I knew I blew it up, but I have to admit even I was surprised at the extent of damage, considering it stayed together...
Anyone have any input besides 'it's terminal', haha...
Pretty sure the entire engine is scrap... there's some serious scoring in the cylinder wall. At least I have some cool garage art!!!
Are valves loosing their heads a common failure for S52's?
Holy berkeley
Did it go in a good, spirited way?
Sorry for your loss but 'spose ya got some kinda braggin' rights there
The head is toast, but you can probably get the cylinder sleeved for not too much money.
fasted58 wrote:
It blew up without warning on the 2nd to last session of the last track day of the last track event in what was an extremely good amd busy racing season...
... and it blew up at full song chasing down a car after running a 1:52.8 on street tires at Palmer Motor sports Park...
... and the motor had 236k on stock and original internals...
So needless to say, it owed me nothing. It was a great berkeleying season, and that motor served me well for over 8 years of hard track and autocross abuse.
No regrets...
Done blowed it up!
Block looks saveable but.....thats about it. Went out on the track like a boss though. I've never seen a NA s52 do that. On the track or otherwise.
Good luck with the replacement!
Did you miss a shift and mechanically over revved the engine recently?
I believe thats as classic an example of a dropped valve as I've ever seen. Theres a whole lotta up and down happens in a short time, and it does leave some spectacular damage behind.
A warriors death! Well earned rest for that lump of iron and aluminum.
Well...uh...damn. That is one broke motor. The head will make cool art though!
that cylinder looks well shot peened. The only engine I ever saw that looked worse as a fiat 124 unit that had the head of a valve driven halfway into the head by the piston. Congratulations on making one hell of a coffee table!
I was thinking shot peened, too. It's actually really interesting looking.
It died with its boots on, though.
Dictionary definition of FUBAR if I have ever seen it. Rest in pieces
That's quite the Viking funeral! Reminds me of the Porsche shop I worked at in high school - they had a whole display case of various grenaded parts, including one similar looking piston with the valve head jammed into the middle of the piston.
stuart in mn wrote: The head is toast, but you can probably get the cylinder sleeved for not too much money.
I've seen far worse heads get repaired. Aluminum is "infinitely repairable". For the amount of work involved (with great welding comes the need for peening, machining ALL surfaces, etc) it wouldn't pay to do for such a common part.
Sleeving the block can be "traumatic", need to fix adjacent cylinders and re-deck, and aren't S52 blocks the same as more common engines? Doesn't pay to fix.
Watch for debris in the intake manifold. When LS engines drop valves, things go sideways in a hurry (pistons break, small ends blow through the cylinder wall, GLORIOUS carnage) the debris goes back up into the intake and gets distributed to the other cylinders. I would consider the intake manifold to be junk, too. (Looking more closely at the adjacent chambers, looks like aluminum debris is spackling the valves and such. Debris has been migrating)
If you can't send an engine to heaven, you can always send it to hell.
Knurled wrote:stuart in mn wrote: The head is toast, but you can probably get the cylinder sleeved for not too much money.I've seen far worse heads get repaired. Aluminum is "infinitely repairable". For the amount of work involved (with great welding comes the need for peening, machining ALL surfaces, etc) it wouldn't pay to do for such a common part. Sleeving the block can be "traumatic", need to fix adjacent cylinders and re-deck, and aren't S52 blocks the same as more common engines? Doesn't pay to fix. Watch for debris in the intake manifold. When LS engines drop valves, things go sideways in a hurry (pistons break, small ends blow through the cylinder wall, GLORIOUS carnage) the debris goes back up into the intake and gets distributed to the other cylinders. I would consider the intake manifold to be junk, too. (Looking more closely at the adjacent chambers, looks like aluminum debris is spackling the valves and such. Debris has been migrating)
You hit the nail right on the head. I was picking up shrapnel through the intake manifold and throttle body, which us how I first knew crap had hit the fan.
I may try and clean the manifold though, I have some pretty sophisticated work toys that can help wit the process. Either way, nothing is going back on the car without my 100% confidence that it's perfectly good to go, manifold included.
Be sure to clean the inside of the manifold to remove debris from the explosion.
Ran into that a lot on AC VWs , they were known for dropped valves.
Hmm, pics aren't showing up for me.
In reply to gearheadE30:
Same here.
Ditto
Pics NOLA
I see the pics just fine
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