The autopsy

Back in the garage, I drained my oil in preparation in yanking the lump. This is what was sticking to the magnet in the oil drain plug.

Not a good sign - cue the ominous organ music

A long, hot and sweaty afternoon - we're in a heat wave here, no a/c in the garage - had the motor out and ready for examination.

I think I've done this before

Fast forward to all settled on the engine stand, flip it upside down and pull the oil pan. Let take a look!

Nasty. Looks like somebody dropped a bunch of metal confetti into my oil pan to be sucked up into the oil pickup tube.

Further investigation reveals the culprit, the dreaded #2 spun rod bearing. Despite the oil pan modifications, despite the cross-drilled crank, here's what's left:

This is what it should look like:

And since the bearing failed, the piston wasn't tightly held to the crank anymore, so it was free to flop around and bang against my values. That was probably the rattling sound we heard in the car. By then it was too late to save the motor.

Note the two shiny new dents in the piston. The valves are probably bent also. Cha-ching!

So Doctor, what's the medical report? Can the patient be saved?

Hmmm, caressing his goatee (or soul-patch for the kids) "I think we need to strip the block bare, pressure clean all the confetti bits out, do a head job, and reassemble from scratch and maybe, ... maybe it will live again. BTW, cash only, I don't do Medicare"