Just got back from a private track day at Buttonwillow Raceway on Thurs...

Had a guy blow up his built LS1 (in a very nicely modded corvette)

Here's his email to us:
"All,
Thanks to all those who helped me get my vette off the track and then finally onto the U-Haul trailer for the long drive home. I was very sad to grenade my engine, but it was the original 1998 short block with 78K miles so I probably can't complain too much. For those of you that are interested in what happened, here is what I've found so far as I tear down the engine:

I believe one or more rods let go. Cylinders 2, 3, and 4 were totally destroyed with rods pistons and wrist pins laying in the bottom of the engine. Since I had fly cut the pistons to ensure valve clearance, I don't think this was the result of piston to valve contact. All the valves are in place and appear okay. Heads have minor scratches and pits from the aluminum piston multching. I found a hole in the side of the block on both sides right under the motor mount brackets that bolt up to the sides of the block which prevented a lot of shrapnel from flying out of the block. The oil fire did no damage to the car because I got it out right away with my fire extinguisher (you all better get religion on this one!). Otherwise my car could have burned to the ground because the flames were right under the fuel lines and brake fluid reservoir on the driver side. I think what made the oil fire so extreme was that I had a 3 qt accusump and when the oil pressure dropped it electrically pumped 3 more quarts of oil into the engine feeding the fire.

It was very fortunate that it happened on the long straight and I had an opportunity to get off the track quickly. Had I made it to the first turn I would have discovered that my oil coated front brakes on the driver side would be useless and perhaps spun the car when the other side grabbed. And then who knows where I would land.

In the photos attached, you can see that the two middle cylinders on the passenger side are destroyed and one on the driver's side as well. On the tops of the pistons you can see where they were fly cut when I built this engine several years ago with Tony Mamo's (AFR) help to get me 492 rwhp and 454 rwtq. It regularly saw 7000 rpm.

It was a privilege to meet you all and hope to be back to play another day! Get your fire extinguishers mounted in your cars guys!"

Ordering my extinguisher this week

 

Failsauce

 

Damn man.. bummer

 

even built N/A go boom, the mighty LSX failed. bummer

 

Wow. That thing is shredded. I don't think I've ever seen that much damage to one motor.

 

When I see carnage like that I get the same queasy feeling as when I see open wounds on people LOL.

 

Been there, down that....horrible feeling.

 

78k Miles is pretty good.....

 

yeah sucks...

but the guy had a good attitude still... first thing he said was, "Well, time for an LS7!"

 

That's great. I always feel worse if the person actually effected by the damage, feels horrible or has a bad attitude about it. At least he's positive and realistic! #$&* happens, just gotta' move on to the next best thing.

 

I haz two.....
https://my350z.com/forum/body-interi...nger-seat.html
Under passenger seat:

and
Harness bar mount:

I actually practice reach and grab (LOL that sounded funny)....

I want to get a engine spray system done....
-J

 

^Do you use the Kidde extinguisher for the harness bar mounted one too? not sure which extinguisher to buy...

i will be mounting it to my sparco harness bar, using the sparco extinguisher mount that they sell...

 

no, the harness bar mounted one is actually Halon.......I would hope that if ever in a situation I would do as planned and use the halon one in the engine bay as Halon wont damage anything aluminum.

The kiddie under the seat is dry chem.....cheaper to buy of course, but that was in case i have interior fire or brakes, wheel well, etc...

either way clean up is a bish...
-J

 

Just a note, organizations such as NASA recommend the extinguisher be in reach while strapped in for HPDE drivers, and is actually required for race cars. A fire system is on my list for next season. I would think it would be difficult to reach your extinguisher if it was on the harness bar, maybe you could mount vertically against the inside of the passenger footwell.

Heres a pic of mine:

 

stock 350Z HR...missing rods and pistons



so I use this now



and this



and this

 

Thanks for sharing.
Now how does one get in on private track days at buttonwillow? ;-)

 

guy at work invites me... he rents out the track for a day... ive been twice so far... its epic! soooooooooo much better than any speed ventures event.

pm me your email address and i can see if theres room next time... sometimes theres one or two spots left.... he keeps it at 15 cars max, which is nice theres times when i have the track all to myself, and usually im sharing it with 2 to 3 cars at a time.

 

laze1, I'd love to know more about your accusump system. Such as what size accusump, what valve (electric/manual), and where you mounted it. I've been thinking about doing this over the winter when I install my oil cooler.

Thanks!

 

Accusumps are great. We've been running them in our car since day one. We data log every minute the engine is running, and the accusump really helps level out the oil pressure. It stays nice and even, which is what the cam accuators need to keep the cam in the right position during cornering.

 

Modified Mag installed one on their project S2k and gave a brief explanation on how it works and how to install it.