ENGINE guru Ken McNamara has identified the cause of the Chevrolet issues which suddenly popped up at last weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown.
Most notably, Brodie Kostecki battled gremlins throughout the opening two days of the event, having had a fresh engine inserted in his #1 Erebus Camaro after blowing a motor in Perth.
Kostecki returned to form following a Saturday night engine change at Hidden Valley, qualifying on the front row on Sunday and collecting a first podium of 2024.
Erebus was not the only Chevrolet team to execute a pre-Sunday engine change, Matt Stone Racing (Nick Percat) and Brad Jones Racing (Macauley Jones) also doing so on precautionary grounds.
That led McNamara to investigate a possible issue, and the KRE Race Engines boss has now determined the cause.
“We had a new-spec thrust bearing in and the front face of it broke away under load,” McNamara told V8 Sleuth.
“Because it broke the little fangs off, that’s where the metal came from.
“The Brodie one, it actually dropped down.
“Our flywheel is extremely close to the rear timing cover, which is good, because that’s what actually saved the engine.
“If that wasn’t there, she’d be trying to push the crank out through the front of the engine, so the timing cover is why the motor kept stopping and the starter wouldn’t turn over, because she’s welded shut.”
It’s made for a relatively straightforward fix, with the original thrust bearing going back in.
Five engines have already been rectified, and all Chevrolet teams are due to have theirs back next week, in time for the NTI Townsville 500 on July 5-7.
