Jamie@dundonmotorsports

Worked on the Logger some more today, have all the channels in that we want to monitor, working on scaling the values so they match the PIWIS.

Also sending the wire Monday to get the first Dundon Solid Finger Followers on their way here. 3-4 weeks, cams may be a bit longer, but we'll get started on the head machining as soon as the parts arrive.
I may have a sample of the finger followers to bring to the Smokies, and hopefully at least our prototype logger and prototype software. If I can bring both final versions I will! Only a month away!

Performance Developments

Wanted to bring everyone up to date on where we are on this upgrade. I spoke to Jamie this morning and gave him the latest and I understand he discussed this issue and the upgrade with those present at the Smokie meet.

First off, let me introduce myself. My name is Neil Harvey and I own Performance Developments. I come from a racing background having spent many years in different levels of Motorsport which gave me a good grounding in failure analysis. For more about what we do, we are adding to our web site daily. www.performancedevelopments.com.

We have partnered with Dundon Motorsport on several projects, the Crankshaft Damper, 997 42R, currently the GT4 445S engine project and the finger follower upgrade. Our initial project brief from Dundon was to develop the 9A1 engine for the 991 GT3 platform. After some discussion with Jamie and Charles, our inspection of the engine, we knew we had to fix this problem before any hot rodding could be attempted.

The parts are designed and currently we are conducting all of the testing and analysis of the new design. I understand from talking to Jamie this morning he showed the modelling of the new concept at the event this past weekend. We will try to be as transparent as possible as we understand this is a serious issue with these engines and owners are unsure of what to do.

Jamie and I are in constant contact regarding this and I will be forwarding Jamie the results of the testing and analysis as it is completed. To give you a brief outline of what we are doing, we are conducting the following design work and analysis on the new valve train.

Kinematic and Kinetostatic analysis
Static FEM analysis
Lubrication and friction analysis
Oil film behavior within the new design
Friction and dissipated power analysis

My advice to all owners of these engines is not to fear the problem but understand it. I suggest you invest in Jamie's Crank case device as this will allow you to monitor the crank case pressure along with other engine functions. Monitoring the crankcase pressure will give you an idea if the Piston ring seal to the cylinder wall is being destroyed by metal fragments coming from the finger followers and camshaft lobes. When the CEL appears, the damage to the Cylinder walls and bearings has probably already happened.

robmypro

Great to hear Neil. Looking forward to hearing more about this.

Jamie@dundonmotorsports

Performance Developments is a great help and resource for the advanced engine design services we need to help get parts designed correctly and tested to ensure everything is to the high level we require. Neil and I spoke earlier today and decided it was important that you all knew the engineers working on this critical issue!

Macca

There's some very clever people in America. The factory have gone solid lifter for the next GT3 which strongly supports the conclusion Neil, Jamie and Charles came to last year and their subsequent design and testing work.

It's good to see bright minds applied to these issues. The USA is often the innovator. A few years back I had dinner with Bob Garretson. It was only then I truely understood how critical US engineering was for success in the 935 and 917 race programs. We never hear these stories as the German engineers simply took the learnings from US race teams and incorporated as upgrades almost never acknowledging the short comings in their design nor the clever people who had applied their intellectual property to devising a solution...!

Loess

It seems Porsche is replacing just the top end on these cars with what appears to be moderate wear. A couple people showed some photos of severe wear and they received a new engine. I'm not sure if Porsche is looking for metal in the oil or filter to assess this. I think if you are seeing piston ring damage or cylinder wall scoring from metal in the oil you would have had a timing error long ago. Maybe they will do a couple top-end fixes and then the bottom end/entire engine.

I'm curious to see a fix for this issue other than Porsche's new top end. It's too bad the 991.2 top end wouldn't likely work with the 991.1 engine.

Jamie@dundonmotorsports

Unfortunately by the time the car is misfiring quite a bit of material has circulated through the engine and cylinder scoring, bearing damage etc. are likely. Before the issue was well understood Porsche was swapping in G engines. Now the play is to swap just G heads/cams. Unfortunately the few that got engines recently had to fight for them, the engines weren't the first offer...

Earlierapex

Jamie,

Do you have an oil recommendation to run in the meantime that might be better than Mobil 1? I'm in Florida, so lots of heat and no freezing.

Jamie@dundonmotorsports

Amsoil Race Formula is what we run for the "track" cars with high ZDDP. This will help. Also change your oil often so DLC shards can't build up and embed in the bearing surfaces and to get the metal out if it starts to build...

ATXGT3

What is 'often' in your mind?

Jamie@dundonmotorsports

Difficult question... 2500 miles with light driving. With track days I would go no more than 2-3. Once we release the engine health monitor (PCB's in customs) we'll have a bit more data for each car to be able to say more definitively. It's an educated guess and definitely a conservative play.

If you have 10,000 miles on an E engine, may want to do it more often

1000 miles on a new RS or R, less need for frequent oil changes...

and so on and so on...

Earlierapex

Thank you - 15w-50 for Florida?

Jamie@dundonmotorsports

that's the one!
http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-produc...50-racing-oil/

ATXGT3

Perfect was about to ask...thank you.

Performance Developments

Over the last couple of days I have received quite a few telephone calls asking about this issue. Particularly, "how should I drive my car and should I track my car?"

The answer is absolutely. Drive the car as if it did not have any issues and track it as much as you wish.

Our posts were not intended to scare you , but to inform you and to let you know that driving the car and tracking the car is perfectly fine. The problem is not going to go away if the car is left in the garage.

This is a serious problem and we are doing everything possible to get the solution available ASAP. But we have to be sure the solution is proper and not another band-aid. Its 11.00pm Friday evening here in Sth Cal and my day is just ending having spent the day working on this.

We want to be sure we have it fixed and want to keep you informed on the progress. We understand this is not a performance upgrade but an issue about making these engines reliable and their owners informed.

In the meantime, drive the car and enjoy it. I suggest you perform regular oil changes and if you see any thing unusual in the oil have it tested. It would be a good idea to have the oil tested after each oil change.

How often do I recommend changing the oil. I don't know to be truthful. This is a new problem to me too and I have no experience with this problem to know how often to do this. As often as it makes you comfortable. At some point in time, I would take the car to the dealer and ask them to remove the valve covers and inspect the fingers. You will have to pay for this, but at least you have a visual inspection that could show up imminent failure. Then its hard for the dealer to say no.

Its our hope that once these engines are retrofitted with the new follower parts, these engines can be pushed to their limits and you'll have peace of mind.

nh