Yes, you read that correctly.
Its a sad day, but this is a story about what happened, with the hope that you might help me figure out where to go from here...
5 years ago I found a 1985 3.2 Carrera that was just right for me and purchased it.
I love these cars and never intended to buy or build a garage queen, but rather to drive it quite regularly.
I began the joy of slowly improving the car as time and money made it possible.
I then saved for 3 years to do a major overhaul on the car.
- New paint
- Rebuild my transmission
- Rebuild the motor and upgrade to 11.2:1 compression twin spark 3.2
- Redo the interior
- New wheels & tires
- Refresh window seals, glass and suspension
I stripped the car and pieced it out as I worked with vendors to restore my car.
I sent the engine long block to a reputable engine shop to source the final parts and assemble. Once it was assembled I picked it up, finished assembly and installed it with the new trans.
Life was good for 18 months. The engine HP increased to 255 at the crank and the car felt great. The car isn't perfect, but I did almost all the work myself and Im very proud of what I was able to accomplish with some careful planning and a lot of help from this forum. I learned a tremendous amount about my car through this process.
Then, I lost spark in the lower spark plugs.
It took a few trips to the shop to help figure it out, but we eventually identified the culprit, an ignition fault in the signal splitter.
While I was waiting for the ignition problem resolution to arrive, I was driving the car as a single plug and while exiting a nearby freeway, the clutch broke.
So I sent the car back to the shop to instal the ignition solution and investigate the broken clutch. Turned out to be a failed Kennedy Engineering Product Stage 1 clutch.
I sent it to them and they replaced the diaphragm and sent it back. The shop re-installed the new clutch and the ignition solution. Everything seemed good after the first short alignment test drive. I went in to pick up the car the next day.
Prior to arriving the shop took the car out for a quick test drive to verify all was good.
30 yards from the stop sign at the exit from their parking lot of the shop - the #6 conrod burst through the main case.
After draining the oil an ARP conrod bolt fell out of the drain plug.
It is obvious though from other shards that fell out, that the oil pump is damaged too.
After some diagnosis, it seems clear that the ARP rod bolt gave way, but whether that is from product failure or some other condition, I don't know.
I went to see the scene of the incident and the short 30 yards from the stop to the point of detonation, isn't enough distance to allow anyone to abuse the motor. Aside from which, the motor has a sensible rev limiter and stronger than factory valve springs that should prevent anyone from detonating the motor under acceleration.
Also, the shop has a strong reputation and I had the shop owner working on my car.
Im quite confident it was not their fault.
So..... Im now (probably) staring at a $15-20 000 problem.
I dont have the cash just lying around, which is why Im turnning to you guys.
Now what??