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Engine Blew at Road Atlanta


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Since I've got insomnia I may as well make one more comment. The Fidanza Aluminium flywheel could be causing a harmonics problem. I've had aluminium flywheels on various Road Race and Autocross cars with no issues. With one exception. A Fidanza Aluminium flywheel on a Audi Quatrro Autocross car. With a Turbo, AWD, 20 lbs boost  and tall 1st gear, you often had to launch with a fair bit of clutch slip. This would sometimes set the Fidanza flywhell singing like wine glass rubbed with a finger. I've never encountered this before with any other brand ( Tilton, McCleod ) that I've used. Very strange.

 

After some research it seems to be a design flaw in the Fidanza flywheel. It was just a bit too thin in a couple of places ( It's 9.5lbs ) and was prone to flex. Strengthening webs can also reduce vibration.   But one of the interesting things was that a lightweight billet steel flywhell was often nearly as light as an Aluminium flywheel and reduced harmonics and vibration considerably. Possible food for thought.

 

I completely agree that for Amateur Road Racers racers with a Budget, keeping the revs down is a very cost effective way to ensure engine reliability. Give me a choice between more Torque or more HP, and I'll take more torque every time.

 

Looking at your gear ratio charts, if you build the 3.3 L I'd drop the rear end ratio some. 3.9's possibly instead of the 4.11's. Run the numbers.  Concentrate more on a nice juicy flat Torque curve and less on absolute Maximum HP and high rpms's. If you're running the SCCA Runoffs and shooting for a National Championship... then build a Atomic Bomb if you have the cash. But for a Regional Road Racer or Track Day car, I prefer a big fat Torque curve with reasonable RPM range every time

 

While an big displacement L-6 at very high RPM may sound so sweet... less sweet is the accompanying sound.... the " Ka-Ching " of the cash register!!

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