[s-cars] Scary S-CAR / Stommung story . . .

[marc weiner]

I just blew the O2 sensor and O2 bung completely out of the downpipe.  Yes, believe it or not I have a perfectly circular hole in my Strommung 3rd Gen. downpipe. 

This is what happened:  I heard some rattling noise from what I thought were some connecting bolts b/w my downpipe and center section since that has come loose before on my way to work.  I started smelling exhaust so I opened up the vents and cracked the windows and sunroof for my 55 mile 30 degree F drive to Denver - kept smelling exhaust all the way and started getting light headed near the end of my drive.  I was a little late so I didn't do any R&D until before my commute home (BTW - I spent most of the day feeling a little woosy).  When I started the car for the drive home - the exhaust was really loud so I checked under the car and everything was tight - when I checked under the hood - it was obvious the loud exhaust noise was the exhaust blowing out of the downpipe bung hole.  So, by opening up the vents on the way to work I was actually blowing exhaust from the engine compartment right up my nose - lucky I didn't pass out and glad I at least opened the windows.  Also, lucky the hot exhaust gas didn't ignite the fuel lines/fuel filter.  So, I shut the vents - opened all the windows and drove slowly to ASW in Broomfield and dropped it off for a bung weld job.  Scott at Strommung said he would pick up the tab for the job/rental car or send me a replacement downpipe.  I opted for the weld job for now to see if it holds which will cause less downtime for the car since he has not available downpipes at this moment.  He said he has never had this happen to anyone but I thougt I would let you all know it can happen and to be careful - I was lucky I didn't assfixiate (sp?), pass out while drive, or light up my engine.  

My car runs Hoppen/Lehman Stage IV gear - lower compression pistons (8:5 to1) , Lehman head, RS2 injectors, RS2 turbo, RS2 extrude honed EM and can peg about 27-28 psig on the VDO boost guage and can be scary fast and smooth as a babys butt.  I know there is more power out there on the list w/ guys running bigger turbos and Strommung 3" setups- anyone else have anything like this happen??? - I probably have about 75k miles on the Strommung system.  
Marc Weiner
94 S4, 225k miles