Ok, tore down the Grey Ghost's engine to determine what happened on the way to Wickenburg ... images below:

I am missing something:


Oooooo, that hurts:


Bits and pieces:


Tested all factors on the CIS and flow on the injectors is within 5% of each other.

Analysis: Cylinders 1 & 2 on a flat six are the poorest cooled of all. Apparently, #1 got hot and detonated (poor gas, bad timing) and broken ring lands / rings were the result.

Oh well, now in search of a good used Mahle P&C.

I will be adding a Cylinder Head Temperature Gauge to #1 cylinder to monitor temps from now on.

Thank you Ferry, where ever you are in the universe ...............

Ouch.

It'll buff out.

Ouch x2

Zach

Ugh! I know this feeling.

What size motor? I've got some low miles Factory 914-6 P&Cs

T.C.

Yikes, that's just plain ugly. Gives you an idea what kind of pressures we're dealing with.

Tom

2.7L Big Port ....

Don't remember the engine #. Mahle 90ZN2W7, height group 6 on the cylinder.

Piston is standard bore 0, currently determining weight class of piston (gotta find my manual).

I got a complete set of 2.4T pistons and cylinders you can have for shipping costs.

Thanks Clay & T.C. ... I have two other 2.7L engines that I can use for parts. I really appreciate the offers.

That's some messed up engine carnage there Ron... you can't help but feel queezy in the wallet when you look at that..

Ron - When you put that back together make sure you do the cooling tin mod mentioned on the Pelican website. I think it really helps. I did it on the 2.7 I put in the Turd and it stays very even in temp.

Did you find out what made that engine so special? Is the cam grind different? HC CIS pistons?

Didn't really investigate. It may just be one of the "better" stock engines the factory produced.

Haven't pulled a camshaft to see if it a different grind. Need to check the timing on the other cam to see if something was done different.

Anyway ... just another Por$che project ...

I have a "loaner" 2.7L in the car now. Loaned to me to find out if it would run and how well. I'll fix the other and put it back in.

Detonaion is a distinct possibility, however.....
The oil ring in the pic is not stock....nor as good as stock (IMO), but that's another subject.
Neither of the pics show the piston tops or the effected area of the clyinder top adjacent to the broken area. Both of these spots can show detonation damage.
Being as the engine has been re-ringed a check of the clearance between the ring and the land should be done. .004 is max spec. If it is over that, rings have been known to hammer them sevles(and/or the ring lands) to death.
Detonation should be visable on the piston tops in the from of bare & possibly mented aluminum. The inner cylinder groove wall for the head gasket is often cracked or distorted in some way by detonation.
The cylinders may be worn out of spec making re-ringing not an option on the whole set.

If you know all this stuff already, ignore me.

THIS is detonation..... beyond a doubt.

Yeek! I had my ring landing break, not nearly as spectacular. At least you have spares

You would think the owner would hear the detonation that caused that!!!!

Thanks JP ... Piston top / combustion chamber show no signs of detonation whatsoever ... no pits ... nada. The detonation theory was expoused by someone else saying it was a common problem and I went with it.

Ill fitted rings makes a lot of sense from experience with other engines. I looked for signs that the engine had been gone through but didn't really see any.

I am not that familiar with what is stock and what is not on a flat six.

I do know it's broke and needs to be fixed.

I'm not trying to discourage you but it appears that all or parts of 2 rings passed
thru that newly machined groove in that cylinder. The big chunks on the sump cover
are only part of the shittage in the motor. It needs to come totally apart to clean all of that crap out of the oiling system.....or it will quickly return to a state of dis-repair.

Care to outline that mod or provide a link for us?

Thanks, The Cap'n

Here you go Cap'n. I have also seen discussions about a company that manufactuers "redesigned" cooling tins for the early sixes that provide for better cooling. I don't recall their name off hand but one of the unique features is that they can be installed with the cam towers in place.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/9...tin_cooling.htm

No discouragement at all. After many years of racing experience with blown motors, I am keenly aware of metal passing thru an oiling system.

The only saving grace (if any) was that I drove the car nearly 200 miles after the incident with no loss whatsoever in oil pressure and about a 10 degree elevation in oil temperatures.

It will be thoroughly cleaned.

Cooling tin mods will be down.

So, this thread was "For Gwen"

Was this GTeeners engine post the oil starvation? I'm, on the East Coast and clueless.

What is interesting is that seeing all this makes me want to build a 6 - more then any of the other threads have. WTH is wrong with me.

It was marked for Gwen because of her problem, though she did not experience the cloud of white smoke. There was no loud bang from the engine either.

She was running with very high oil temps and suddenly a puff of black smoke and the engine would not run evenly, like a lost cylinder.

I only started this thread to show her what can happen and the engine still run, albeit, missing on at least one cylinder. I hope that her problem is way less severe.

Flat sixes are cool, but they have their quirks, most of which come under the heading of EXPENSIVE.

With me, it's the old story of bad luck John who one day fell on his knees and asked God why he had such bad luck. As the heavens shook and the booming voice barked, "I don't know John. There is just something about your face that pisses me off." Ferry is watching over me.

Good grief.

Pitch a bitch there JP ... but when you're in the middle of the dirty rotten stinkin' desert with nothing in sight but rocks and cactus and no water ... many things come to mind. Once I got started there was no stopping till I hit home.

If you'd have thrown in some snakes, spiders, scorpions, wolves, and maybe an angry husband or 2 into the mix it would seem like a better plan.

Yes on the snakes, spiders and scorpions and only an angry ex-wife. Hope those all count,

What about a desert version of deliverance?

"Squeal like a coyote boy!"


The hills have eyes....


I will say all it takes is one nasty detonation event to blow ringlands out while all else looks ok.

I have seen it leave pistons fine and twist rods. All about where the weakness is.

Thanks for splaining me Ron.
I'll know more on Friday afternoon. I'm having Tom Amon (Mobile Works West), the wandering Porsche mechanic, come to do the diagnostics for me. I'll have my camera at close by to share.