long-time, no-see
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,035
Likes: 9
From: Hernando Beach Fl
Like BK above, I missed this thread, been avoiding this section like a alky with a AA problem.
Glen, glad you are making progress, hope to be able to assist you as a pit crew member at times.
Take care,
RJ
Glen, glad you are making progress, hope to be able to assist you as a pit crew member at times.
Take care,
RJ
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,176
Likes: 88
From: State of Confusion
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Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,176
Likes: 88
From: State of Confusion
haven't had any updates in about 6 weeks, but there is a very good, and unknown, reason for that, which I have only shared with a few (fuzzy dice, Red 69, beach dude) of the locals I run into at the track here in Florida:
between the 'unknown', and embarrassment, I just haven't spoken much about this
when the interior work was finished on my Z28 in mid-February, I went to the upholstery-shop with my trailer, to bring it home, and upon arriving at the shop, I inspected his work (1st class), paid him the remainder of the bill, and fired-up the car, to back it out of the shop, and drive it towards the trailer, awaiting with the ramps already on the ground:
the hood was closed & latched, so I had no-reason to consider looking under it, and when I hit the key, the motor roared to life & sounded crisp, so after checking that it had oil pressure, I clicked it into Reverse, and positioned the car behind the trailer
I got the car up & onto my open trailer, and was half leaning out the door, to make sure I had it lined-up properly, with my hand on the key, ready to cut the power, when a loud "BOOM" resounded off the surrounding buildings, and the motor died itself:
I quickly jumped from the cockpit, ran to the rear of the car to hit the master cut-off switch, then lifted the hood, to find a shop-rag, 1/2 covering the carburetor, with a few flames licking at the edges
I jumped onto the trailer, removed the rag, flinging it to the ground, and stomped-out the flames with my shoes, but as I was doing this, I was re-playing this in my mind, and thought to myself 'something under the hood doesn't look quite-right':
when I turned-around to face the car again, I realized the valve covers were laying upside-down on the headers, retained by the rubber hoses from the breathers to the header-collectors, and that they were severely twisted & out of shape
again, I climb onto the trailer and lean over the fender, to see a pair of pushrods no-longer underneath their respective rocker-arms, and I quickly realized this wasn't a simple, normal backfire:
the upholstery-guy was standing there as this happened, with a shocked look on his face, and despite his comment 'let me know what is wrong with the car, and I'll make it right' (which I knew would be BS), I headed-out for home, and called the racer who'd built the motor in late 2014
when I told him the valve covers had been blown-off the engine, breaking the small studs (and leaving the bottoms in the aluminum cylinder heads), he thought I didn't know what I was talking-about, but he said bring it by & he'd look at it
I took it to him the next morning, the 1st thing he said was "HEY... it blew the valve covers off the heads!!!"
I left the car & trailer with him, and he has since pulled the motor, and torn it down completely ~ when he removed the 6-quart oil pan, he found it filled with 8+ quarts of fuel (alcohol), and very little oil:
upon removing the intake, he said that alcohol 'poured from the ports, and that each intake runner of both heads were also filled with alcohol'
despite having oil pressure on the gauge, the contaminated oil wiped-out several lobes on the flat-tappet cam, destroyed multiple lifters, and ruined all of the bearings in the motor, but the crank, rods, and pistons have been checked and determined to be OK for another rebuild:
the cross-hatching on the cylinders is gone, and the bores are slightly out-of-round and massively dis-colored, so we are looking for another 4-bolt block to use with the rotating assembly
our best bet is that 'someone' at the upholstery shop left the key in the 'ACCESSORY' position during the 2 weeks they had the car (I had shown them how to start the car, and insisted that the master cut-off be pushed-in when not moving the car from bay to bay), allowing the electric fuel pump to push fuel into the motor & eventually the crankcase, damaging the bearings in the short time it took for me to get the Z28 to the trailer:
we surmise that this fuel in the crankcase eventually ignited, which blew the valve covers off the heads
I ran run less-than 5 gallons of fuel through this motor when this happened, but although it is a costly set-back, it could've been worse, as the car could've burned to the ground in front of my eyes, and never having had children of my-own, this car IS my family
