If you saw my thread from yesterday, I had a coupler blow off on me last night (which in the long run has been the result of my boost leak (i know this for sure, read later). Well in the process it bent a worm clamp so I went to Napa to get some new clamps at lunch today and put them on tonight. Reinstalling the clamps was fine and I tried to line the cog belt back up after the coupler/clamp/pipe hit it last night.

So I head to the drivers seat and take her for a spin. I find it to be a good idea to not go far from home just in case I missed something or anything goes wrong (this was a GREAT idea). I get to a nice open stretch of road about 1 mile from my house, hit 2-3psi in 2nd gear and engine cuts out and cuts back in with the Service Engine Light, VDC Off Light and Slip light now illuminated! Also, the car doesn't go over 10mph and doesn't rev past 2000rpms. Luckily I was close to home and was able to "limp" the car back at about 8mph, which I would deduce was the car in "limp" mode.

I immediately pop the head and start to inspect the MAF and Cam Sensor wires and all of the couplers around the area... nothing. So I get back in the car and reset the ECU (thanks G35 Driver forums) and start the car. I rev the car up a little and everytime it goes about 2000 rpms, the Service Engine Soon light blinks on and off.... So, I decided to take off the piping from the TB and MAF just to check to make sure nothing was in the pipe or blocking the MAF, and that's where I found this little guy:







What in HOLY HELL is that????????? There are only 2 possibilities:

1. It got sucked into the pipe last night when the coupler came off, but I highly doubt that this happened because where the hell would it get sucked from??

2. It has been in the piping system the entire time (1500+ miles and 2 dyno pulls) and it just all of the sudden decided to appear at the TB and cause chaos!

What in god's name is that thing?

.....Anyways, car is seeing about .7 - .75 BAR now at full boost and lights up the tires through all of first gear with ease (this is what I expected). Finally! Check my install thread for pictures of the gauge pod installed.

 

Is that thing painted green, or is the green color a result of surface oxidation? Is it metal, plastic, ceramic... what? How big is it? Can you take another picture with a ruler --or something else of known size (like a dime)-- next to it for scale? Is it magnetic/ferrous, or non-ferrous?

 

Thats crazy, i couldnt even begin to tell you what that is. from the pics i would say prob the size of a penny

 

Well, here is some more info and we can try and deduce what it is..

-It is about 1.5" around or so, a little smaller than a $0.50 piece (bigger than a quarter)
-It is not painted green, that is it's true color from what I can tell
-It does not have a smell of any kind
-The texture is very very similar to that of a "skipping stone" that you would find by a lake or even on the beach - very smooth
-The best way to describe it overall is a "green rock" because it has the same weight, feel, texture, smell (?)and etc.
-From what I can tell it has no magnetism and contains no ore (iron, etc).

I am dead serious that I will send this to some kind of geology lab at a nearby college and see what they can come up. However, I want to drill a hole through it and hang it around my mirror, haha!

 

Dude.....that is BIZARRRE!!!

It looks like a 15 carat Colombian Emerald.......

WTF?????

 

How hard is it? Like a rock, steel, lead?
Can you scratch the surface of it?
Again, is it magnetic?

From my end of CPU land it looks like a stone of some sort. Doesn't appear to be a spacer or a shim...

 

It definitely has the feel of a rock.. big time. i can't imagine this goes to any part o the car..... again not magnetic.

 

Wtf

 

damn...i was really hoping no one would ever find that. it looks like i have been getting careless with my "work"

 

that's 2 hp...put it back where you got it...and don't speak a word of this to anyone...

 

I'm telling you.......it's a big azz Colombian Emerald that was smuggled into the US inside your Vortech kit.....

You are RITCH dude.........that is until Mr Escobar comes looking for it.....

 

ahah.. you guys are great. and it actually seems that I got my missing 60-80whp finally! the car pulls so much stronger now... maybe i should take the "green mystery" to a pawn shop instead of a laboratory and see what I can get for it?

i'll split the profits with you guys if it is worth something.. hahaha.

 

It kind of looks like de burring media. They often tumble cast metal parts in a drum with a bunch of media to knock off all the flash and burrs. sometimes they get stuck in the parts but the QC people should have caught it unless it was way up inside of something.

 

+1, but why would they be using this large of a medium?

 

wow thank god that didnt go into the motor