2eighTZ4me Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 77 200SX former GT-3 winning car (1978 and 1980) - SCCA race at Road Atlanta a couple Sunday's ago. Coming out of turn 7 onto the back straight - 6500rpm in 3rd - about to shift to 4th. 180 degree water and oil temp, 70psi oil pressure - just scanned gauges. And all hell breaks loose...... OK - looks like a decent hole through the side of the block. It blew the starter (brand new gear reduction unit I might add) into about 20 or so pieces. We found what broke......... What we DIDN'T see was underneath the header and carbs...... Took a hunk out of the cylinder sleeve..... And the other side of the cylinder bore. That - my friends - is a BAD / Expensive day at the track. He did this about 2 hours after I lunched my turbo. Datsuns did not fare well at the SCCA........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacob80 Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Holy crap! Stock block? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 Thank you for the inspiration. Now whenever I feel like I am having a bad car day, I'll just remember that there are those out there that have had worse. Lunching a turbo is pittance compared to that carnage. The shaft between the compressor and exhaust wheels broke on my turbo at 15 psi. I had a smoke screen behind me that would have hidden a Panzer battlion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 Stock block - but FAR from stock internals. All forged goodies from back in the day. KTM - that's what happened to my turbo earlier in the day. Nothing audible at all - the cabin just started filling up with smoke and when I looked in my rearview - it was a white cloud as far as the eye could see. But yes - my carnage was nothing compared to his - although the funny thing - he'll probably get out of it cheaper than I will. He has boxes of spare parts lying around that can be used. Stock L20B rods, a couple extra pistons etc. The crank and head are completely undamaged. He's already sourced a (free) block from a friend, so he's out a bit of machine work and a couple gaskets/seals. I am taking my turbo off tonight.....we'll see what "lies beneath".... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 So much carnage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 I will take back the cost statement - it completely WASTED his oil pan - looks like a circular saw went straight through it - straight out of a horror movie! There are very few of those pans around, and he'll be hard pressed to find one. He called Wolf Creek this morning - haven't heard back whether he was successful or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmanco Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 So the forged rod broke? Any thoughts on why? Did something else go wrong that caused this? We usually talk about stock L engine bottom ends as being nearly indestructible yet this engine, with upgraded forged internals broke a rod? I'm curious and confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted July 27, 2010 Author Share Posted July 27, 2010 Best we can figure is that "something" happened in the top end (water passage broke) and caused hydrostatic lock in the #3 cyl. The wrist pin broke in TWO!!! and caused the rod to shift inside the bore at 65000rpm. The rod snapped at the thinnest point and blew to holy hell the rest of the motor. (Lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade - for you Monty Python fans) Can't find any empirical evidence as to exactly what caused the failure though. It's merely speculation. It smashed through the water jackets in the block and even wrapped the metal mesh in the PCV area of the block around the rod. There were no fluids to speak of in the motor once we got it out and apart a week later. So yes - this is one of those "Unsolved Mysteries". The piston broke the skirts on both sides, apparently the rod snapped early on (assuming the wrist pin went first - thinking a Spiro lock came loose too) and did the rest of the damage while descending from 6500rpm to naught - in a rather noisy fashion..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Wow..I am at a loss for words...my goodness. Makes me realize that no matter how well you build them, no expense spared, forged this or that, attention to detail something can let go and the mechanical version of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre will occur! Yikes..if that happened to my motor...I would give up cars and take up a new hobby like knitting or cake baking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Not the first time I've seen that. Â Nice though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zmanco Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Yikes..if that happened to my motor...I would give up cars and take up a new hobby like knitting or cake baking. I'm trying to imagine Yasin sitting in a rocking chair with knitting needles ... and it's not working for me!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Who built the engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted July 27, 2010 Author Share Posted July 27, 2010 Jeff Hankin - former Sunbelt employee....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyder Z 15 Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 So that giant hole is for cooling now right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 The wrist pin broke in TWO!!! and caused the rod to shift inside the bore at 65000rpm. Piston pin most likely seized on the rod small end or in the piston. Inspect it carefully. The damage in the pictures is typical for that kind of failure and an undamaged rod big end and undamaged crank also points in that direction. A hyrolock at speed is rare - the coolant generally vaporizes too quickly to fill the combustion chamber and the coolant can just as easily be pushed back out the hole it came in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2eighTZ4me Posted July 27, 2010 Author Share Posted July 27, 2010 The wrist pin is mashed up inside the inner portion of the piston. It didn't break completely, so extrication thereof will require a scaled down version of the "jaws of life". I'll have to get more pics of that though - the ones I have are fuzzy and illegible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 The wrist pin is mashed up inside the inner portion of the piston. It didn't break completely, so extrication thereof will require a scaled down version of the "jaws of life". I'll have to get more pics of that though - the ones I have are fuzzy and illegible. Sometimes you can see where the pin turned blue due to heat. That's a big indicator that it seized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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