This episode of Carnage is one Scotty didn’t expect to be making, as he pulls the 427ci Dart LS out of the VS ute after only just getting it running. So, why?

In last week’s episode, it fired up for the very first time, a big milestone for the build. However, the scavenge pump was struggling to evacuate the oil from the turbos, which sit lower than the engine.

Essentially, the return line for the pump wasn’t big enough to handle the amount of oil, and it was leaking past the turbo oil seals. We can’t have oil backing up into the turbos, so the solution to that is to weld a fitting on the sump. To access that, the engine (unfortunately) has to come back out.

With the engine out, a new bung was welded onto the sump by Ben from Top G Fab, allowing the running of –10 fittings for plenty of evacuation of the oil from the turbos. 

On a lighter note, Scotty finally got the bits he needed to just about finish off the rear end. MPW set up the RTS nine-inch diff housing and four-link for us some time ago, but the diff was still in need of axles and a diff centre.

The champions at Race Products in Queensland sorted us out with a beautiful set of axles – full-floaters that’ll handle all those hard launches. With the diff centre and axles now in, the rear end is just about nipped up.

The ute is oh-so-close to hitting the dyno (well, once the engine goes back in, that is). So, get comfy, and enjoy this week’s winter warmer episode of Carnage.