From: Marc Thomas [mmthomas@ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2001 9:03 PM
To: 928
Subject: [928] Blown up engines and Frenzy

Folks,
Well, we missed our first Frenzy.....it was hard not being there after
supporting the event for so many years at our own expense.  And to boot, our
customer Jeff Smith, who was supposed to show up and give away "stuff" that
was in that box marked DEVEK...ended up in the hospital with a very sick
wife.  And to double boot, the DEVEK market box just sat there....too bad,
it was door prizes and other "stuff".

We will have to get the attendance list and do a drawing here and send some
goodies!

On another note, I must comment on Ed's 2/6 rod bearing failure, as well as
another GT racers second failure, along with the two engines I have here in
the shop, and the six or so that I have talked to customers
about...including our owns David L mishap.  If you look on the bright side,
if there really is one, you are now cornering up there with the pros!

To those of you "racers/DE'ers" who like to rev the engine and corner hard
and blast out in 5500-6500 rev range...GET our accusump kit NOW.  I have
been communicating this need for almost 5 years, and have explained the
differences in the drilling and accusump benefits many times.  As much as we
want your engine business, I would rather not build stock engines due to a
known failure mode, lets learn something new and break them some other way!
After all, I would much rather build the next 7.1l (in process) or finish my
high hp turbocharger and supercharging engines.

Someone mentioned at the last frenzy that an owner in s cal installed one
and still blew up his engine...well, it was not our kit, but a poor copy,
and it was installed incorrectly!   Another mentioned that drilling WAS the
solution.....but in reality, it is only part of a solution.  I developed our
accusump kit based on testing.  We purposely built an engine with custom
cams and rev'd on a dyno to 8000 rpm to test our drilling pattern.  We
instrumented a 928 and ran it at laguna to test the accusump.

The kit is a damn good band aid that will get you ~7-10 seconds, depending
on oil temp/viscosity.  That is enough time to keep the bearings oiled under
hard high rpm cornering when the oil is no longer able to be picked up.
Remember, at 1g, the oil surface is at a 45 degree angle and due to high
revs, some of the oil is in suspension and in the heads.  Thank goodness for
the hp robbing high oil pressure!

Otherwise, dry sump it and play it safe.  Bob Devore developed the "poor
mans" drysump over 10 years ago when other racers were still blowing up
engines due to rod failure...of course, Bob was blowing them up due to 700
hp!  If there is ever enough need for the sump kit, then I will put them
into production.

If you do not want to use an accusump, then corner at 4000-5000 rpm and
shift out of the corner.

Another good idea, although I have not tested this side by side proof, is to
use a high quality oil like redline or amsoil.

I really wanted to discuss this in detail and in person, cause as the price
of 928s drop, and more and more folks are having a lot of fun and success
racing these cars, more and more engines are finding their way to me.... for
an expensive rebuild or to buy for parts.  I really want to keep the cars on
the road,.rather than part them out.

Well, check out our web site in the next month or so for some new stuff and
lots of testing on Level 2 exhaust products.

I will get to answer all the questions that have come into me in the last
few days from folks at the frenzy....please be patient.

Warmest Regards
Marc