Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro HalfDork
9/13/09 10:58 a.m.

Why this knucklehead didn't use a steel flywheel is beyond me.

Why did the dyno operator even allow it?

http://www.network54.com/Forum/74182/thread/1252775447/So+you+think+you%27ve+had+a+bad+day-+Must+see!

aussiesmg
aussiesmg SuperDork
9/13/09 11:53 a.m.

Ouch

cwh
cwh Dork
9/13/09 12:13 p.m.

Safety gear is expensive. Not using it is far more expensive. Remember where that flywheel is in relation to your body, and remember that Big Daddy only has half a foot. I saw a car blow a flywheel at the drags years ago. Part of it was embedded in the track. Clean up guy beny down to pick it up and discovered how hot flywheels get.

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
9/13/09 12:46 p.m.

Here's another one I've heard of but not witnessed.

A jeep with a super low 1st gear and locked in low range was going down a hill. It was a rather smooth hill so the driver thought it was OK to put the clutch in and coast down the hill to gain some more speed. He left the trans in 1st gear and the jeep in 4 low. At around 30 mph or so the clutch exploded because it was spinning 3x it's designed max rpm or something. After I read and saw the story about the clutch.. I made up my mind that SFI bellhousings are a good thing.

Safety gear is expensive.... Not getting safety gear is more expensive.

thedude
thedude Reader
9/13/09 2:14 p.m.
ignorant wrote: Here's another one I've heard of but not witnessed. A jeep with a super low 1st gear and locked in low range was going down a hill. It was a rather smooth hill so the driver thought it was OK to put the clutch in and coast down the hill to gain some more speed. He left the trans in 1st gear and the jeep in 4 low. At around 30 mph or so the clutch exploded because it was spinning 3x it's designed max rpm or something. After I read and saw the story about the clutch.. I made up my mind that SFI bellhousings are a good thing. Safety gear is expensive.... Not getting safety gear is more expensive.

Wouldn't this mean the engine was spinning 3x max rpm?

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
9/13/09 2:34 p.m.

Wow. I bet that dyno operator learned a thing or two about proper equipment that day.

DrBoost
DrBoost HalfDork
9/13/09 2:39 p.m.

When I worked at Detroit Diesel (where every engine get's 6 hours dyno time) one dyno operator made a big mistake. It was the phase where the engine is running (I think) at 1/2 redline and ramping up to 2/3 redline (this particular engine redlined at 2200). If there is something amiss on the screen, the operator is supposed to take a walk around the engine and listen for anything to try to help diagnose it. Well, he discovered the clamp on the inlet to the turbo was loose. He went to pull the tube off to reposition it and it sucked his hand right in the turbo (I think the inlet was about 7" in diameter). It did a number on his hand, he lost 1 whole finger, part of another one and his had looked like, well, like he stuck it in a freaking turbo that had spooled up.

Ouch!

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro HalfDork
9/13/09 3:16 p.m.
thedude wrote:
ignorant wrote: Here's another one I've heard of but not witnessed. A jeep with a super low 1st gear and locked in low range was going down a hill. It was a rather smooth hill so the driver thought it was OK to put the clutch in and coast down the hill to gain some more speed. He left the trans in 1st gear and the jeep in 4 low. At around 30 mph or so the clutch exploded because it was spinning 3x it's designed max rpm or something. After I read and saw the story about the clutch.. I made up my mind that SFI bellhousings are a good thing. Safety gear is expensive.... Not getting safety gear is more expensive.
Wouldn't this mean the engine was spinning 3x max rpm?

Nope, clutch pedal was down.

The flywheel and flexplate spin with the engine.

The clutch disc spins with the input shaft.

If you leave it in a low gear and hold the clutch in, the transmission will spin the clutch disc up and it can overspeed it.

It happened to me, I changed rear axle ratios in my Starlet, went from a 3:15 to a 4:22, I downshifted at the same spot on the track I always did instead of watching my tach.

I went from 3rd to second when the motor was running about 8k rpm, the transmission sped up the cluth disc because of the numerically lower ratio (remember with the clutch pushed in and the drivetrain spinning the trans, it's basicly working backwards, it's now an increasing gearbox instead of a reduction gearbox) and oversped the disc. The disc stayed intact but it spun all the lining off.

Shawn

hotrodlarry
hotrodlarry Reader
9/13/09 3:24 p.m.

hoooolly crap. that thing let go, wow.

BoxheadTim
BoxheadTim Reader
9/13/09 3:41 p.m.

Famous last words - "one last run"...

cwh
cwh Dork
9/13/09 5:00 p.m.

Almost as dangerous as "Hey guys, watch this!!"

Appleseed
Appleseed Dork
9/13/09 11:11 p.m.

Scatter shield? Wasdat?

mad_machine
mad_machine SuperDork
9/13/09 11:16 p.m.

I think that can be summed up as "woops!"

I would have loved to have seen the flywheel shatter in super slow motion. It would have been interesting to see it scatter.

As for the video.. it seems that engine was almost designed to fail from the beginning. Iron flywheel was bolted on rather than waiting for the steel one to make it's way to them. The wrong headers that actually took away power... what was the point of even running it if you had those two problems from the very beginning?

HappyAndy
HappyAndy Reader
9/14/09 12:47 a.m.

did the ring gear slice through the header? thank GOD no one was killed

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH SuperDork
9/14/09 9:23 a.m.

Wow, that could have killed everyone in the room if they were standing in the wrong place. I'll have to remember that exploding clutch issue as well, although I'd never coast beyond the safe speed for a gear, because if your foot slipped off the clutch (which happens quite often while offroading) you'd overrev your engine to death as the truck does a stoppie.

44Dwarf
44Dwarf HalfDork
9/14/09 11:54 a.m.
GameboyRMH wrote: if your foot slipped off the clutch (which happens quite often while offroading) you'd overrev your engine to death as the truck does a stoppie.

I once had a dwarf that came with the shift opposite of all otheres it was set up to push forward to up shift...Coming out of a corner at 13500rpms i thought i was up shifting and yanked back on the shifter....SUPRISE drive shaft quickly exited as did the alum adapter. put i did slide two 10inch wide tires about 5 ft on pavement..Thank god they mandate 3 full hoops minimum.

Appleseed
Appleseed Dork
9/14/09 6:06 p.m.
44Dwarf wrote:

I once had a dwarf that came with the shift opposite of all otheres...

You have no idea the weird thoughts that rolled through my head reading that.

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