between the 'unknown', and embarrassment, I just haven't spoken much about this
when the interior work was finished on my Z28 in mid-February, I went to the upholstery-shop with my trailer, to bring it home, and upon arriving at the shop, I inspected his work (1st class), paid him the remainder of the bill, and fired-up the car, to back it out of the shop, and drive it towards the trailer, awaiting with the ramps already on the ground:
the hood was closed & latched, so I had no-reason to consider looking under it, and when I hit the key, the motor roared to life & sounded crisp, so after checking that it had oil pressure, I clicked it into Reverse, and positioned the car behind the trailer
I got the car up & onto my open trailer, and was half leaning out the door, to make sure I had it lined-up properly, with my hand on the key, ready to cut the power, when a loud "BOOM" resounded off the surrounding buildings, and the motor died itself:
I quickly jumped from the cockpit, ran to the rear of the car to hit the master cut-off switch, then lifted the hood, to find a shop-rag, 1/2 covering the carburetor, with a few flames licking at the edges
I jumped onto the trailer, removed the rag, flinging it to the ground, and stomped-out the flames with my shoes, but as I was doing this, I was re-playing this in my mind, and thought to myself 'something under the hood doesn't look quite-right':
when I turned-around to face the car again, I realized the valve covers were laying upside-down on the headers, retained by the rubber hoses from the breathers to the header-collectors, and that they were severely twisted & out of shape
again, I climb onto the trailer and lean over the fender, to see a pair of pushrods no-longer underneath their respective rocker-arms, and I quickly realized this wasn't a simple, normal backfire:
the upholstery-guy was standing there as this happened, with a shocked look on his face, and despite his comment 'let me know what is wrong with the car, and I'll make it right' (which I knew would be BS), I headed-out for home, and called the racer who'd built the motor in late 2014
when I told him the valve covers had been blown-off the engine, breaking the small studs (and leaving the bottoms in the aluminum cylinder heads), he thought I didn't know what I was talking-about, but he said bring it by & he'd look at it
I took it to him the next morning, the 1st thing he said was "HEY... it blew the valve covers off the heads!!!"
I left the car & trailer with him, and he has since pulled the motor, and torn it down completely ~ when he removed the 6-quart oil pan, he found it filled with 8+ quarts of fuel (alcohol), and very little oil:
upon removing the intake, he said that alcohol 'poured from the ports, and that each intake runner of both heads were also filled with alcohol'
despite having oil pressure on the gauge, the contaminated oil wiped-out several lobes on the flat-tappet cam, destroyed multiple lifters, and ruined all of the bearings in the motor, but the crank, rods, and pistons have been checked and determined to be OK for another rebuild:
the cross-hatching on the cylinders is gone, and the bores are slightly out-of-round and massively dis-colored, so we are looking for another 4-bolt block to use with the rotating assembly
our best bet is that 'someone' at the upholstery shop left the key in the 'ACCESSORY' position during the 2 weeks they had the car (I had shown them how to start the car, and insisted that the master cut-off be pushed-in when not moving the car from bay to bay), allowing the electric fuel pump to push fuel into the motor & eventually the crankcase, damaging the bearings in the short time it took for me to get the Z28 to the trailer:
we surmise that this fuel in the crankcase eventually ignited, which blew the valve covers off the heads
I ran run less-than 5 gallons of fuel through this motor when this happened, but although it is a costly set-back, it could've been worse, as the car could've burned to the ground in front of my eyes, and never having had children of my-own, this car IS my family
Last edited by Glensgages; Apr 3, 2015 at 04:10 PM.
AMP Racing
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 10,756
Likes: 589
From: Washington TWP NJ
2023 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2017 C5 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12
Holy cow Glen, I'm so happy to hear all was not lost, when it really could have been so much worse.
I was just thinking about you yesterday when I was browsing pics of 2 gen F-body race cars.
Good luck with the repairs.
I was just thinking about you yesterday when I was browsing pics of 2 gen F-body race cars.
Good luck with the repairs.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,653
Likes: 428
From: Melbourne Florida
Cruise-In IV Veteran
That upholstery guy is in for a big surprise...glad you did not lose everything...I look forward to you getting going again and us racing together around the south...
