The saga continues! "New" engine blew up!

The car was running great after I installed the replacement flywheel that Aasco sent me. I had also installed the Accusump and drove the car 40 or 50 miles around town last weekend. Everything seemed perfect. Loaded the car up for the DE at Barber this weekend. Teched out ok and I drove 4 or 5 "parade" laps to get re-familiarized with the track. Everything seemed fine. Went out with my run group and did 2 pace laps....first green flag lap and I let a couple of cars go by as I wanted to bring it up to speed slowly. Got up to about 90mph on the first straight away, through the first turn and up the hill into the next straight, pressed the clutch for the hairpin, down shifted to 2nd and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The engine was dead, popped the clutch to restart, powered through the next straight.....kept it running through the next turns, but noticed a rattle on the subsequent straights. Backed out of it and pointed everyone by. Gave it a little more gas to get off the track and now it is a definite clatter. Limped it off the track...coasted into pits. Started it one more time with my helmet off....sounded like a sack full of wrenches! Pushed it onto the trailer and drove home! FUN!

Anyone know of any good basket weaving classes?

... I'm sorry to hear that.
If you do a postmortem let us know what let go.
I'm going to venture a guess and say that piston rod #6 broke.
The third is the charm.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

But that is the one that broke on the first engine.

... I could still start it on 5 cylinders, even though piston rod 6 was broken.
All the symptoms were the same as what you just described.
Engine died, all lights on and I was able to limp it into the pits.
Sounded like loose wrenches inside.
What surprises me is that it let go before you put it through its paces.
Mine let go on the third session of the day.
I'm installing the 22" Accusump into my car being fed from the oil cooler, not the filter.
Again, sorry to hear.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

as we've been reading your saga and wishing for a happy ending.

And we will all be waiting to learn from your analysis.

When it rains it pours! I hope you got better than a 30 day/30 mi. warranty. My sympathies.

On a brighter side, thanks for not writing your engine wows off the the IMS, like so many others have done.

Best of luck with this fix!

on this motor--where it was sourced from, miles, mods put into it, etc..
I know you posted this earlier but it's been a while since your original post.
thanks.

by clicking on the screen name and then selecting "show all posts"

thanks for the tip; I did look all his posts on this forum and he did talk about the LN mods.
Just wanted to be sure I was clear on what he actually did add to the car vs. what he was thinking about doing.

Really sorry to hear, Byron. Keep your head up.

Sorry to hear that. What horrible luck. My sympathies.

After all the work, precautions, and upgrades you put in, it must be particularly disheartening.

I remember reading that the particular engine you installed had previously been tracked, so it's hard to imagine what may have let go your first time out, even before getting up to speed.

Keep us posted with your determination of the cause, and hang in there.

Regards, Maurice.