Finally hurt the LQ9

After 7 years, 3 of which making >600whp, learning how to tune, and doing nothing but oil changes I finally hurt it. It is a 2002 LQ9 6L engine I installed in 2014 to replace the hurt 427. It had 150k on it and all I did was a cam and valvespring upgrade along with a new oil pump and timing chain. I had been driving it for months this summer making >700whp and it seems ultimately the tune was a little too spicy for the stock ring gap on pump 93.

In mid August I took a friend for a short ride in the car. After waiting to get warmed up I did one rip…not even especially hard. It didn’t feel quite right but still felt plenty fast. Once I let off and we started cruising down the road I started hearing a noise. After a bit i asked him if he heard something and he agreed. Drove a few miles back home, popped the hood and something was definitely off.

The next day I popped off the valvecovers hopeful I’d find a loose rocker arm I could just tighten back down. No such luck. Based on the above video I was thinking rod knock but I posted a video to the Sloppy FB group and someone was adamant they had the same thing happen in a late model Hemi engine and it was a broken piston. Others chimed in that it was most likely cylinder 7 or possibly cylinder 8 as they tend to run hotter.

It seemed pretty likely it was a broken piston, but whatever it was the engine had to come out. So out came the trans, then the engine.

With the engine off the subframe and on an engine stand I pulled the cylinder heads.

Now what?