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,708
Likes: 266
From: indy indiana
Damn, I thought I was reading my own story. My wife had breast cancer back in 05 or 06, went thru all the crap, pain, and worry. She made it. 2 years ago during a routine chest x-ray, a spot was found. We were very scared. 1/2 lung removed, chemo, ect, endless pain in fighting this monster. She died march, Friday the 13th, three weeks ago. She loved riding in the 86 vette..her first vette ride. When we went to look at the purchase, I had her test drive it. Never having driven a powerful car before, she laid rubber like a champion, all by accident. I laughed my *** off. Last wen I took the vette to test and tune here in Indy, running a best of 14.037. Its the ONLY time in the last weeks I haven't focused on her, having crying spells ect. I wished she could have driven it down the track. Sorry for your loss, its a big hit to lose a partner you dearly love. Your car looks great. I too can stand in my back yard and listen to the cars at Indy.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,176
Likes: 88
From: State of Confusion
after spending a few weeks, trying to find a 4-bolt block that accommodates a 2-piece rear seal, and could be bored .030" without success,
today Rob @ Space Coast Propulsion Laboratories and I made an Executive Decision that suits my 'overkill-in-everything' mindset
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dr...1111/overview/
extra-thick decks, splayed outer bolts, can be bored .100" plus (in the event we need to go .030"-over a few times in the future)...
... the list goes on and on, and the more I think about this, the tighter my trousers fit
Rob thinks the block will be delivered to his machinist by Monday evening, and back from finish-bore in a few days
today Rob @ Space Coast Propulsion Laboratories and I made an Executive Decision that suits my 'overkill-in-everything' mindset
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dr...1111/overview/
extra-thick decks, splayed outer bolts, can be bored .100" plus (in the event we need to go .030"-over a few times in the future)...
... the list goes on and on, and the more I think about this, the tighter my trousers fit
Rob thinks the block will be delivered to his machinist by Monday evening, and back from finish-bore in a few days
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,993
Likes: 1,136
From: League City Tx
Time to build you a monster Glen... The blow up was your car's way of telling you that it wants a monster under the hood... 400-500hp isn't gonna cut it....
(enter the 6 million dollar man theme song)
We can rebuild it... bigger, faster, stronger...
Clearly that car wants a 650-700HP small block... something to run 9s with it...
(enter the 6 million dollar man theme song)
We can rebuild it... bigger, faster, stronger...
Clearly that car wants a 650-700HP small block... something to run 9s with it...
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 15,176
Likes: 88
From: State of Confusion
making slow progress here, but nothing important to relay
a majority of the tracks here in Florida are closing for the Summer (between now and Labor Day Monday, Bradenton has 1 race, Orlando has 3,
Palm Beach has a single event, and Lakeland has just 2 scheduled), and the Z28 needs to go to paint anyhow, so there is no rush:
I instructed my friend & engine builder Rob Reynolds to work on other active race cars ahead of mine, and we hope to get the car to the paint booth in August, if-possible.
Meanwhile, I bought this last week, just to putt-around in during the weekends, knowing that someday, I won't be capable of loading / unloading the Z28 onto the trailer
when that day arrives, I'll throw a lawn-chair and a cooler into the back of this, and use this as my race car
it's a 2003 automatic (for-consistency) coupe, with the base LS1, and the Z51 handling package, which I believe includes the 3.15:1 rear axle:
as I have no prior familiarity with the C5 in a bracket-racing application, I'll probably be asking lotsa dumb questions in the future
the 1/8-mile strip 6 miles from my home had a 'Funday Sunday' scheduled yesterday, and had the forecast not been calling for heavy rain
(which we got, + tax, by 10:00 AM), I may've seen what she could do
a majority of the tracks here in Florida are closing for the Summer (between now and Labor Day Monday, Bradenton has 1 race, Orlando has 3,
Palm Beach has a single event, and Lakeland has just 2 scheduled), and the Z28 needs to go to paint anyhow, so there is no rush:
I instructed my friend & engine builder Rob Reynolds to work on other active race cars ahead of mine, and we hope to get the car to the paint booth in August, if-possible.
Meanwhile, I bought this last week, just to putt-around in during the weekends, knowing that someday, I won't be capable of loading / unloading the Z28 onto the trailer
when that day arrives, I'll throw a lawn-chair and a cooler into the back of this, and use this as my race car
it's a 2003 automatic (for-consistency) coupe, with the base LS1, and the Z51 handling package, which I believe includes the 3.15:1 rear axle:
as I have no prior familiarity with the C5 in a bracket-racing application, I'll probably be asking lotsa dumb questions in the future
the 1/8-mile strip 6 miles from my home had a 'Funday Sunday' scheduled yesterday, and had the forecast not been calling for heavy rain
(which we got, + tax, by 10:00 AM), I may've seen what she could do