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

Wed, 7 May 2003 00:13:59 -0500

You mean if I remove the balance shaft from my '97 I can gain HP???????

Paul Nimz
'97 TR SHO
'93 EG mtx SHO

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Murray" <fordsho@cloud9grafx.com>
To: "'Randy Smith'" <RandyMTU98@comcast.net>; "SHOTimes"
<shotimes@autox.team.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2003 6:47 PM
Subject: RE: [Shotimes] M3 vs. GSX part 2 (long)

> 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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