Performance Engineering

vatdevil · #1 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 10:20 AM

I've never heard of a pickup tube breaking in one of these cars. My concern is are there others out there that could face the same issue? IMHO, I believe Eric didn't have to fix the motor in the first place, but he did.

CBattaglia · #2 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vatdevil

I've never heard of a pickup tube breaking in one of these cars. My concern is are there others out there that could face the same issue? IMHO, I believe Eric didn't have to fix the motor in the first place, but he did.

But he didnt....! THAT is where the problem lies my friend. He Could have saved me 30 hours of trailering my car around and the cost involved.

And you are right who ever heard of a pick up tube breaking on one of these cars. You ever see the gauge of that metal? At this point I even question that. Rememver I only had 7000 miles on the motor.

blykins · #3 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 12:39 PM

The metal on the pickup itself doesn't fail....they usually fail around the welds, or if there's a mounting tab on it (in the case of a rear sump pan), they will sometimes fail there. It's not terribly uncommon for the welds to crack.

In a Cobra application where the pans are mostly front sump and the pickups are very short, I would think there would be less of a chance, but certainly not unheard of.

BBQCYCLEWERKES · #4 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 01:20 PM

Was the oil pan damaged? Did the pan bottom out on the track? You were tracking the vehicle when the oil pick up broke. I've seen that happen if the pickup screen is very close to the bottom of the pan and you bottom out the pan. It will then bend or even break the pickup tube from the welds.

CBattaglia · #5 (**permalink**) 05-30-2011, 06:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBQCYCLEWERKES

Was the oil pan damaged? Did the pan bottom out on the track? You were tracking the vehicle when the oil pick up broke. I've seen that happen if the pickup screen is very close to the bottom of the pan and you bottom out the pan. It will then bend or even break the pickup tube from the welds.

No, never bottomed out. and the track thing... Ya I wanted to go fast sure, that was my intention. but it was the first session of the day and I had to start dead last because of the lead follow situation. The car quit on lap 4. I get the track excuse and understand it completely. But in this case it truly had nothing to do with what happened here.

DAVID GAGNARD · #6 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vatdevil

I've never heard of a pickup tube breaking in one of these cars. My concern is are there others out there that could face the same issue? IMHO, I believe Eric didn't have to fix the motor in the first place, but he did.

I have, I've personally seen 2 others in 460's, both were full blown race cars thought and rear sumps.......Best guess was the rigid motor mounts (vibration) and such and the fact they were both rear sump pans....Long pickup tube from the front to the rear sump pan and only one support tab to the main cap..The fix was to weld 2 support tabs to the pickup tube bolted to 2 different main cap bolts........
it happens.......stuff breaks.....
luckily, both cars had 20 psi oil pressure kill switches, shuts the engines off when the oil pressure drops below 20 psi, no damage to either high dollar race engine....

David

Dynamic · #7 (**permalink**) 05-29-2011, 05:40 PM

Eric is smart for not making anymore comments on this post, and I hope he continues not to. As for the credibility of Eric and Performance Engineering, I have to say the following: As someone that worked at Dynamic Motorsports from 2004-2009 I have had a very close working relationship with Performance Engineering. They performed almost all of the drivetrain installations on the Cobra's, GT40's, and Daytona Coupes that were sold by Dynamic. I have personally witnessed Eric go above and beyond the call of duty to stand behind his products, and help customers with motors from other manufacturers. When a customer bought a SPF car from us, they had all of the options under the sun for drivetrain installs. They could choose Ford, Roush, etc. I personally saw more failures in 351 and 427 "crate" motors from the major manufacturers than I ever saw in Eric's engines.

One of the most important things to remember is that if you take a car out on a track, you are on your own. Everyone that has ever had a problem after a track day says the same thing...."I drove it conservatively" or "we only did a few lead follow sessions" but the fact remains that I have never witnessed anyone "baby" the car on the track. Why would you take a car on to the track unless you plan on driving it hard?

After selling a ton of SPF car and having a working relationship with PE in the past, I can say without a doubt that I would personally have Eric install my drivetrain....hands down.

mreid · #8 (**permalink**) 05-30-2011, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dynamic

Eric is smart for not making anymore comments on this post, and I hope he continues not to. As for the credibility of Eric and Performance Engineering, I have to say the following: As someone that worked at Dynamic Motorsports from 2004-2009 I have had a very close working relationship with Performance Engineering. They performed almost all of the drivetrain installations on the Cobra's, GT40's, and Daytona Coupes that were sold by Dynamic. I have personally witnessed Eric go above and beyond the call of duty to stand behind his products, and help customers with motors from other manufacturers. When a customer bought a SPF car from us, they had all of the options under the sun for drivetrain installs. They could choose Ford, Roush, etc. I personally saw more failures in 351 and 427 "crate" motors from the major manufacturers than I ever saw in Eric's engines.

One of the most important things to remember is that if you take a car out on a track, you are on your own. Everyone that has ever had a problem after a track day says the same thing...."I drove it conservatively" or "we only did a few lead follow sessions" but the fact remains that I have never witnessed anyone "baby" the car on the track. Why would you take a car on to the track unless you plan on driving it hard?

After selling a ton of SPF car and having a working relationship with PE in the past, I can say without a doubt that I would personally have Eric install my drivetrain....hands down.

I might have considered this reasonable if it wasn't for the broken valve train component thread going on at the same time. Perhaps you have a special relationship with PE that would ensure special treatment and top parts. If you would step back and remove your bias, I doubt you would feel the same if you read both threads. I'm a reasonable and forgiving person, but I would never buy from PE right now given the CURRENT situation. As all of your experience is historical, you might want to reconsider given the CURRENT situation. Pontiac used to build some great cars...

DAVID GAGNARD · #9 (**permalink**) 05-30-2011, 06:42 AM

Quote:

After selling a ton of SPF car and having a working relationship with PE in the past, I can say without a doubt that I would personally have Eric install my drivetrain....hands down.

PE may do a great job of installing drivetrain components,but, what we're talking about here is building engines and so far I haven't seen anything to make me buy one of his engines....one failed after ONE MILE and another in less than 700 miles.......well, if you don't see the point, you never will.......

David