[Shotimes] M3 vs. GSX part 2 (long)

Tue, 6 May 2003 19:47:12 -0400

Just on observation on his accout...  One of the common first mods on a
DSM is to remove the balance shafts, I've heard gain of 20 or more hp is
not unreasonable.  If hes push 450 at the crank, why does he still have
the balance shafts, seems a little strange to me.

Bill Murray

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net
[mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Randy Smith
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 6:58 PM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] M3 vs. GSX part 2 (long)

> Wow, great video of lunched parts.  Better his car than mine...these
are
> way worse than any pix of blower SHO engines that got trashed.  I
wonder
> how much boost he was running?

We discussed this today on another forum I'm on.  Someone claims (I
can't
back it up, but it's pretty long if it is just BS) this was on another
forum
and it's the driver describing what happened and what not...

I was headed to work yesterday morning with my friend Brian. We spotted
a
new E46 M3 up ahead on the highway. He was turning right at a stoplight,
so
we decided to take a detour.

As we followed suit, I gunned it and got up next to him in the left
lane. I
paced him for a couple seconds and gave him a big smile. Just then a
stoplight turned red in front of us and we slowed to a stop. I looked
over
at the M3 owner and pointed forward. He acknowledged with a head nod so
I
knew it was on.

Brian had grabbed the video camera minutes before and had been taping
the
entire event. He kept the camera low so the driver wouldn't see it. We
didn't want to spook the guy out of the race. M3 owners never seem to
race
me up here in Northern VA.

The traffic signal for the opposing turn lane turned yellow, then red. I
pressed the accelerator to the floor and my launch limiter kept the revs
at
a very noisy 5500 RPMs. I wasn't looking at the M3 owner's face at this
point, but I'm assuming he was getting a bit nervous.

The light turns green and I let the clutch up quickly. I didn't sidestep
it,
as I was still worried about my new transmission (I had just shattered
my
center differential two weeks before). The clutch slipped ever so
slightly,
all four tires gripped the pavement, and I was off with zero wheelspin
from
my brand new 225/45ZR17 Kumho Ecsta Supra tires.

The M3 driver was just as alert. He had been inching forward the entire
time
and actually began accelerating a fraction of a second before me. This
didn't help him much though. By the end of first gear, which winds out
almost immediately, the M3 was just behind my front bumper.

After a loud backfire (running rich as hell) I granny shifted into 2nd
(still babying the tranny) and wound out 2nd gear. The M3 was falling
back
fast and was about two cars behind at this point. Third gear was coming
up
and I was excited, because it is definitely my power gear. I found 3rd
and
began to pull away even harder, and then it happened.

Screws were thrown into my exhaust pipe. At least that's what it sounded
like. My heart sunk to the bottom of my chest. I knew what the horrible
sound really was. My completely stock shortblock with 78,000 miles
finally
gave out.

I hadn't gotten my car to the dyno yet, but conservative estimates were
somewhere just above 450 bhp at the flywheel, untuned. That's about 112
hp
per piston/rod. If you have any doubts about these numbers, just watch
the
video of the destruction.

I knew it was going to happen sometime, but I sure didn't expect it at
that
moment. I had tuned the car conservatively and was running rich. My EGTs
had
only peaked at about 880 deg C, I had no detonation, I was running only
18
psi, and I had not even added any additional spark timing advance. I
guess
78,000 miles of hard driving, 50 or so clutch dumps, around 10 drag
strip
runs, a few road racing events, ten or so autocrosses did it in.

I limped over to the side of the road as the M3 driver passed me by
(laugh
it up guys!!!! ) with an astonished look on his face. I got out of the
car
and sat on the grass for a few minutes, contemplating what had just
happened. In retrospect, that was a good thing to do. I didn't need
dents in
the side of my door, and I definitely didn't need a broken foot.

So the flatbed came and towed the car back to my house. The beast had
left a
lake coolant and oil where she rested. Brian and I went back to the
scene of
the disaster later in the day and discovered the bottom portion of a
connecting rod and a thumb-size chunk of iron block. These two pieces
were
only a small hint of the destruction we would uncover later in the day
after
we removed the cylinder head.

Once we got home from work, we removed the head in just over an hour.
What
we uncovered was easily the worst carnage we had ever seen as a result
of a
bent connecting rod. The entire engine block and all its internal
components
literally disintegraed.

Schrapnel from exploding pistons and bearings was shot out the back of
the
iron block into the firewall (which was the loud sound we heard inside
the
car). The balance shaft was smashed through the rear of the block,
creating
a hand-size hole through which the crankshaft was easily visible.
Multiple
connecting rods were bent, twisted, melted, etc. Pistons were completely
mangled and cylinder two had a silver-dollar size hole in the cylinder
wall.

All in all, it could have been much worse (really!), as the damage was
localized to the short block. Surprisingly, the cylinder head was
untouched,
except two very small nicks on the exhaust valves of the number one
cylinder. No significant metal fragments exited my exhaust, as my
exhaust
turbine fins were untouched.

In goes the race block w/ forged internals. This sure was a learning
experience. I was hoping the stock block would hold up for a bit longer,
but
oh well.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Please do not start saying
anything
about the validity of any of my comments. Everything happened as I
stated it
(to the best of my recollection), and the M3 driver was definitely
racing
me. I'm sorry if you don't believe me for some reason.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed that! I will post again when we get the
block
out of the car and we can remove more pistons/rods/bearings from the oil
pan! Yay!!! I will also post the install of my new motor if anyone is
interested. Let me know if you all have any problems downloading or
viewing
the videos. I will be posting them in different resolutions and formats
(hopefully MPG) tomorrow, along with pics of the carnage.
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