I think an accusump is a great idea, but it might not have saved the motor.
Marginal bearings are at least as likely to be the problem. The aluminum
bearings don't just fail when they are under-lubricated, they fail when they
are over stressed. When they go the result looks just like no oil--the
bearing wipes and everything goes bang. If you said "the oil pressure light
came on and a few seconds later the engine quit". But I bet the engine quit
and when you looked down the oil pressure light came on.
The big question is, what ruined the lifter? Did it suffer physical damage
from all the other stuff or does it show lack of lube?
As soon as I have time I'm going to put my accusump back into Peyote, but I
don't want to graft it into the oil cooler lines. I want it to feed straight
to the galley, which means drilling and tapping--which I won't do unless the
engine is apart and I can fully control the chips. I think this is the best
way to install them, and you'll certainly have that option now.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of Jack W. Drews
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 9:05 AM
To: FOT@autox.team.net
Subject: Accusump in my future
VIR was a wonderful event, no matter what.
But, in the last race my engine quit and the oil pressure light came on. I
got it off the course as soon as possible, and I think the wait for a tow
truck taught me the meaning of the term "eternity".
I completed the teardown today and found that the problem was lack of
lubricant to cyls 2 and 3.
Thisfailure took out:
two Carillos
crankshaft
one piston
one sleeve (in about ten pieces)
one bent valve
one ruined lifter (cam appears to be okay)
This is the first bearing / rod failure I've ever had, and I've been racing
a loooong time.
I don't know what could cause this other than no oil for a short period at
high rpm. I probably did it trying to keep up with the hotshoes at VIR.
I don't have an Accusump but do have an effectively baffled pan and a low
oil pressure light, and I always started the engine by cranking it until it
had had oil pressure prior to turning on the ignition. All that was for
naught, I guess. The failure was caused by a very short period of no lube at
high rpm, and with the aluminum bearings, there is even less tolerance for
that.
Anyway, I thought I'd post this in hopes of helping someone else from having
such a failure. I think if I had installed an Accusump, this would not have
happened, so I have one on order, along with lots of other part$.
Despite all that, VIR was a wonderful event, no matter what.
uncle jack
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