I wanna be able to drive my SS again.... grrrrr

[V]

i broke it again 2 weeks ago. lol. It happened on May 2nd at the Island Wed BBQ ....

Ok, for starters, i finally made it into the 12s...barely, lol ...

R/T ... .411
60' ... 2.257
330 ... 5.893
1/8 ... 8.684
MPH ... 88.81
1000 ... 11.038
1/4 ... 12.999
MPH ... 115.05

That was my 5th run of the day, on my 6th run i blew a ton of smoke downtrack but couldnt find the cause afterwards and decided for one more run. That was a mistake. Around the 1000' mark there was a loud bang and all i could see out my mirrors was smoke. It felt as if something was jammed under my car. (htought my TQ arm or driveshaft dropped) I immediately put it in neutral and got on the brakes and stopped right after the 1/4mile line.(ran a 14.0@67) The smoke had stopped and i got out and ripped off my helmet. I looked up track only to see my brand new fluidamper balancer in the middle of the lane... I had just installed it the day before... but heres the thing, i installed it 100% to specs. i used a real tool to install it all the way, then the old bolt and torqued it to 240 ft/lbs, yes i actually managed to get to 240. Then put in a brand new GM bolt, torqued it to 37 ft/lbs and then 140 degrees more. I drove it almost 100 miles before making the 7 runs on wed. I dont understand why it came off. Apparently it seems the bolt just backed out on the 6th run and escaping oil from the front seal was the cause of the smoke, then it came off fully on the 7th run of the day. This whole scenerio was like deja-vu since the week before, my Proffesional Products SFI balancer failed and the hub seperated from the outer ring. In that case there was no damage other than to the A/C belt and the balancer itself, and Prof. Prod. admited to know issues and is taking care of that properly. However, this second time, the new balancer flew up and marked the water pump pulley enough that you can see it spins a tiny bit off center so i need to replace that now. It also took out one idler pulley for the a/c belt, it then went down and tried going under my car but due to my extremely low ride height, it couldnt and in turn bent up one front corner of my k member and my drivers side tie-rod as well, before it finally shot out under my car. The track crew retrived the balancer right away and then when i got the car loaded on the flatbed, they came over to me with the crank bolt they had also found. It in itself is all bent up. I can't see how it came off though if everything was to spec.

The car isnt even at its full potential. I was running on 245/50/16 street tires on 94 z28 wheels just because they had better tread than my 10 spokes(they are firestone freehawk tires). The week before i ran with the bald tires and managed a best of 14.0 @ 113.48. Both times, I wasn't even launching hard and i'm still for the most part completely untuned. All this after the original motor blew up in august of 2005 when i got a gas diesel mix of fuel at a gas station and the motor hydrolocked snapping the #1 rod and taking out the block.

I understand in racing that things will break and it costs money, thats not the problem. If fine with that, lol. When i began the new motor buildup, i was being conservative and aiming for mid 12's on street tires, something i see i can now easliy accomplish IF the car can stay together long enough. After talking to several people, they believe with a good final tune and drag radials, 11's should be in reach.

sooooooooooo.... anyways, on friday, some parts will be showing up and im gonna try to get the car fixed by the weekend. I'm not addressing the A/C pulley just yet, considering i wasnt even running a belt there anyway yet. As for the tierod, i have my original rack which im gonna pull the piece off of, just need to get an alignment after. ANOTHER fluidampr will also be going on, but this time with an ARP balancer bolt, and enough threadlock to keep it there. The water pump was a big decision though, factory or electric?... well the meziere electric street version won out, so that should be good for a few more hp too, lol. And finally, i hope i can just bend the corner of the k member down and that it didnt hit the rack or lines. All in all, i hope to be back at the track on the 25th...

oh, and soon i'll be ordering my axle-brace kit and ill finally be willing to run drag radials so i can work on the 60' time.

here are some pics...

[GrandmasterCow]

damn man i hope you get that thing back runnin'

[Ian]

me thinks there is a bigger problem if you've tossed two dampers in such a short time.

[V]

first one, the hub seperated from the outer ring, and the was a known issue. My 1st balancer came from a batch that was to have been "purged" from warehouses. This one.. well no instructions called for threadlock, the GM bolt had some on the head(shoulder) so i figured that was enough. and i was spinning over 7100rpms.

IF it happens again, the motor will come out eventually and a worked LS7 will go in next

[BonzoHansen]

240 ft/lbs??

Try a stock balancer.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

240 ft/lbs??

Try a stock balancer.

Yep:

The crank bolt is torque-to-yield. You press on the damper and torque the old bolt up to 250 lb-ft. Then remove that bolt and throw it away-a new bolt is $3. Now torque the new bolt to 37 lb-ft and lock the engine to prevent it from turning. Then turn the crank bolt 140 degrees. You'll need a 11/42-inch drive breaker bar and a "cheater" to do this effectively.

[NightRydaSS]

woah

[BonzoHansen]

Oh, torque-to-yield.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

Oh, torque-to-yield.

Yeah. It's also good to remember that a torque wrench needs to be calibrated properly if you are going to be doing stuff like this. I seem to remember that TW's tend to be the most inaccurate at the upper limits.

[V]

the 240ft lbs is to ensure that the balancer is fully seated since its a press fit, meaning no keyway on LSx engines. And at least now with the new ARP bolt, its not TTY, so it doesnt require stretching. i just need to see what i torque it to. and after every run now and every few days, im gonna recheck it to make sure its tight, plus thread lock WILL be used this time, regardless if instructions call for it or not.

[bubba428]

Is it possible when the 1st balancer detoated it bent the end of the crank??

[V]

nope, they are neutral balanced so just loosing the outer ring wouldnt have done anything really. And the 1st one, the hub was still solidly on the crank. i really just believe the second one was a matter of a new bolt+recent install+7100rpms. i should probably have let it get through some heat cycles and rechecked the bolt again. Stupid torque to yeild bolts.