“Get your heads fixed!” The internet was RIGHT? 

Hey Josh, you're right about being concerned about being under a car. You can never be too careful. Lost my best mate when a jack stand collapsed on him and he was an experienced diy'er. Makes me very conscious of what can go wrong and very cautious when under one myself now. Sorry about the LS7's dropped valve, that's a bummer. Still bright side, we can now all follow your content on the rebuild! Have a good one from M8 from way down in NZ. Grant

Love joining you as you figure this all out. Love how you dove right in and started disassembly of the engine. Thanks for what you do!!!

It’s cool seeing you go through all the motions (and emotions 😭). I think all of us DIY car guys can share in your experiences. I’m happy the damage wasn’t worse than it could have been. I’m sure the final build will be amazing.

Sorry for your loss. I had to laugh at the comment though about being crushed by a car. I literally think about this every single time I get under a car.

Good luck Josh. Living vicariously through your videos! I wrenched on a 240Z in high school and college. Loved every minute. My back can't take it anymore.

I like your videos man. i also had a yellow c6 z06 so this hits close to home. while I never had this issue I applaud you for taking on the project yourself. keep up the high quality videos and if you stay consistent you will become the next good automotive youtuber. you have earned my support. also your garage is sick!!

Keep plugging along brother. We’ve all been there. Makes Goldie’s return to the track/street feel even better!!!!! Good luck!!!

And yes! I think the same thing every time I’m under any car. Wishing the best in minimal damage. Thanks for the video.

I already ordered my upgraded heads from American Heritage, but this just proves that I made the right choice. Thanks for being willing to share what you have learned, I'm glad the damage wasn't worse

Dont give up. I was in the same boat as you when I blew my engine on the track. Postive and organize attitude kept me going and now my car is running again.

Your editing and music selection is spot on!! Love it

Thanks for the video. Good luck as you continue to dig into this.

Grumpy old veteran tip #1. Throw a wheel or two under your cars and trucks when you have them off the ground. I thought everyone did this but evidently not.

Ok I'm listening... watched this and I'm locked in now. Change my ls7 heads this winter. Baby it until then. Please keep showing your adventure with your z. Love watching it.

Your comment about getting crushed while under the car is golden. My friend is a mechanic and he told me stories of having cars and trucks with severe frame rust through and having to work under those death traps. Talk about work place safety, doesn't exist in the automotive world. A ray of sunshine for you. My friend Mark just had the same thing happen to his 04 Ram Viper engine. He will live on Ramen Noodles for a long time to get that Viper repaired.

Sorry to see your Z06 out of commission during peak track season. For once I'm glad to have listened to the internet and addressed heads before my car saw any track use. Best of luck with the rebuild, looking forward to watching more!

Cammed LS3 should be the replacement! Seriously, glad to see you not giving up. Your tenacity is inspiring.

Been following you for a while now and sucks this happened. I have to give major props for actually going in and tearing it down your self, think I would of been too mad to even attempt that!

The entire episode i was pleased by how organized and tidy your garage is .. good job though

Your attitude and patience is awesome!! A 700 HP build with a Z06 chassis and weight around 3200lbs coupled with your driving skills, good-night to the GT3 and GT3 RS! I am looking forward to see how this all turns out!

great video Josh - we're alike, in that, i dont know everything and sometimes i worry about how far i go and if i can get it all back together CORRECTLY.. i think anybody without formal training feels this way. i really enjoy your tone and your ethics regarding disassembly; it's important to be methodical with all these parts to keep track of! keep making videos and i'll keep watching! regards

If only I had a dream garage like yours with almost any tool I needed, I'd never dread doing almost any job. Try doing this stuff in a neighborhood of townhomes in the middle of the street with no cover from the elements, working out of a service cart and two stationary boxes in a basement, along with ramps, a floor jack, and jack stands. I really appreciate your real-world experience of taking stuff apart and your honesty about what you know and don't know. Good job.

Interesting to see the real world challenges involved with taking off the head in the car with the full set of OEM bits, so many RU-vids just show the engine on the stand which as we all know is much easier. Subscribed!

