Didn't want to hijack Colin's thread but thought some of you might want to see the pics of my grenaded 3.4 from my 996. It went about 6 laps into NASA's Nationals final race at Miller weekend before last.
D chunk indeed.....

The motor ran strong all week setting a new track record for the ST2 class and winning both qualifying races by comfortable margins. Hell it ran great right up to the moment it let go when I downshifted to 3rd approaching a turn. Dyno'd there twice at 282 rwhp. No overrevs, 209 water temp. It was hot for several days with a strong headwind (35mph) down the straight. Motor was all stock with a GIAC flash and 3.8 manifolds to straight pipes. It was fresh in July 09' with about 60 race hours on it. Did I mention I was leading the race damnit?...

 

Wow, that's nice evidence.

I blew a 3.2 via a connecting rod coming through the crank case. Never had it apart thou. Just collected the parts that remained in the engine compartment, including a connecting rod end cap.

Will run my 3.6 until it does the same. Currently have 80 race hours on it.

Are you going to replace with 3.4, 3.6, 3.8?

 

OUCH...that sucks

 

Seems to be a proliferation of these motors grenading. Sorry to hear it JR. Time to put that sneaky 4L in now.

 

i might do some "strengthening" mods to my 3.4L with winter. nickies cyclinders, carillo rods, etc.

282 wHP?! you must put a ton of ballast in for ST2.

 

Wow!

As I said, that motor was magic, with you at the helm didnt hurt either.

I still cant get over how you actually stayed in front of me on a drag race at our practice at Laguna, with you getting a bad run off turn 11. Still gets my "amazing" award for the weekend!

Sorry to hear about the grenade! did it come out through the pan? any more damage.

what is the plan for the rebuild. 3.6?

Mk

 

Yep it cost me 100 lbs as that was 10 more than I had in So Cal. Second seat, full 24 qt. cool suit, and a full tank of gas....

 

For now I just bought another rebult 3.4 from the same builder as I have an important POC race next weekend. He had one sitting on the shelf and gave me a good deal and waived the core charge. It wasn't his fault it blew.

I am looking seriously at a 3.6 or even 3.8 for next year thpgh I have to keep the power down if I want to stay in ST2 and GT3. Lots of work involved including new harnesses, ECU, key head + switch, alarm brain, e-gas pedal, etc. Many, many more options are available with that setup and would work well with my light 99' car....

 

All technique to confuse you into thinking I blew the turn. Apparently it worked ....

 

I'm interested to get mine apart and see what it looks like inside.

 

Sorry to hear that John. Why do you run in ST instead of GTS?

 

Is there a concensus on why this happens? Is it the cylinders? the rods? or what?

 

not answering for JRG but i'll add...


GTS blow on the west coast...very anemic fields. i've won my GTS4 race in NorCal but i was the only one in the field! i could go to GTS3 but i'd have to add 400 lbs back to my car.

ST is much healthier, especially in SoCal...at least 5 cars in ST2. also i wouldn't have to add any ballast...just run a 3/4 tank.

 

He had planned on supersizing and running both. I believe he would have won both as well had his engine not decided to leave Utah early.

 

Carlos, you never tell us that you were the only one in your class. Are you crazy? I have a couple of those medals as well.
The GTS fields are growing in Texas. There were races 4-5 years ago where there were only 1 or 2 GTS-2 cars. I moved up to GTS-3 just to play with more cars.