Sad day at the track

[KaiPL]

I was at the track yesterday.

I was coming down the straight, and the car began to shudder. I thought I had blown a tire. I slowed to a crawl and checked my tire pressure monitor. Pressure was fine for all the wheels. I then noticed that the car was losing power. I checked my gauges. Oil pressure,oil and water temperature were normal. No check engine light. I exited into the pits, and my engined stopped running as I pulled into my parking spot.

I got out of the car, and noticed that there were flames coming out of my driver's side exhaust. I put the fire out by spraying my fire extinguisher up into the side pipe. Engine compartment looked normal. There was some oil dripping on the ground, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I had the car flat-bedded to my home.

I recently had some engine work done on the car. Flowed heads, new valves, cam, Jesel rockers, etc. I dyno'd the car and checked the air/fuel mixture right before heading to the track. The car was pulling strong, and AF never went above 12.6 (mostly between 11-12.)

The folks who did the engine work are gone to the SEMA show. I will be paying them a visit when they return from Vegas.

My sad car is sitting in my garage, slowly leaking oil.
I haven't felt this depressed in several decades.

 

[GR8_ASP]

It kind of sounds like you lost a valve, or possibly a piston which also took out the exhaust valve.
I feel for you during this trying time.

 

[SRTRICKY]

***** to hear taht Kai

 

[repiv]

Kai,
Best of luck, hope it works out. I always get nervous when I am at the track

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

That really ***** man, I hope you get it fixed and have it back at the track in no time!

 

[Don]

Sorry to hear you had troubles Kai. I'm sure you'll get things fixed and be back to the track in no time

 

[Dave T (BADVENM)]

Hope its not too serious!! Luckily, you got out in time.

 

[SnakeEye]

Sorry to hear of this. Here's hoping you get 'er up and running real soon!

 

[Mach10]

Sorry to hear that Kai.....
You will get her up and running in no time.
We still have to hook up and go for a cruise before we really get slammed with snow ....

 

[Vic]

Its metal, plastic, etc. Its fixable.

Hope you feel better soon.....

 

[VENOMAHOLIC]

Never a good thing to have happen. Hopefully is is relatively minor and covered by those people who did the mods. Good luck.

 

[Kenny]

If you have to redo the lower end, don't miss the opportunity to go bigger.

 

[Viper X]

Sorry to hear. Likely dropped an exhaust valve. Hopefully the problem isn't too serious and the folks who did the work will take care of you.

Good luck,

Dan

 

[Neil - UK]

hope your back on track soon

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Good luck. Let us know what the problem was and whether or not the responsible party makes good.

 

[Travis]

If this is the most depressed you have felt in decades, you should consider yourself VERY lucky...

You're racing a street car around a track. [******] is going to break.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

You're racing a street car around a track. [******] is going to break.

True. After five years and nearly 10,000 track miles my tranny broke.

 

[Paul S Lacey]

Sorry to hear that but bet you will be back even stronger.

Yes please let us know the problem.

 

[Vipera Russelli]

Bummer Kai I know that's depressing. Hell, I'm depressed just hearing about it. Hang in there!

 

[KaiPL]

Well, I got to see the engine with the valve cover removed today. Heads are still on, but it was clear that the problem is with the #3 piston. The #3 sparkplug was destroyed, and there is visible damage on the piston. No damage to the valve train.

Even though things aren't as bad as they might have been, they are going to have to pull and re-build the engine because of the bad piston. We don't know if there is damage to the block yet.

I'm sad, but I am going to take this opportunity to make the engine stronger than it was before. If they have the whole thing taken apart anyway, why not make some improvements?

I'm leaning toward boring and stroking it, and generally turning the car into a crazy beast of a machine. This will require pouring some additional $$$ into it, but I'd rather spend the extra money on improvements rather than just put it back to where it was before.

So, my toy will be out of comission for a while, but when it comes back, it will be badder than ever. I'm going to try to look at this as an opportunity rather than a disaster.

 

[Dave T (BADVENM)]

Thats the excuse (err I mean reason) I've been waiting for on mine. I just need a reason to open her up and make some improvements.

I'm sure you'll catch that Ford GT once the improvements are done (I saw your vid at PPIR...great editing!!).