I think you’re an excellent mechanic Josh. I love how organized and neat you are. I love this car 👍. Subbed

respect for your man to man talk to yourself, we all have been on our backs trying to fix an ole daily

Josh, I have the exact same car, year, color and all. Mine dropped number 8 exhaust valve at the track. The LS7 can be resleaved. The cylinder liners are thin on the LS7 so have a machine shop check for a crack. Sometimes when they crack a cylinder liner they can crack the block, but being aluminum it can be welded. Mine has been welded for two seasons of track days with no issues. Texas speed and Scoggins Dickey Chevrolet are your friends when it comes to parts, gaskets and seals. Texas speed sells the PRC billet heads and they are awesome flowing heads. Just whomever you get your parts from make sure they know you are road racing and not drag racing. They all seem to push huge cams and such because they mainly build drag cars. If your other head is still good and you want to save some money reworking the stock heads, I have one good stock head and will make you a hell of a good deal on it.

I would say I'm about as experienced as you in terms of working on cars, but I've never had the confidence to remove a head. So props to you for that.

At least you were willing to dive in and try to figure out what happened and try to fix it a lot of people aren’t willing to do what you did so thumbs up.

....great video, currently in process replacing my Ls7 with a stock long block. My mechanic is doing it this time, but your video is giving me the confidence to do it myself when the original block goes back in rebuilt by KA Tech.

Great video man. Keep up the good work. Loved the fastener drop moment.

Hi Josh. OK so it was a dropped valve. When you get the engine out and tear down, be sure to check the cheeks of the big end of the Titanium connecting rods. These can begin galling and is another LS7 failure point. The best option for the valves is going to Moly coated stem Titanium intakes with precision machined bronze guides. These will rev the best and keep the valvetrain stable at high RPM. I would not do the old school stainless steel intake valve with the double valve spring deal. That's for drag race engines that don't sit at high RPMs. Not really suited for track cars. Its a heavy valve and beats up the whole valvetrain. These dual springs have an issue with surging at high RPM and this reduces valve control and greatly increases fatigue of the springs. Katech has Spintron data showing the issues with stainless steel intakes and dual springs vs Titanium intakes and honeycomb springs. Their engineering data in the lab and on the Corvette race cars bares out their solution. Also stay away from the stock DLC coated titanium intake valve stems and hard iron valve guides. This combination didn't work out well as the coating failed and trashed the guides and valves stems. The shops try to salvage the original Ti valves and get them re-coated and polished. This doesn't seem to work out long term as QC on the rework seems sketchy. Katech is offering the molycoated stem Titanium intakes/bronze guides as the update. This valve issue as you know has been an issue for a while now. Katech has the best solution using what I stated above. You have the early issue of the exhaust valve and Katech will replace all 8 of those with the updated valve. This will also get the bronze guide. Katech will set the guide clearance very tight and fix the bad valve job. You send the heads to them, for about $3,000 they will completely overall the heads as stated above as a service for folks that want their LS7 heads fixed right and for good. You can do overkill here and get Titanium exhausts but these Titanium valves are expensive. My 2009 LS7 I plan to pull the heads and send them to Katech and do the above. That one head got trashed. Contact Katech and see if they consider heliarc welding it to fix it or just scrap it and replace the head with a good used casting. A good used head I see going for $1000.00. Obviously that #6 piston is done but also check that #6 connecting rod and see if it got bent. Maybe OK or not, you need to see it. Those Ti rods are roughly $800 new each. Many guys take them out and replace all the rods with forged steel rods, replace the crank, pistons, rings. That entire assembly new and balanced is about $2500. Doesn't take too many hurt Ti rods to make a conventional forged bottom end look cost effective. R.E.D., Racing Engine Development in Oceansdie CA is the most qualified shop for fixing the LS7 block. Steve Demirjian developed the re-sleeving process with Darton who manufactures the sleeves. Steve engineered his own tooling for precision boring these blocks for new or replacement sleeves. He would be the go to and would give you good advice on what to do. I did look into replacement OEM LS7 blocks. Apparently engine shops and dealers bought up the last of the GM LS7 blocks before they were discontinued. I did see NOS LS7 blocks for about $4000.00 for what appears to be new LS7 blocks. Depending how bad the engine scattered, there is metal in the intake. A good used clean stock intake is $200.00 so conventional wisdom is to throw out that intake and not risk any metal shrapnel getting back into the new engine. The oil tank, oil lines and oil cooler will all need to be cleaned of metal and other junk from the engine failure. The oil tank is 2 piece so you can disassemble it and clean it out. The other items maybe just replace them. Lingenfelter can modify your 8 qt tank and increase it to 11 qt like a late model tank. Avaid makes an oil tank insert and good windage tray setup that does well in solving oil starvation on the track. That would be minimum level upgrade to improve the oiling system. You had concerns about oil starvation. When you get to the bottom end apart and check the bearings and crank journals, they will tell the story (ask how I know). As far as pulling the engine, it can come out the top. Go to Harbor Freight and get the engine crane and engine stand. There is a engine lift bracket with a hand crank and screw that allows you to change the balance point to align the engine during pulling and especially reinstalling it to get aligned with the torque tube input shaft. The hood is light but get help when removing so you don't scratch the car. Before you unbolt the hood, match mark the bracket positions of the hinges to the hood. That way you can put it back on in exactly the same position without having to do all that effort of re-alignment. The timing chain should be updated to the C5 race chain (?) as the stock chain had some issues. Replace the stock LS7 crank damper with an aftermarket Fluidamper or equivalent as the stock damper when tracked would begin to slip the collar/rubber joint. For the clutch, use a Z06/ZR1 stock GM high performance clutch and pressure plate. Install a new GM slave cylinder. Install the Katech clutch bleeding extension hose as this makes the clutch servo bleeding and fluid maintenance much much easier. For the clutch disk alignment tool, don't use the cheap plastic molded alignment tool that comes with the clutch. Get a machined one that fits better and gets a perfect alignment. This will help greatly when trying to re-install the engine and get the input shaft back into the clutch.

