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Originally Posted by Ruprecht,Apr 8 2008, 12:02 PM
Why did it occur? Were there any indicators leading up to piston parts coming out of the exhaust?
I understand there may be hidden parameters, or something not quite right in the tune, but if so, would there be other measurements, data streams, symptoms that would indicate a tune problem before catastrophic damage?
We've since combed through the tune and compared it to other tunes and examined some of the parts to see what happened. Here are some random findings:
- The tune has about 5 degrees less timing than the typical S2000 motor
- The pistons failed near the valve relief, which is the weakest point. The new Wiseco pistons have an indent there to combat this
- 3 of the 4 banjo bolts that feed the oil jets were clogged
- The motor had low oil pressure for some time (~50-60 at WOT) and metal shards (seemingly from the oil cooler kit/lines) were found in several places about a month before the failure
- I ran the supercharger for a track weekend without an inter/after cooler, intake air temps were fairly high (we set up the air temp compensation map in the AEM to pull timing)
- Excessive blow by and dipstick pressure (I have krankvents so this is alarming) was prevalent just before the kablamo
So, basically the cause of death is still fairly unknown. It doesn't seem to be tune/detonation related though, maybe 27k street miles and 6k track miles was too much for that particular mill.
We also found EXCESSIVE wear on the Supertech double valve spring locators. Basically the seat that they sell to keep the two valve springs in position is made out of aluminum, the OEM ones are made of steel. The wear was so bad that there were shards and shavings everywhere, we replaced them with OEM K series locators (K motors come factory with dual springs).
We then found ABOVE AVERAGE wear on the Supertech Titanium retainers. The dual springs have started to eat into the Ti, creating their own grooves. I'd say the retainers are 30-40% worn in and I will be replacing them with hardened steel AP2 retainers soon.
Keep in mind that both of these parts only have six thousand miles on them....
Originally Posted by Fyrestrike,Apr 9 2008, 08:44 AM
- 3 of the 4 banjo bolts that feed the oil jets were clogged
- The motor had low oil pressure for some time (~50-60 at WOT) and metal shards (seemingly from the oil cooler kit/lines) were found in several places about a month before the failure
I bet it was related to these two items. Not enough oil squirted under the pistons = not enough cooloing and lubrication = heat related fatigue and failure of the rings.
Originally Posted by CoralDoc,Apr 10 2008, 06:09 PM
I bet it was related to these two items. Not enough oil squirted under the pistons = not enough cooloing and lubrication = heat related fatigue and failure of the rings.
sorry the motor has taken a dump im highly impressed with your attention to detail on this build. Hope everything smooths out for you man. I know that there are always bumps in the road with any build as I have had a few building my civic
Here are some pics of the new motor build and install:
After troubleshooting a bad crank angle sensor for a few days, we got her started up and she's idling like a champ. Tonight hopefully we can break it in on the dyno for ~100miles, change the oil, and finalize the tune for its debut this weekend.
