Image via CJ Cusey/Facebook
There’s no feeling quite like ripping some smokey donuts, only to have the LS swapped into your Firebird seize up. While we haven’t experienced that scenario exactly, we do know how making a simple mistake on a build can cost you dearly, something a fairly well-known enthusiast learned the hard way recently.
Jeep Wrangler driver finds out his rig has limitations.
The guy in question, CJ Cusey, has a lot of videos on Facebook of his LS-swapped Pontiac Firebird just killing tires drifting, doing donuts in front of his house, or entering burnout competitions. But when you push your build hard like that, one small deviation from what’s needed can cause catastrophic failure.
Cusey learned that lesson the hard way after he did some smokey donuts back on Memorial Day, only to find oil spewed all over the pavement. The culprit, an oil filter, was sitting where he started roasting the tires, having blow off the oil pan immediately.
After dealing with the immediate mechanical and emotional damage, Cusey took to Facebook to share what happened. Maybe the guy is trying to help his followers avoid suffering the same pain as him?
If so, that’s a noble cause.
According to Cusey, the problem came when he was changing the oil on his modified muscle car. The sticker on the aftermarket oil pan had been melted off thanks to the extreme heat emanating from the headers.
But Cusey did what a lot of people would, taking to the internet to look up what oil filter fits properly. He found what he believed was the correct info, bought the filter, screwed it right on and the thing seemed to fit snugly after being tightened with a wrench.
We assume even just driving down the road the filter showed zero signs of leakage. But once he spiked the RPMs and started smoking the tires, the pressure popped the filter off like a cork out of bottle of champagne.
This, boys and girls, is why keeping meticulous records of every modification you do to your ride is key. That ‘s true even if you have a clapped out muscle car and you’re slapping junkyard parts on it.
We get some enthusiasts will ignore this advice because keeping records is tedious and often not all that useful. Had Cusey taken a photo of the sticker on the aftermarket oil pan or written down the filter info, he wouldn’t have this story to tell.
Image via CJ Cusey/Facebook