hey Josh, I’ve been following your entire C6Z journey. I’m really hoping for you the block isn’t cracked, if your block is salvageable then it would be a miracle ❤ I bought a c6z that looks just like yours 3 months ago, and I immediately scheduled it to get the heads fixed at a local reputable shop. Their schedule was booked, so daily driving my c6z for 3 months sure kept me awake at night, but I’m happy to report the car finally made it to the shop yesterday. ❤ best of luck to you, if the block isn’t cracked then it sounds like you can get the car back up and running in no time and a fraction of the money [:

Thanks for the video, I understand why it took some time to come to grips with the situation. I would give Vengence Racing a call,as they are out of Cummings, GA. Your so lucky, that they are close by. I have a C4/5/7 and (all yellow) and hope to see you at the track someday!

Great video and very well made. It was very peace full to watch frome Norway…..but sad to see your problems ☺️

I really appreciate your patience with this project and your willingness to document it all. I'd be so heated about the engine failure that I'm not sure there'd be much useable footage during teardown if it were me 😂. I still think the C6 Z06 is one of the coolest enthusiast cars, and I'm excited to see what's next for the engine. Fastener/tool plinko is my least favorite game. Hearing "tink tink tink...tink" in a cockpit is the worst.

Man you’re doing probably the only high quality C6 content out there. As popular as this platform is, no one is really showcasing it or working on it the way you are. Also as a C6 GS daily driver, I highly recommend a catch can for yours. A lot of that oil in the intake was from blow-by. Obviously “the incident” added a ton and coolant. All of the LS motors suffer from it though. A lot of people go for the top tier Mighty Mouse setup but I have the Elite Systems can and it’s doing the job just fine. It catches an alarming amount for a N/A motor so I think it’s worth it once you get her back on the road with fresh heads and valves etc.

Overall, very impressed with you willingness to get into project, having limited experience or knowledge as to what you were doing. Nonetheless,, you narrated very well, which allowed the viewers to remain engaged!! Great job

Glad I subscribed to your channel. Entertaining, informative and a bit of comedy. Thanx for the vid!!

