Our usually-reliable ghettocharged Frankenmiata finally did the kind of wholesale explodification we expected it to EIGHTEEN ENDURANCE RACES AGO when we first started racing it.

All the deets are here:

http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_artic...an-option.aspx



Wanna see what happens when an engine eats a screw?
Wanna know how to fix a head gasket with JB weld?
Wanna know what a Mexican Dodge Stratus and a U.S. Subaru WRX have in common?
Ever wondered if an engine with a thrown rod can still be driven?

It's all in there, and more. Man, destruction is fun!

We still don't have a new engine and the next race is about a month away. If anyone has a line on a cheap, running 1.6 in Southern California, let us know. We need a complete engine this time, since the old one is completely toast.

-Dave

 

Great read! Thanks!!

 

Hey I know what it's like to eat that screw. My piston still has the inprint.

Man, mine faired SO much better...


Here's the screw I ate:



I ingested the entire screw a few days after trying to port the TB and shave down the center shaft like a moron

I did damage the turbo:



I seemed to go through cleanly, but if you look there's one bent blade it also bent the shaft where the turbine would rub against the heat/splash shield. My turbo spool dropped by about 1000RPM and I dynoed at about 40 less rwhp (Yes, of course this happened the day before a dyno day.)

this is about the worst of the head:





sanded it down and still rocking.

 

see if these guys have an engine for you - http://www.2ndchanceroadster.com/

 

2ndchanceroadster does have one, but it already had a rod knockish noise when he got it, so its gonna take some work. We're crossing our fingers for a runner we can just slap in there.

Braineack, I can't believe you got away with so little damage. That turbine wheel damage doesn't even look like foreign object damage, it looks like that blade was bumped during assembly (ask me how I know...)

-Dave

-D

 

Yeah, I was pretty lucky. I think the pistons did a good job of melting down the copper before it ejected...it rattled around for a good bit at a stoplight before I heard it make its way through

 

GREAT read. Sounds like a lot of fun.

 

Good read!

 

regarding the file-resurfacing, why not scrounge up some fine sandpaper and a flat surface and lap it? I can totally imagine you guys removing a window from some building and lapping the head on that.

and regarding the tranny to exhaust mount, that is also a "common" hole in exhaust method.

 

That's my preferred way to field-surface a head, but we had a hard time finding something flat. We did use a big machined wheel adapter (that was as wide as the head, but half as long) and a sheet of sandapaper, but found it much harder to control than the file. One of the biggest challenges with sanding is that the edges of the paper can fold and cause scratches, so you need to find sandpaper sheets bigger than a cylinder head. In Buttholewillow. On a Saturday night.

-Dave

 

flat surface and a couple tubes of Crest??

 

You better have some seriously rough crest, or a LOT of time on your hands!

 

Machinist's stone. Not sure where to find them, but they're like $10 and very useful. Rough side and a smooth side. Keep it in your tool box for anything.

 

Well where did you find THAT one? This sounds like just the thing to have on hand at all times...

-D

 

It's very handy. Got that one when I worked at a machine shop. We'd use it to clean the tables of our machines off before putting the fixtures on, since we would indicate them to within .001".

HA! Found it. It's a "Sharpening Stone for Machine-Mount Blades"

McMaster Carr part # 4474A4

$22.54 each.

Edit: don't forget to look elsewhere, that's just the first place I found it.

 

I was missing you Dave, thanks for the good read. Been following you since SCC. You know all the other guys didn't even come up to your heel when you left... big shoes to fill...

keep the monstromodifications on the frankenmiata comin'.

 

I love you Dave. You guys are my mechanical inspiration.

 

I laughed, I cried, and I got a weird boner. A+ performance as usual from the ghettocharged miata. <3

 

Is this the same EyeSore Racing that built the Simca currently sitting at my shop?

 

Eyesore didn't build the Simca. Our only relationship to the Simca was being pushed off the track by it after our dead-nuts-perfect fuel strategy caused us to run out of gas 6 turns after the checkered flag.