Chazmo

That's my theory too, Colin. I think the filters were just too loose. I'll never do any more track stuff without using a wrench.

RedY2KS2k

I believe the crush washer is on the drain plug. Both incidents on Sunday involved the oil filter, not the drain plug. I don't really think reuse of the crush washer was a factor in either failure.

I"ve always been a "hand tight" kind of guy about oil filters. However, when I put a wrench on mine before Monday's sessions, I did tighten it about 1/8 turn. I'll probably use a wrench and moderate effort to tighten it from now on, in light of the failures on Sunday.

boiler

I used to be that way also, but this car running at the rpm's it's capable of will loosen all sorts of things. I had almost lost my drain plug because I used the washer that came with my new magnetic plug, not the one from Honda.

My oil filter instructions says to tighten it 7/8's of a turn after the gasket contacts the seat. I don't know about you, but that is very difficult to do by hand. I now tighten it to one full turn, an extra 1/8 of a turn more. Careful, it's possible to deform the oil filter gasket if it's tightened too much. I have to use the filter socket wrench and ratchet to tighten it, but it does not come loose.

I also have several different wrenches to remove the filter. The socket wrench doesn't remove it when it's this tight. The one that I like the best has three movable fingers that tighten into the side of the filter when you remove the oil filter. This tool always removes the filter, but crushes the side slightly in the process.

paS2K

My best "Novice 3" story:

On the Starting Grid, Rob took my picture after my second 20 minute session and asked me, "How fast were you going?" I told him, "I have no idea how fast I was going.....I was too busy lookin' for the next friggin' cone marking the corner entry!"

Btw, my instructor was Chris, who had the Turbo-charged Miata....and he was terrific

The most amazing Track Time event: I actually passed an S on the long straight-away on the last full lap of my last session. It surprised the crap out of me....when this NFR in front was 'pointing to pass' to ME How could I ignore his plea?

dlq04

This is another scary story, like the under-torqued spark plugs backing out. As a do-it-yourself guy, I follow the Honda filter instructions to the letter. No more. No less. That said, it should not make any difference - track or street - if the filter than backs off it should be a Honda covered failure IMO. True, it's impossible to prove one installed it by-the-book but how can Honda conversely prove you did not.

This begs the question, why haven't we heard of this happening on the street... we all know many of the younger hot shoes drive these cars as hard there, as many do at the track.

I think I'm more inclined to do Billman's $5 spring/clamp backup than risk exceeding the OEM install recommendations.

BTW, nice to hear so many Vintage now have the Track bug. If you are like me, all those aging aches & pains disappear to the excitement and challenge of bettering your last lap time -- no matter how fast or how slow it was.

Chazmo

Interesting point, Dave, but I would be very hard-pressed to tell a district manager that my S (with racing numbers taped to the side) was just flatbedded in because a filter spun off due Honda's mistake. If, in fact, a dealer had done the last oil change... well, maybe.

I think it was our mistake for not making a filter wrench tightening a pre-track inspection. Just my opinion. (assuming that's really, actually what happened -- that the filter backed off because it wasn't tight enough -- there are some other theories).

rjosey8385

They may get picky about who replaced your filter and whether the part is OEM or Purolator or Fram or Mobil 1, but I think they're gonna have a hard time getting out of it on the basis that the car was being raced, what with the pre-release ads they put out for the car in which they tout it as a "weekend track car".... I guess it's time to start checking the tightness on my filter and drain plug as I get the car up on the trailer before hauling it to the races....

matrix

...I view this as cheap insurance.

Matt_in_VA

As a former motorcycle road racer I am experienced in drilling the heads of bolts with small holes to run 2/32" stainless steel safety wire through critical parts in such a fashion as to prevent critical bolts, etc from loosening up. One would run it from one bolt if it rotated counter clock wise that it would pull against another bolt clockwise, thus preventing either bolt from backing off.