I haven’t posted since last August….. Here’s why….
Last August I took the Cobra on a 3 day weekend. Went to Iowa (from Ohio), had an itch and got as far as 30 miles from Omaha. After 3 days of rest and relaxing, I headed back. I had averaged about 25mpg on the drive West (and that was either with the top down or the A/C on) and looked like I was going to be at least that or better on the way back.
The last dyno run had it at about 518 at the wheels, and Jeff at Precision had tuned it great. At 75 – 80 mph with the cruise on it drove and handled perfect. I was actually composing a long SVTP entry on the joys of a long road trip in a modded Cobra.
First the known issues:
Now this is where the stupidity kicks in :shrug:
I decided to have some fun. I chased them down and when I caught up to the red one in the rear, I dropped down to about 70 and gave him a rev or two…. He took the bait and we took off. I left him like he was tied to a post :rolling: 3 pulls from around 70, all the same result.
A couple of minutes later the silver one decided he had to defend the ‘Vette Honor’. He ran up on me and I let him pass. We ‘idled’ past a few cars in the right lane… After we passed the traffic, and had clear interstate ahead, he nailed it. I stayed right behind him up to about 145…. I could hear a modified exhaust, and I assume cams etc. I knew he was going to win a top end run. So I decided to try one last top end pull.
Somewhere in the process of shifting lanes, shifting gears, grabbing my hat (the top was down) and shifting around the coffee cup… The engine blew…. I heard it, felt the shudder and saw a big cloud of thin blue smoke in the rearview. I spent the next ten minutes trying to convince myself nothing was wrong….. Never mind the way it was running…. Never mind the blue haze following me down the road….
Eventually I pulled into a rest area, left it running and got out to listen. Under the hood, it sounded almost perfectly fine, just a slightly rough idle. No grinding, to visible damage.
Out back things were different. It was clearly missing but on how many cylinders I couldn’t tell. And it was blowing oil out both sides of the exhaust.
So there I was 480 miles +/- from home and a badly damaged motor. A flatbed would take forever and cost a fortune. So I decided to try to make it as far as I could before it gave up. I got back on the interstate set the cruise at 70 and kept my eyes glued to the oil pressure and water temp gauges.
Amazingly enough, after 5 hours (and one stop for gas in Indiana) I made it home.
A few days later, the guys at Precision gave me some pretty mediocre news. 0 compression o #2 and about 50% on #6. They said while scoping the cylinder they could see the crank. (For those keeping score at home, that’s a bad thing LMAO)
I was out of the country for a while, and had some house issues. So the car sat in the garage until the end of Feb.
Since then, it’s been in the shop. We have been through a series of “Well hell…. This is broken too” We have been through the run of estimates and re-worked estimates.
The end result?
The fix:
The cost:
All things added up…. North of $8.000
(Pretty steep price for being stupid)
In theory, it’ll be done on Thursday. I should pick up a few HP and be lighter.
Moral of the story:
“Engine failure is no longer theoretical”
Last August I took the Cobra on a 3 day weekend. Went to Iowa (from Ohio), had an itch and got as far as 30 miles from Omaha. After 3 days of rest and relaxing, I headed back. I had averaged about 25mpg on the drive West (and that was either with the top down or the A/C on) and looked like I was going to be at least that or better on the way back.
The last dyno run had it at about 518 at the wheels, and Jeff at Precision had tuned it great. At 75 – 80 mph with the cruise on it drove and handled perfect. I was actually composing a long SVTP entry on the joys of a long road trip in a modded Cobra.
First the known issues:
- I had been having an issue with the fuel system that several guys in the area had been having. After WOT the fuel pressure would drop to about 10psi for a couple of seconds.
- The car was tuned for 93 octane. Iowa only has 91. So I was running an octane booster. (1 can per tank)
- The cars are known for a heat induced failure during top end runs. And I have the original heads with no cooling mod.
Now this is where the stupidity kicks in :shrug:
I decided to have some fun. I chased them down and when I caught up to the red one in the rear, I dropped down to about 70 and gave him a rev or two…. He took the bait and we took off. I left him like he was tied to a post :rolling: 3 pulls from around 70, all the same result.
A couple of minutes later the silver one decided he had to defend the ‘Vette Honor’. He ran up on me and I let him pass. We ‘idled’ past a few cars in the right lane… After we passed the traffic, and had clear interstate ahead, he nailed it. I stayed right behind him up to about 145…. I could hear a modified exhaust, and I assume cams etc. I knew he was going to win a top end run. So I decided to try one last top end pull.
Somewhere in the process of shifting lanes, shifting gears, grabbing my hat (the top was down) and shifting around the coffee cup… The engine blew…. I heard it, felt the shudder and saw a big cloud of thin blue smoke in the rearview. I spent the next ten minutes trying to convince myself nothing was wrong….. Never mind the way it was running…. Never mind the blue haze following me down the road….
Eventually I pulled into a rest area, left it running and got out to listen. Under the hood, it sounded almost perfectly fine, just a slightly rough idle. No grinding, to visible damage.
Out back things were different. It was clearly missing but on how many cylinders I couldn’t tell. And it was blowing oil out both sides of the exhaust.
So there I was 480 miles +/- from home and a badly damaged motor. A flatbed would take forever and cost a fortune. So I decided to try to make it as far as I could before it gave up. I got back on the interstate set the cruise at 70 and kept my eyes glued to the oil pressure and water temp gauges.
Amazingly enough, after 5 hours (and one stop for gas in Indiana) I made it home.
A few days later, the guys at Precision gave me some pretty mediocre news. 0 compression o #2 and about 50% on #6. They said while scoping the cylinder they could see the crank. (For those keeping score at home, that’s a bad thing LMAO)
I was out of the country for a while, and had some house issues. So the car sat in the garage until the end of Feb.
Since then, it’s been in the shop. We have been through a series of “Well hell…. This is broken too” We have been through the run of estimates and re-worked estimates.
The end result?
- 2 melted pistons,
- 2 burnt rods,
- one engine block scored 35 deep,
- 12 burnt valves
The fix:
- New Mahle forged pistons
- New Manley forged rods
- ARP Rod bolts and studs
- 48 new valves
- New steel valve springs
- 1 new FRPP Aluminum block
- All new pumps, filters.. etc. etc
The cost:
All things added up…. North of $8.000
(Pretty steep price for being stupid)
In theory, it’ll be done on Thursday. I should pick up a few HP and be lighter.
Moral of the story:
“Engine failure is no longer theoretical”
