only break one part. I'm not exactly sure what it is though, can someone help identify? It's a small hose that connects the intake manifold to the starboard head near the front end of the engine. Picture shown here:




For your viewing pleasure:

Engine Lifted

Engine Loaded

Engine before:


Stripped to long block:

Hey Ken! Thanks for checking in!

I suppose that I should have mentioned that my wife and I like to escape the Texas heat in June and July and have been up in the northeast. When I dropped the engine off before we left I told them I wouldn't be back for it until August. So the project has had a bit of a hiatus. I expect they'll be working it into their queue soon. I will call in at the end of the week to see if they have a diagnosis and cause which I know we are all curious about!

The plan at the moment is to pick up the engine and reassemble it on August 7. Hope to drop it back into the boat that weekend on the 10th and be back in business.

Resurfacing this post reminds me...was anyone able to identify my broken part in the picture above?

I think it's a breather tube that's part of the PCV system.

In the link below is a ZR6 parts manual that might be handy to have.

Look at the diagram on page 8, part 50

link

It should be relatively easy for your machine shop to replace the elbow in the manifold, either with a press in elbow or by tapping the hole and using a screw in fitting

In your May 13th post you said that Buxton determined that it was gas in the cylinder, so the injectors seem like the likely starting point.

You must have an outfit locally that can test the injectors and rebuild as necessary or you could buy new injectors. The machine shop should be able to tell you where to go for that.

You know which cylinder and injector caused the problem, but I'd get all 8 tested.

How much are they replacing in the engine just out of curiosity?

From the shop that worked the injectors today:
"One of them was stuck wide open. The first set of four took four cleanings before they flowed correctly. The second set took three cleanings to flow correctly. They all seem to be flowing within two to three cc's of each other now. That is about normal and none are sticking open."

So it appears that the wide open injector is the cause of this whole mess. One thing that's a little strange is that Buxton allegedly had all of the injectors cleaned (and one fully replaced) last summer. Do I need to look at just replacing all of them? What is the life expectancy of fuel injectors?

Trey, ended up going with Wells Cylinder Heads in Midlothian. Jamie owns the shop and was really patient in explaining the process and answering a ton of newbie questions. Educating the customer goes a long way with me. They did a full rebuild replacing everything except the crankshaft and camshaft.

Cautiously optimistic that I'll be skiing this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Sounds like you have a fuel quality issue with wherever you get it? Injectors don't really fail all that often. I would consider a swap of where the fuel comes from or an additive every few tanks or so to keep those clean and lubed up.

On my carby boats I try to run one can of Seafoam a season in one tank just to keep them clean. I haven't really ever had issues but the only thing I have seen keep a snowmobile carb clean was Seafoam.

I would look at an additive that had some type of lubricity for the fuel system.

If they say so I would assume the seals and such aren't ethanol compatible.

I don't run it in my Carb boats now but I never had issues with it degrading things but they have all been updated to newer fuel lines/carb gaskets and seals etc.

Pete, pure gasoline is better than any hybrid mixed with biofuels and the reasoning for blended ethanol fuels makes no economic or environmental sense except to farmers who grow corn for ethanol.

I think you should consider supporting your passion for biofuels by running E-85. Its 105 octane and you could run insane compression ratios!

In all seriousness, I have never had a fuel problem with an automobile. It’s just our boats and small engines that may have fuel sitting in them for days (and months in winter) and ethanol fuels are less stable than pure gasoline. It’s probably better to drain and use than to store E-10 over our northern winters.

Glad you are makng progress. I add a quart of Tranny Fluid, standard ATF to a full tank of gas at the beginning of every year. It helps clean and lubricate injectors.   It is not recommended because it is not EPA approved. Talk to any old diesel mechanic and they will tell you it has been used for years for this purpose.
I first heard of this in the 1980's, something was changed in diesel fuel and they started having injector issues everywhere. Adding the ATF lubricated and protected the injectors against these failures.
On my fuel injected vehicles if they get an odd idle issue I first add the ATF to the gas tank and many times the idle issue goes away for good. You need to run the tank of gas through the engine to see results.
If you doubt the effectiveness of ATF, next time your hands are really greasy pour a little ATF on them, it will break down the grease as fast as a good hand cleaner but it also has lubricating ability. Don't actually do this as the AFT can will tell you it is bad for your health to have ATF on your skin but it does a nice job cleaning and lubricating injectors.
It is good preventative maintenance for a fuel injected engine. You will never detect any smoke out the exhaust or any other effect from running the ATF.   I have used this on our BMW's, Chevy's, Fords, my son's Audi.   Just once a year or so for preventative maintenance.

I can hardly believe it, but I had a VERY smooth install and we had it back on the water yesterday. Thanks to all for the words of encouragement and support, I saved several thousand dollars in shop labor by tackling the bulk of this project myself. Couldn't have done it without the wisdom of CCF!

The only issue that remains to tackle is that it is still exhibiting the exact same flooding problem that occurred prior to the bent rod. Would REALLY like to get this resolved so I don't have to repeat this project. As a reminder: the engine will start perfectly on a cold start. If restarting the motor after being off for ten to fifteen minutes, it will crank and crank but will not start until the throttle is moved to WOT, which means that we are flooding somewhere.

I pulled the boat home to Dallas last night intending to do some testing today in the drive way. Oddly enough, I could not re-create the problem today in the drive way. I would run the engine, stop it for 15 minutes, and then it would start perfectly again. Granted, I only idled it in the driveway, it was not under any sort of load or increased RPMs. The only other thing that has changed since yesterday is that I re-filled the gas tank on my way home from the lake. It only had about a quarter tank left.

I did get a fuel pressure gauge and did a leak down test. Results were consistent three separate times and are as follows:

62PSI with engine on @ idle
56PSI, 0 minutes after engine off
50PSI, 2.5 minutes after engine off
44PSI, 5 minutes after engine off
38PSI, 10 minutes after engine off
34PSI, 15minutes after engine off

I was not able to find any specific info regarding what to expect from the ZR6 fuel pressure. Are these specs available anywhere? Does this seem like a normal reduction in pressure following the engine turning off?

My plan for tomorrow is to try to re-create the problem again on a lake. If it shows, I will probably pull the injectors and have them re-tested again to see if one of them has failed again already. If everything is good tomorrow, chock it up to old gas that has been crying in the tank all summer wishing it were being used? Any other ideas on what could be creating the flood?

I hate to spend other peoples money - but I would not put one more penny into those injectors pick up new set and go skiing. Often times there are aftermarket alternatives that are cheaper than the automotive oem. Certainly don't pay PCM prices but get you some new crispy crisp injectulators.

+2 And if one is known to have started acting up you don’t want it to lean out and melt a new piston either.