I normally can’t watch videos longer than 10 minutes due to my short attention span but I was fully invested in this one. Good stuff, sorry to hear about your dropped valve but hopefully you can just get those cylinders re-sleeved and get some aftermarket heads and get her back on the road! (Could also do a forced cam upgrade while everything is already off 😉)

Another wonderful video. Sucky situation. Love the videos and all the commentary ha! Thanks!

Finally another video worth watching! 👏🏼 watching this while making breakfast 👍🏼

Digging the subtle humor, elevator music and chill attitude. Good stuff 👍👍🍺🍺. Subscribed.

I can't lie - your garage and tool game is strong! 👍

Josh, get in touch with BTR (Brian Tooley Racing) and get a camshaft that eliminates valve bouce off the seat. That should greatly increase valve longevity. If you want extra peace of mind, swap over to a SS exhaust valve but that heavier valve is all the more reason to seek a cam that is designed to eliminate vavle bound off the seat.

I love your commentary! Years ago there was this show called mind of the married man ….you are like mind of the auto diy’r!

As a master technician, I have to say good job on that tear down! Just stay with it and you’ll be back jamming gears in no time.

Josh, I had my LS7 heads reworked by an experienced Corvette shop in 2007, just a year after buying my 2006 Z06 new. New semi race cam, billet roller rocker valve train and valve keepers, springs, head ported and milled 0.010: for more power. Also get rid of the heavy stock untuned headers and Cats and get the Kooks Tube headers with low restriction Racing Cats and X mid pipe - huge power gain of 150hp > 650hp, and 150 lbs lighter. The stock clutch can handle it as long as you don't slip it at high RPMs and do drag strip burnouts. Now at 23,000 mi including track days and still going strong. I have the same Recaro Race Seats.:)

With the music in the background I feel like I'm watching Mr. Rogers garage lol great video!

I wish it was that easy to work on anything with the heads on my 02 SS Camaro. Great Video

Yeah I'm all about insurance policies. I have those quick jacks as well and still always put jack stands under them, a couple notches below full extension (to help avoid tipping). Even though they aren't touching the bottom of the car when jacked, I figure it's better than nothing.

Exhaust valves are hollow steel sodium filled. Intake valves are TI made by Del West. An article stated GM told/requested Linimar Manufacturing to do a 100% inspection process on the heads (they did the machining) as of Feb 2011. Most issues involved engines made 2008-2010. Mine is a 2013. I have nearly 120K miles w/o any issues. So far, so good. Since most inventories were 'just in time' I'm hoping I have the fully inspected heads.

Awesome garage setup. I love the gran turismo style background music btw. Sub'd!

Great video and good luck!

Wow, I feel the same way. I put my 4200 pound Crown Vic on jack stands and slide under and I think of the same thing. Man if these jackstands fail, then what lol. After a while, it goes 😊 I still stay a little nervous lol.

Fix the block and do a Raceproven Motorsports stage3 package along with a vented catch can. That will car will a beast.

We need to look at the block and see if it has been cracked, if no crack it’s possible to get it bored or resleeved. For your intended purpose I would stay away from a heavy heads/cam build. I built my motor with the guidance of Tony mamo, he may be the one to help you proceed further. The cost is not cheap but that has to be accepted in this sport. I would remove the hood and front bumper and get a engine hoist, valley cover hoist bracket, and a hoist leveler. Then yank the engine. Removing the radiator makes it a lot simpler, the clip on the lower passenger side is a real pain too.

I got my 2011 37k miles C6 Z06 this summer. I took it easy on the motor, never wound it past 5k RPM. After a few months I found a pair of used heads complete for $1200 shipped. Had those heads reworked (guides, cut seats, Manley solid inconel ex valves, ti retainers) then pulled the heads off my motor and installed the "new" heads. First time I wound it past 6500 I was hooked. Love the mile wide powerband of the LS7.

I believe the LS7 uses dry liners, meaning if you have coolant in the cylinder, your block is cracked. As someone else stated these blocks are aluminum and can be welded. I cracked my block with fixed heads and decided to go with a RHS block for my new build. I'll try and repair the LS7 block for a future build. Good luck with your project, I'll be following along.

