slicer

Thank You.

Dstutler

I also am sorry for your loss. All your comments are the reasons I don't track my car. I'm one of those owners that love my car and can't afford to take the risks of taking it to the track.

Flat6 Innovations

Thank you. We play this game a lot different than the other guys that jumped on the band wagon that we created :-)

VERY LUCKY! Typically a car that has options won't sell at all, even after we correctly outfit the engine. Too often we have to strip aftermarket parts and re-outfit the vehicle with OEM parts. This is because the buyers for these cars are often north of 55 years of age and don't appreciate modifications.

I totally agree.

No problem, we do our best to help the owners of these cars with failed engines make the best possible decisions based on their budget, miles on the car and etc. We do this even if the best possible route for the owner is NOT buying our engine.

The 9a1 Cayman is going to be fine. We are now on our 3rd year of development of the 9a1/ MA101 engine family and currently have the only engine program to support the internal modification of these engines. Here is another 4.2L beast being assembled this morning @ Flat 6.

4.2L DFI short block with Nickies cylinders


Here is the 4.2 that we built for Cayman X... The photo shoot for its Excellence article is next month!


Anyway, glad to see that you stayed with Porsche. These failures often leave such a bad taste in the persons mouth that they go to a damn Honda or Toyota product for a replacement vehicle.

BTW- If you are going to track that Cayman you might consider this... Needless to say we are already seeing 9a1 failures from track cars and as always we are the first to create the solutions.
Here is a 2-1/2 quart sump made from solid billet! Damn good thing we don't care what this stuff costs to develop, if we did we'd never make it!

BruceP

I think if you spent that much time talking to proctologists, you'd feel the same way about your butt.

RF5BPilot

I'm not sure I needed that imagery the first thing in the morning....but, as always, a reasoned, thoughtful response from Bruce.

My dad was a radiologist. Wouldn't let his kids ride horses because he saw injuries from horseback riding.

Consider your sample as you try to figure out what it means.

TroyN

It's a shame that anyone here would blame you for your engine's failure. Kind of strikes me as like blaming a girl for getting raped. The standard Porsche 911 (of which I've owned a number and tracked/raced extensively) used to be race proven but the fact is that the M96 with its "integrated dry sump" is really more suited to street use than track use, and that is an engineering shortcoming by Porsche as far as I'm concerned.

I too had an '01 that was previously successfully tracked. As soon as I bought it I put in an x51 baffle and LNE IMS bearing and thought I'd be pretty well protected. I had only a couple of track days on the car when mine also blew up. I agree with all of your assessments, and am blown away by the price you got for your car - well done! I also came to a similar conclusion on a replacement; either the Metzger-derived motor in a turbo or GT3 or an '09 or later car. There was no way in hell I was going to risk getting into an M engine again.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your motor and best of luck w/ your new car!

soverystout

This

Targatoo

ditto.

When your car blew smoke, what were you doing? Straight-line acceleration? Corner? How much throttle, if you recall. Did the oil light come on?

My 996 has blown some smoke on the track, too. I've read that it's common. I wonder if anything can be taken from it, or not.

Your drop in oil level is the most alarming thing to me. FWIW, I probably would have done the same thing: topped up and kept going. I'll be more aware of oil levels in the future.

Sorry for your nasty experience. Thanks for posting.

philooo

I have been on the track and never lost an ounce of oil while there.

If you start seeing your oil level drop after a session, I think you have a problem.

The problem is that oil level reading are very hard to get on our cars. Have to let the engine sit for a while to get a decent reading. But before going in for the next session, the level should be the same as before.

Adding oil at the track is the first sign of trouble I believe.

perryinva

+2. Think Dan Fogelberg

Also, as has been repeated, just adding the X51 baffle is in no way any kind of cure for starvation. We'd like to THINK it helps, but really, all you get is stainless steel instead of plastic and rubber, so the potential exists to prevent a failed rubber baffle door from plugging the pick up, but that is all. Without the added pick ups and pumps, its not really any better than the OE baffle.

Failed crankshaft I assume means seized bearing. Yes, that sucks, but of all the failures, that is the least expensive fatality, I think, if you can call it that. I feel better. Good luck with the Cayman, I love them, too.

Flat6 Innovations

Thats because the root of the problem is NOT G FORCE RELATED!

Because everything that we see (at least at this level) is a worst case scenario. Its kind of like specialists that have a focus on cancer patients, they don't see people that have the best odds at beating what ails them.

Look at things like this all day everyday and see just how biased you become.. Do it for over a decade and see it get worse and worse as the months go by. This one happened on the street.. Female driver, one owner car, never tracked and 42K miles.

RF5BPilot

The OP's experience with the car is unfortunate, to say the least.

Porsche isn't the only manufacturer that has designed its base models for street use -- which then require careful refinements for use in other applications (e.g., the track). This seems to be somewhat of a deviation from previous Porsches that seemed, for the most part, track ready. It's a shame we don't have clearer guidance from the factory about what it sees as proper use in stock form, and what it recommends for more aggressive use.

This instance seems to have been amplfied by the suspension mods & possible damage caused by the previous owner.

I agree with Phil in that, especially if the OP genuinely believes that he wasn't driving the car much harder than he might have on the street -- that he suddenly was seeing smoke and adding oil. That would seem to be alarming and cause for investigation (although by that time, you still might find that the engine was making metal).

Flat6 Innovations

You mean the cars that were built before the company was profitable?

REAL dry sump systems and etc cost money to integrate in both engine internals as well as sub-systems. Its all about the money.

Macster

IIRC the owners manual states the warranty is voided if the car is used in timed events or fitted with slicks. Granted that's not the same as seeing "do not race!" stamped in big red letters on the car's invoice sticker but it should be clear the car is not really a race car in street car clothing.

These are very fine cars, high performance cars, to my mind well designed, well built, and given reasonable care/servicing and bit of luck they'll give plenty of good service for a long long time.

But they are not race cars.

mcipseric

sorry for your misfortune.
I could not tell from your orignal post. Did your sump kit come with a x51 baffle?