Well it was our last race of the season yesterday and it ended the way it started! We had gone out in the morning and it was very cold, my temp gauge was either not working or it was that cold havent figured that out yet. The morning races were okay, in the G70 race we went from 28th to 9th overall and 3rd in class. The car ran well I set my fastest lap ever but was fighting it all the way. In the GT race we went from 33rd to 9th and was about 3/4 second slower than the 1st race the handling was worse. We switched to my last set of sticker tires for the final G70 race. Wow! The car was a missle! We went from 9th overall to 3rd and 1st in class, I had the whole back straight lead on the second place car and was closing in for 2nd overall when it went wrong. There was a strong smell of oil and then the power slowly started going away. Once in the pits we found that the engine had pressurized the crankcase and blown about a litre or 2 of oil all over and even inside the car! The engine did not want to rev cleanly so we know its hurt bad. In that last race when the engine went away we set the fastest laps the car has ever gone with a string of laps in the 1.36's not just one quick lap. We will tear it down this week and find out what went wrong. Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

Dam. I was watching you from our pit spot (Corner 1) and looked like your were hauling. To bad it had to end that way. Didn't get a chance to swing by and say hi.

Bright side of things is you have months before the next race season!

 

Hard luck Al... Rotary's are a true PITA.

 

did the oil blow out the dipstick tube?
damn side seals?

 

Hard luck Al. I can understand how frustrating it is, but at least the times you were running help you feel a little better over the winter.

They always say they run fastest just before the blow... looks to still be the case.

 

It pressureized the overflow tanks and just started to feel like it was running 1 3/4 rotors. Still starts and runs and has oil pressure. As far as running best before it blows up such is not the case. It felt a little off all day, top spped was down about 400 rpm going into turn 8, I thought it was just driver not being good! The reason we ran quicker was the sticker tires.

 

Yours ended with a bang, mine with a grind. Saturday I was battling a 4th gear that kept jumping out and ended up only being able to use half throttle in 4th. In the morning race on Sunday I couldn't use 4th, then 3rd. It was hard trying to go quick with first second and fifth.

Lets see whose repairs cost more, LOL.

Come out next year to see if the best fundimentally engineered car on the track (the FC) can get beat by the sows ear that has been turned into a silk purse.

Till next year.

Eric

 

LOL...nice save by the truck, Good luck next year guys.

 

We pulled the engine down last, and it wasnt as bad as 1st thought. It was a side seal on the rear rotor that failed because the epoxy that plugs the stock ports was expanding out and finally took out a chunk of side seal. So nothing major was damaged or hurt. Now to do a little bit of exhaust work on the rotor housings while its apart................hee hee.

 

Hmm what kind of epoxy does Mark use?

I just got some devcon metal expoy to fill in the irons for my PP engine, I was wondering if it was going to expand.

 

Devcon is the most common and I've rarely heard of any expanding issues Joe.

 

I'm just the driver and engine blower upper lol, you would have to ask Mark himself 416-751-0071

 

Everything expands - it's just how much and how much relative to stuff around it.
BTW - coefficient of thermal expansion for devcon = 48 in/in/degFx10-6, AL = 23, Steel =11-13.

I have heard of a few of these failures over the years.
Sometimes the epoxy intake plug works its way loose and falls into the engine.

How far below the iron was the plug?
and are any of the plugs loose?

You might consider doing custom fit aluminum inserts - only took a few hours for a 6port engine.