Great video Josh. Sorry to hear about the dropped valve. I am aslo concerned about my ZR1 dropping the valve at some point, so I will be doing a head re 'n' re some time soon. PS- Please use Jack stands when working under your car please. I have seen what a vehicle can do to the human body when squished by a failing scissor hoist. Cheers and can't wait to watch your next video.

Dang, I came here to watch car content and got a motivational speech. Can't wait to see what's next for the car!

Katech issued a bulletin on this some time ago, stating that valve seat concentricity (valve guide to valve seat) was a very likely culprit. My guess is that the seats were ground independent of the valve guides. And the guides, being a powder metal variety, were machined to their spec separately. Does no one any service to say, "you should have addressed this before hand".. just glad your damage is limited, and looking forward to seeing where the build goes from here. MAST has some great heads (what I bought for mine) and possibly, on the shelf for quick turnaround. Either way, better to catch this issue now, rather than later. Best of luck.

new sub here... just wanted to say very nice video production.. A+

That's a nice clean garage. We need a garage tour!

Fingers crossed you can salvage the block! I don’t know much about internals, but it seems strange that you have issues on both sides. Maybe the drivers side was having issues earlier (that sound you had at the autox?). Or maybe one failed causing the other side to crater shortly after? Anyhow, another great video. Thanks for sharing and we’re looking forward to the next one! I say keep stock power, but upgrade all the oiling stuff, maybe even a full blown “true” dry sump system that can handle the high rpm and g/forces. Cheers, Rod

Yeah I just want to say thanks for sharing im glad im not the only one takes deep breaths cussing in my head know I have to take the whole serpentine system of but focusing on the heads right now. Love to see that you have money and still DIY.. You have character sir. Im watching the video six months old so Im hoping its done by now. but yeah Im a big ls fan

Good shit man. Love the positive vibes 🤟🏼

Hopefully the block can be saved, good time to add upgrades AFR heads, cam swap, etc. also check into the later model Z06 improved dry sump oiling system if you don't have it already. Good luck!

Look into keytech oil pumps they make a great oil pump for the Z06 with high scavenging capability since you’ll be tracking the car, you can also upgrade to the ZR1 oil dry sump system which holds a little more oil. ATI balancer will help as well if you do a head cam package. Texas speed has great products as well.

Sorry for your troubles. After watching your videos I've learned two things, I need to get my heads done and I need a set of quickjacks. Throw a tire under the jack for some insurance.

Go with aftermarket heads, dont bother with fixed oem heads they will drop eventually again. Great content!

13:43 Me every time im under my 95 while its on jack stands. Great video! Sorry about the motor :(

I love your vids and I'm sorry about your LS7 but if it just needs to be resleeved that should be possible and while you're at it you can get some nice aftermarket heads and make her into an absolute beast. Best of luck!

i love this series

Tough break buddy, just did my heads on my 08 Z at 30k miles. Had 6 valves that were out of spec 😮

Nice shop man!! I have same car and have had no issues with stock heads but I don’t race it . I think that it’s the high rpm’s that these heads can’t handle. I definitely want to replace my heads and maybe do a cam swap at same time.

Hey Josh! Love the content man. You have a cool head and good outlook! Definitely looking forward to the next vid!

Dang! I was hoping the engine would be salvageable. Sounds like a engine swap is coming. This is good for future content on the channel. I definitely enjoy the progress and Josh’s attitude. I feel like I can relate. Keep up the good work buddy! P.S. - Great. Now I’m paranoid about getting under the car. Thanks Josh… Jk.

האיכות של הסרטונים משתפרת מיום ליום. ויש לך ידי זהב מחכה לעוד ועוד סרטונים ובהצלחה בהמשך גם עם הbmw

You probably have a machine shop nearby who can actually will that block up if it is actually cracked...... But I think it is just scored. But if you ever need a cylinder head or engine block welded there is a shop located in West Los Angeles California called Kelly's block welding service that has been around since the 1940's..... And they do excellent work.

Texas Speed has everything needed to update and fix the issues with the stock motor and will upgrade it all as well. They are the LS experts.

