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First off let me clear up a few rumors that are going around . 1. This is the *FIRST* major motor problem that I have had since I purchased the car in October of 1996. I did have to fix 1 bad exhaust seat a couple of months ago which was again a *stock* seat and valve from the car made in early 1993 BUT that was due to it basically being worn out and only required a basic valve job to reseal it. I have never *blown* the motor in the 3 1/2 years I have been racing it. 2. I did have a block built that I had magna fluxed and cryo treated to replace my worn out block but I sold it to a customer that was in a hurry to get his motor built. So I *had* a block that was magna fluxed and cryo treated but it was *never* installed in my car. 3. I have only missed 2 races that I started due to problems with my car. The first one was with the blown headgasket in NJ which was 100% MY fault and this past race in Ennis. I have always started and finished every other race I have entered although I might not have run 100% due to tranny problems(got to love level 10 :-)). Even with the tranny problems I always finished the race. Now hopefully that will keep the rumors in check and I will stop getting E-mails asking how many engines I have been through etc..... OK now to what happened this weekend. I am 100% sure that the main girdle broke and caused all hell to break loose :-). There was NO signs of detonation or any other tuning problems on the plugs, pistons, or bearings. Before everyone freaks out and thinks Nissan has a design flaw in the girdle let me tell you what my motor has been through. The block, crank, and girdle are the stock pieces that came in the car when it came off the assembly line in early 93. Since the car has been running 11's and now 10's I have over 450 1/4 mile passes and 80 dyno passes. So it has seen it share of abuse :-). I rebuilt the long block back in early 99 because I wanted to upgrade not because I had to. Since the block has been rebuilt it has been apart over 10 times to check and replace the main and rod bearing. This means the girdle, crank, and rods have been removed and retorqued over 10 times. Everytime they are removed and replaced more and more stress is put on them. I had fully planned on replacing the block, crank, rods, and girdle after this season but now I guess I have no choice :-). Basically what happened was the main girdle broke by the #5 and #6 rod area and the block and crank flexed enough to allow the #6 piston to come in contact with the crank. This in turn ripped the piston in half at the wrist pin and broke the rod in half. Pieces of the main girdle and the wrist pin are what punctured the oil pan and wound up on the track :-). Once I removed the oil pan I found the remains of the piston, rod, and main girdle in the pan :-). Here are the pictures for your enjoyment :-) 
Passenger side of oil pan
Driver side of oil pan
Bent valves(note: they are supposed to be closed :-))
Bottom of motor once pan was removed
Driver side of missing girdle
Passenger side of missing girdle
Crank with broken #6 rod
Broken girdle off the block
Piston stuck in the block
Piston broken in two
I am taking donations at this time...LOL. Actually I had been planning on doing some changes at the end of this season but I guess I will have to get started alittle sooner then expected. I have a few sponsors lined out that are going to help me get to where I want to go BUT as with anything it will be expensive and probably will take a long time :-(. I will answer questions here for a day or so if you have any but after that I probably won't be on much because I will be way too busy.
Kyle "Grumpy Bear" Puckett
93 300ZX TT(Auto)
SGP Stage XIII + some :-)
ICQ #727815 
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OK..here is the *real* story of what happened(long w/pics)-> - 
18:43:49 08/15/00
