80tq: Blown Engine

[JShadzi at aol.com]

Well, it was bound to happen at some point =)

It happened the first day of the second session at the Audi Club Nationals at 
Sears Point racetrack.  I was coming out of the "Carousel", turn 6 for those 
of you familiar with the track, accelerating pretty hard (around 4500rpm) 
coming out of the exit, when I lost power, I upshifted, still no power, heard a 
metallic rattling, white smoke out the back, and I shut it off and pulled over 
immediately.

Here is what the #1 spark plug looks like, careful for the faint of heart, it 
isn't pretty:

http://www.80tq.com/albums/?mode=album&album=BlownSparkPlug&dispsize=640

The engine is still aligned, timing belt in tact, so it wasn't an 
interference issue.  All other plugs look ok, so I think its probably a dropped valve or 
somthing similar in the #1.  The engine still turns over smoothly.  I'll have 
the head off today probably to get a better look at it, I'll keep everyone 
posted.

Car was running very strong to say the least, a/f ratios were spot on (went 
the the dyno the week before the get it all baselined).  

If anything, this accelerated me into the 20v project, so no real biggy, the 
engine was already at the machine shop thankfully, so maybe by Jan/Feb I 
should have it back on the road.

I'm very interested to see the mode of failure, always good info to have.

Fun Stuff,

Javad
80tq.com