Love your video series on ur Z06 its well produced and you have very easy going non assuming style. What's better than your car lift is something called the EZ carlift made by a small business, I think the guy is a Russian emmegrey. It's a screw type sizzor jack so you can infinitely raise a car to about 2 ft off the ground. It's a few hundreds more than ur jack.

The video editing is impressive.

Josh, I really like all your videos. not the BS we all seen from other stupid car videos. Keep it up and let me know when you want to run at COTA!!!!!

Very good to know about the LS7 engine. Wow man, that is just the pits. But, it could have been much worse.

Ohhhhhhh Josh dropped another video. :D Makes my day

Another great video and glad you found the culprit. Not sure how broken parts can make it from one cylinder to another without major catastrophic event. Wonder how the cylinders look on other side with head off. Me thinks head gasket damage allowed coolant into non coolant locations and damaged piston and rings brought oil to party. Was there coolant in oil? Just curious. Still…if block intact and not structural damage…you may have a chance to salvage it. Love your organizational skills….wish I could attain that level…lol. But you are definitely right about staying organized and it’s effect on attitude. Drive on!

Great video JVV! Sorry about the engine, but looking forward to following the entire journey and seeing what decisions you are faced with and what choices you make. Let's see, 19 mins of video....what's that 19 hours to video and edit? BTW, Happy Fathers Day tomorrow!

Yeah LS7 dropping valves is very very real. Its been well known for 15+ years. Point is when you get into a C6Z, set aside money to have the heads/valves addressed. Good luck with everything!

Man you are lucky! That can absolutely be resleeved!

IMO, the most bullet proof solution is to go with Trick Flow 260 heads with their stainless valves and powdered metal valve guides. Yes the valves are heavier, but if you're going to keep your rev limit at 7200 or below, there isn't really anything to worry about. There is a guy on Corvette Forum whos been running these heads out of the box with a Katech K502 cam who's constantly whooping on it at track days, revving it up to 7200 all the time. I think he said he had about 30k miles on those heads maybe? I can't remember. But that is the route I would go for a track build. Good luck on your future build!

Hey Josh. Great video! I hope things go well with the rebuild.

Best wishes with the project. It's a shame GM has had so many problems with their engines. I think the LS3 is the last good one I owned that didn't have major problems. Anyway- I bought an air cooled Porsche that needed an engine rebuild and I did it myself and that engine is way harder than the pushrod V8's I'm used to. If I can do that you can do yours. Research and learn all you can before proceeding then invest in the tools and reference material to do it yourself. Things like journal measurements, bearing clearances, and deck heights. CC your piston crowns and combustion chambers.. Eliminate all the weak points and spare no expense for an engine that's going to be raced and it will pay off in the end. Good luck!

Large treated wood blocks never collapse and you can stack them a good two feet high if done properly.

Katech has been an OEM race team partner since the 80’s. Resleeve, refresh, new Katech cam, re tune, fly.

Hey Josh, not sure if you'll see this comment but one of the best companies to sleeve LS7's is "RED" Race engine development . Keep the great content coming!

Him: Why did the engine blow up? Dropped valves has entered the chat....😬

Mine went to RPM in Delaware. Baseline 465, after stage 3 622 rwhp. They do great work and you can order a parts package from them

awesome video. you gave me inspiration for my 2006 z06 with 35k miles. scared to even drive it after hearing all the horror stories lol

I got lucky and bought a Ls3 block for $500. It needed 1 sleeve on cyl 5 because of a dropped exhaust seat. Luckily it dropped at startup at idle and stalled the engine so not much damage. I have it at the machine shop right now getting a new sleeve and bored and honed to match the other cylinders. I'm going to order a set of Summit Ls forged pistons and rings for it. Well, I believe Wieseco makes them for Summit. K1 makes the cranks for the Summit Ls line. It's not cheap but resleeving if possible depending on the damage is way better then a new block lol.

Good video. My condolences. I can see how I might have done the same as in not "fixing the heads" earlier. So thanks for the obvious lesson in what not to do with your LS7. Anyway, probably quicker way to diagnose the problem by starting with the intake manifold. Easy to see the intake valves there and they are larger so probably more likely to get damaged first, maybe?