Will NHRA Tear Down Chips Bike (1 Viewer)

[Eric]

Bryce talks about it in this press release. I think this answers the questions.

".........6-time national champion crew chief Bryce was able to pinpoint the exact genesis of the breakdown. "When we ran at Denver and the bike wouldn't shift, Chip had it against the rev limiter (9900 rpm) for a full second. We figured the piston touched the head pretty hard at least 100 times. That's enough to crack a rod bearing cage."

"We're constantly trying to improve these S&S motors, and strive to make them as reliable as possible while making more power," said George Smith. "But I don't care if they're made out of kryptonite, if you're on the rev limiter that long and kissing the valves, you're gonna break some parts. I think it fatigued the lower end of the rod, especially the rear rod."..........."

Sometimes, motors get faster just before grenading.

 

[elvis]

Sometimes, motors get faster just before grenading.

That's no joke. All my stuff runs excellent before it scatters. I think it's a "Murphy's Law" or something like that.

 

[Eric]

As more info, that press release references that motor as #007. The bottom end had been in rotation since the begining of last season and had continually produced the best performance on the track.

1 1/2 seasons out of a pro stock bottom end sounds like a solid engine.

 

[george bryce]

Hello all. Nhra did tear us down. Saturday night and Sunday night. James, their EFI expert spent the day with us on Sunday. James was in our pit/ trailer for all downloads and all tuning. Eric Lowe and Bob Blackwell inspected the Motorcycle two times during the weekend. The NHRA did all the things that I would hope they would do to any of my competition that was running as good as we were. The engines run best right before they blow..sometimes. This is because the piston gets real close to the head...too close when the big end of the rod is failing. And, it does not last very long before it comes apart. We need a rod that is .020 longer down at 7500 and 8000....and a shorter one at 9000 and 9500!! That would be cool! The reason we broke the crank and rods is because we had a rare shifter problem in Denver when we lost to Hines. Chip ran it against the limiter for a second in 3rd gear. AND, we were running the limiter way too high at Dever....so the pistons smacked the heads at least 200 times...we took it apart in Sonoma...it looked great. You could see where they touched, but they must have cracked the rod bearing cage. THEN at Sonoma, we had it come apart. When we slowed to the 7.15 against Treble in the semis....we thought we just missed the tune up...the wind had turned to a very severe head wind and all 4 motorcycles ran teens. Man it blew the engine all over in the final. But it was very broken in the semis, we just did not know yet. As for the 6.91....we think it was a fluke. We were the 8th pair of the first round and the wind was a strong tail wind. When Chip was staging, the wind kicked up real big and blew him down the track....literally! Chip said it was rowing gears so fast it felt like he was going down hill. Our next best run was a .98. The power that it takes to pick up that much et has not yet been developed. So I say "once is a fluke and twice is a record"!!!! Peace out, GB3

 

[willy]

Most excellent, George.

Thanks for the explanation..

Oh and welcome to the new Mater.

 

[Rollout96]

Most excellent, George.

Thanks for the explanation..

Oh and welcome to the new Mater.

Yeah, what Willy said. Thank you for that post. Now we all know exactly what happened. Very, very cool of you!!

 

[Paul]

George has always had a class operation. Thanks George for coming on here and detailing the weekend.

 

[megadeth]

Hello all. Nhra did tear us down. Saturday night and Sunday night. James, their EFI expert spent the day with us on Sunday. James was in our pit/ trailer for all downloads and all tuning. Eric Lowe and Bob Blackwell inspected the Motorcycle two times during the weekend. The NHRA did all the things that I would hope they would do to any of my competition that was running as good as we were. The engines run best right before they blow..sometimes. This is because the piston gets real close to the head...too close when the big end of the rod is failing. And, it does not last very long before it comes apart. We need a rod that is .020 longer down at 7500 and 8000....and a shorter one at 9000 and 9500!! That would be cool! The reason we broke the crank and rods is because we had a rare shifter problem in Denver when we lost to Hines. Chip ran it against the limiter for a second in 3rd gear. AND, we were running the limiter way too high at Dever....so the pistons smacked the heads at least 200 times...we took it apart in Sonoma...it looked great. You could see where they touched, but they must have cracked the rod bearing cage. THEN at Sonoma, we had it come apart. When we slowed to the 7.15 against Treble in the semis....we thought we just missed the tune up...the wind had turned to a very severe head wind and all 4 motorcycles ran teens. Man it blew the engine all over in the final. But it was very broken in the semis, we just did not know yet. As for the 6.91....we think it was a fluke. We were the 8th pair of the first round and the wind was a strong tail wind. When Chip was staging, the wind kicked up real big and blew him down the track....literally! Chip said it was rowing gears so fast it felt like he was going down hill. Our next best run was a .98. The power that it takes to pick up that much et has not yet been developed. So I say "once is a fluke and twice is a record"!!!! Peace out, GB3

That was a cool read thanks for the inside scoop Geroge and welcome to the "MATER"!