We don't use rear grip. lol

 

thats my biggest struggle in Lincoln, I cant figure out the grip level of the east/west courses. I think I have a good idea for the practice course now but yeah I think i have to rethink my overdriving approach, i think everything outside of Houston police test track is "low grip"

 

The odd thing about this whole balance shaft timing issue I'm having is, if the timing of it was off from the get go when I installed this early this spring, wouldn't it rear it's ugly head right away in terms of off throttle decel? My car sounded very much normal spring through early summer.

The passenger side mount nut (1 of the 3) came loose and tore up the serpentine belt and chewed a pulley or two earlier on during the season. I feel like it's not possible that it could have some how got in the area of the balance shaft belt and screwed that timing up some how? Ronnie said there was still good tension on the balance shaft belt. Nothing is making sense to me right now, lol.

Other than that, no new news as of yet.

I really am wondering if the crank is cracked? I remember listening of video from Shawn's UMI mishap last year when he cracked a crank. Sounded quite similar to mine. I'm almost betting money on it at this point...

 

At about 8:30:

 

Not sure if this is applicable but the balance shaft bearings can fail (oil starve related) and cause the balance shaft to lockup momentarily leading up to a total failure. That can cause the balance shaft belt to skip teeth (until it shreds).

But I also think you have a broken crank unrelated to any balance shaft problems.

 

sorry to hear about the issues. when the serpentine belt broke on my newish engine i was on the tollway and it eventually overheated before I can park it. The cause was my builder's OJT "fabricator" thought they can make an alternator bracket and charge me for it
wouldnt your compression/cylinder walls be affected if the crank is misaligned? maybe you can check and decide get it rebuilt. Chris Bartley's motor got built super quick. I'm on the fence getting a backup shortblock since engine builds take such a long time over here

 

BTW did the shops swap out transmissions to test? that will probably help a lot in the diagnosis

 

I am scared to drive the car now...

 

I would assume so. He does have a low mileage short block that we may just swap in if it comes down to that.

They never did swap a different trans in. I'm glad they didn't else my bill of almost $4k for no resolution would have been much higher.

Man - I hate to say this but these cars are only getting older. My other two and this one were super reliable up until this last year. Hopefully once I get this sorted, I'll be back to normality for awhile. Hell, I'd take a full season of minor or no issues.

 

you just made my day. I have a pricey backup trans i got from B&M & TRE, backup TC and rear diff also, and theyre all taking up space in my garage. if I'm saving thousands by just swapping components some time in the future then thats good to know.
one of the shops I dealt with still disassembled a trans I planned to send to TRE and charged me for "diagnosis", just before I hand him a fresh trans. I hope we all find that shop/guy who actually knows evo stuff. these no-solution bills are really hard to swallow
I've been launching my car again after several years. that pic of the cracked crankshaft pops in my head every time. thanks lol

 

Cracked crank on the 4th cylinder.

 

Any idea the cause of that? Or just fatigue over time from the high revs?

 

hard launches? my new builder says my eagle crank can handle it lol fingers crossed. I can do AWD launches on 3 consecutive runs before my clutch starts to act up (pedal firmness & pulsating)

 

It's more common than I realized, but the evo's stock cranks develop micro cracks and I suppose once that happens things only get worse. I'm guessing 20 years of abuse, launches/riding on the limiter/etc isn't helping anything.

Boostin Performance's post:
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...l#post11117709


The pulsing/vibrating feeling in the clutch pedal had to been the 1st warning sign for me. That and the clutch not fully disengaging. Were you feeling that on your prior setup with the OEM crank or are you feeling that now?

 

I did not launch my car before since I broke a rear axle, an output shaft, a front ring and pinion, and something else inside the trans in prior mild launches. now i launch it since I got the ACT twin and run 39psi rear tires. SCCA TX is making launching at the start advantageous more often
I'm thinking the only solution is to get a backup shortblock ready. or give up lol