May have blown my motor, any other possibility?

[Homeoboxter]

Wow, my condolences man, I`m really sorry for your loss...:ah:
Thanks for sharing the video, it`s very instructive... I`m looking forward to seeing what was causing this, so keep us posted. Once I had a rod bearing failure in my SAAB because the pickup screen got obstructed, that was making a very similar clunking noise like this. If this is an IMS failure it`s surprising to me that you were able to restart the engine twice - I would assume the valves would get bent in each of the cylinders making it impossible to restart. Nevertheless, a complete dissassembly will tell you more about how to prevent this to happen again. I`d drain the oil and see what`s in there.

[Homeoboxter]

Btw, do you know the condition of the small cam chain guides on the variocam actuator? I just thought a little more on this, and just wondering perhaps the same failure happened to your car that I had on mine. I rebuilt my 99 Boxster engine because the chain pads completely wore down, one fully came off and caused the timing to jump. This resulted in piston-to-valve contact but surprisingly did not destroy the entire engine, the bearings, pistons, even the valves survived. But for sure it was making a loud rattling. Perhaps the drop in oil pressure caused the chain pads to fly off? Or, conversely, the variocam fell apart and the resulting oil leak led to the loss of pressure?

[truegearhead]

If there is a track that is going to starve an engine of oil its that one, super long fast sweepers. Sorry about the engine, time for an upgrade!

[rezanourai]

Originally Posted by truegearhead

If there is a track that is going to starve an engine of oil its that one, super long fast sweepers. Sorry about the engine, time for an upgrade!

It's a fun track! I was just starting to get used to this car a bit and finding it's traction limits with my current set up before this happened. Here's a lap from the prior session before blowing the motor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdsNRz7GoCA. Had traction control stuck on (I wired it wrong when I stripped the wiring a few weeks ago, so need to fix it) which was crippling me on turn exits a lot as well as some traffic. Previously in this car (while it weighed 200lbs more than today) and traction control off I had gotten low 2:10s.

Car oversteers a touch too much, but otherwise very balanced. I need to dial out that oversteer just a hair and then get some more seat time after the new motor goes in. I think I can get an 2:05-2:07 at this track when dialed in. Pushing below 2:05 will take some more work but not impossible. Car probably has 2:01-2:03 in it with the right driver.