OK, I missed a shift at Sebring in September and dragged the engine well over 9k, but the only apparent damage was one of my valve adjuster jam nuts backed off. I ran the engine again last week, and it ran great, but I noticed a glint of very small metal partials in the oil and found a very small amount of metal in the oil filter. Here is a picture of the filter pleats.
So, my question is do I tear it down and risk doing a whole lot of work and money for nothing or do I keep running it, watching it carefully and risk doing more damage?
A little more background info. The engine is a 2.5 single plug 10.5:1, S-cam, SC oil pump, based on a 7R case. it has 3 races on it, so it is still very fresh, but should already be broken in. I run J&B racing valve springs, and ARP rod bolts, J&E pistons with stock rods and rod bearings. So it should have some margin on an over-rev. It sill makes great power, oil pressure was perfect, and compression is perfect in 6 cylinders.
My suspicion is I've damaged one of my rod bearings, but the amount of metal is so small it might not be enough to worry about. If I do need to go through it, is it reasonable to do a partial rebuild and replace the rod bearings without splitting the case?
Any advice would be appreciated .
JP
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