I installed my new MGW shifter and lower shifter box yesterday in my 2010 GS. The install was a little time consuming, but mostly because I stopped to watch videos a number of times. I can't say enough about the difference between the old shifter and the new. The best part is that the shifter seems to know what gear I want to move to without too much thought on my part...really! It was smooth but very positive and although I didn't do any performance driving, I felt that the shifter is a great improvement over the original. Now the scary part:

I was driving one of my favorite curvy roads not far from the house and putting some Gs on the Michelins when very unexpectedly, something was in the middle of the road...I tried to dodge the object, but was just going too fast to miss it. At the last second, I recognized it as an old timey 12 volt coil...a big one. As I ran it over middle of the car, I heard a bang as it hit stuff underneath and immediately, a huge cloud of smoke envelopes the car from both the engine compartment and boiling behind me. I was sure I put a hole in the crankcase, yeah I know, this GS has no pan to speak of. I pulled over and shut it down immediately and the smoke poured from under the hood. I looked but couldn't see any damage. I walked back to the spot where the coil was and there on the road was a long streak of oil and a bunch of plastic and metal parts. I had my phone out to call for a tow vehicle, but as I began picking up pieces, nothing looked like a Corvette part. I picked all the pieces up and found that the coil had been full of oil...I thought, is it possible that there's no damage to the GS and the coil oil caused all the smoke? Back to the car cranked it up, smoke stopped, checked oil pressure and all the temperatures and everything was good. Drove it home without incident. Scary moment and all the time thinking of what it would cost to replace the parts. I will put it up on a lift today to see if there's damage.

 

I would be imagining the worst too. But it's hard to imagine a cloud of smoke from however much oil fits into an ignition coil. (Bad news for whoever's coil it was). I would still definitely put it on a lift just to be sure! Hope it all works out for you! Hopefully just some spray on the headers from the residual.

 

Wow, your lucky. It doesn't take much oil to make a lot of smoke.

 

That is really correct! If you've ever driven behind a car with bad rings, and then checked the oil level, it takes a long time to lower the oil level.

 

I checked the oil and it isn't down at all. I finally was able to get a look underneath, but it took jackstands to do it. I went to the quick lube places in town and neither their hoist or the pit would allow a Grand Sport to enter. So, I jacked it up and put it on jack stands. I couldn't even see where the coil hit underneath, but clearly the oil from it splashed one side catalytic converter and the X pipe. So...I feel better about the ordeal, but sure thought something expensive was broken.

 

Many transformers, and that is what a coil is, are oil filled. Sounds like you lucked out.