Tippy

I have a '87 3.2l with a Protomotive turbo kit. I was told it has 7:1 pistons for the 1.0 bar of boost.

I was at the drag strip when I shifted from 3rd to 2nd instead of 4th. The car engine braked pretty good but I don't think it locked the tires and I quickly put the clutch in.

The motor died and never restarted. I believe the timing chain(s) broke and slapped all the valves but I have not did a check of compression or rocker arm movement.

Why I say this, is because I heard little tinking sounds after I was coasting trying to let the clutch out to restart.

My question is, is the 3.2l an interference motor?

If it is, does the 7:1 pistons now make it non-interference?

The engine turns over with a starter grinding-like sound but sounds smooth as silk if push started. No engine noise at all. I am baffled by this too?

Also, could an overrev cause the fuel injection to not start the motor too?

BTW, I did 124 MPH @ a 12.4 on street tires before this fatal run.

3.2SLANTNOSE

Yes, it is an interference type engine(pistons-vs-valves/head) I don't really think the the 7:1 pistons would make it into a non-interference type engine. What strip were you at? I used to do some racing there, when I lived there in the very early 70's with my 1970 model, Challenger R/T, 440-6pack. Hopefully, this won't be a true fatal blow, but it might be, and also be very costly to repair the damage. It does not sound really good for a positive outcome just yet, but who knows, when you get to look inside, it may not be all that bad. Good luck!! Tony.

Tippy

I was at San Antonio Raceway. I haven't had any time yet to pull the valve covers, check the distributor rotation, or do a compression test to see any abnormalities. I am going to try today for sure, it is killing me not knowing.

Steve Weiner said I could of had potential valve float that leads to failure.

84_Carrera

Yep, there's a reason why it's called a "money shift". I'm thinking you did more than bend a valve, unfortunately.

theiceman

Yeah it sounds real bad unfortunately, and the more tesing you do , the more damage you could be doing. I think this calls for a motor tear down regardles, so you may as well accept it as Ed did , get that motor out and start taking a closer look.

3.2SLANTNOSE

True, I would not really recommend rotating the engine anymore that absolutely necessary, to get things lined up, in order to start looking inside the engine, as there could be some major damage already done that you would not want to compound. Good luck!! Tony.

Tippy

If there were to be anymore damage done to it, I did it already. I tried to restart while I was coasting by putting it in 3rd. Wouldn't matter anyway, hitting probably 9-10k RPM would of imminently destructed anything that was the weak point anyways. Good thing it has good rods and pistons.

The engine sounds smooth when push starting in 3rd, no noises at all.

I need to get out there and start ripping into it to see what went wrong. I will post many pics if it has let go internally.

I tend to make good pictures at my expense.

theiceman

Well good luck with the tear down . Always hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Duke Zink

"Good thing it had good rods and pistons."

There I fixed it for you.

And I'll add my .02. You need to tear it down NOW.

84_Carrera

Dumb question, but are you using a sprung clutch disc? I've seen those blow apart / throw springs on high rpm over-revs on other cars.

theiceman

Well Duke i was gonna do that too but didn't have the heart, left him with the ray of hope that a valve actually didn't smash the top of a piston ..

Tippy

Yes, I have a Kevlar disc that is sprung.

Tippy

That is the exact way I look at anything mechanical when it fails.

Ed Hughes

That statement is kind of silly. How can an engine that won't run "sound smooth" when its being push-started?? Sounds like forced optimism to me.

Not knowing exactly what parts go into a Protomotive turbo kit, the smart money says you bent your exhaust valves (hopefully you didn't break any rockers or damage your pistons), stretched your rod bolts (assuming they were stock-I'd even be suspicious of aftermarket bolts unless you've got documentation on their original lengths) and probably deformed your rods (requiring re-sizing, probably not replacement). Other stuff can be bad too, but these are the typical weakpoints in a 3.2.

So yes, you're most likely looking at a rebuild. Get your checkbook out.

jakeflyer

A static/leak down compression test will tell you the health of each cyl. Let us know. Remember tdc, noise from the intake is the intake valve, exhaust hiss from the ex pipe is exhaust valve, oil filler pipe hiss (cap off) is rings or piston.