top and pedal down
three hundred code, missing
quick call to Andy

:banghead: I knew it had to happen sometime.

Andy tells me cylinder #7 is famous for dying on FI cars. Fortunately he has forged short blocks waiting for $3,000.

I have to check one last time, maybe a plug wire came loose....riiiiight. :cry

 

Wow, you're the first person I have heard of that is running so conservative and blew a piston. Do you have a lot of miles on your car? Did you run out of fuel maybe? Sorry to hear.

 

This is the 5-6th car that has popped the pistons. Sorry about your misfortune.

 

rdstr-
Do you have a dyno sheet? How was your A/F?


[Modified by Red C5, 5:54 PM 7/1/2003]

 

That sucks Bill, sorry to hear this...
You didn't know exactly how much boost you were running though, correct?
I just ordered my kit from Andy, and your testimony was one of my deciding factors--ruh roh...
Hopefully it was a simple case of too much boost. Get yourself a boost gauge this time--it may save your butt!!!!

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. :sad: Hopefully there wasn't too much damage caused.
From what I've ben reading it sems as though the rule is not to exceed 5psi OR 500rwhp with a very conservative tune. Exceeding EITHER of these limitations WILL spell doom...it's just a matter of time and not very long at that.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I sure hope that it is something that simple. What are the symptoms when a piston goes south?

I am putting aside the cash to replace my short block before it croaks. I figure that with drag strip passes, autocrossing, and road course time when I can, it is just a matter of time before the stock stuff gives up. I may go ahead and get it done over the winter.

 

Welcome to the blown stock bottom end club. The membership is growing every week!!!

 

Iv'e been saying this for sometime. Cars using more than 9lbs of boost on an LS1 and 7lbs on an LS6 are crystal ball when it comes to reliability. The chances increase also when the tune is maximized for max hp..there is no room for error when the AFR is 12.9-13.1 on a car boosted more than the manufacture's recommendation. Hyperuetectic Pistons are just to brittle they do not expand and do not have a high silica content. Any detonation and ring lans go "pop". We should start a list, I can count 7 right off the bat....My recomendation to those who read this and have a hi boosted stock motor with an AFR WOT @ 12.9-13.1 that you run race gas.....your next...This is the first real summer of the ProCharger..not a whole lot of them around last summer.

 

Thanks everyone. :) Funny, if something happens to one of our cars, it's like someone in the family is in the hospital. It's a bummer. I was headed home early to get O2 sensors put on my exhaust, so I can finally smog it this month (temp sticker expires today).

I was cruising along fine, headed east on the San Mateo bridge. That bridge has a long uphill on the west side, and I punched it passing a few slow cars doing 45 in a 55 (something like that). The car downshifted and upshifted since the RPM was right on the edge of an upshift. Now it seems the upshift RPM is a bit high, and it pings enough to hear it slightly at higher revs (GHL exhaust got louder after a few months). Since it started misfiring after I punched it, I figured it had to be a cylinder. It was 60miles to home, and it made it. It's just embarrassing to be in heavy traffic with a strong miss through the GHLs.

Symptoms:
<li>Flashing 'Check engine' light
<li>Motorboat sound at cruise (cylinder not firing)
<li>Dull ticking sound (Your results may vary)
<li>PCM DIC error code of P0300 H C

I'm not sure what the boost was after the SIC. It was reported to be 8lbs right after the base ATI install (bought it with an ATI already installed). The fuel curve was 'OK', MMS even leaned it out a point after the SIC install. I knew I should've bought the boost gauge earlier.

:banghead:

 

Sorry to hear about your problem :(

Just curious, how many miles did you have on the SC. I'm also saving for a forged bottom end and would like to know my time frame.

Hope yours gets fixed quickly :cheers:

 

Thanks. The blower was installed in December at 19,500, the car has 30,987. Most of that freeway miles, a few trips to L.A., and a 60mile commute. I need a second car (99 740i sport?).

I pulled plug #7 (it's under the brake booster), it was moist with water, wet with oil, and the conductor is pressed against the electrode. And I have froth in my oil filler cap. :cry :cry :cry :banghead:



[Modified by rd98rdstr, 7:57 PM 7/1/2003]

 

Sorry to hear about the bottom end, but now you can have some real fun!!

Take a few minutes to make a plan of action and cover all the bases.

Good luck,
JB

 

Sorry about the bad news. Now you can ask yourself:

1.) Should I turn up the wick and make mondo power on demand yet on the flip side chase other possible problems like driveline breakage?

2.) Should I keep basically the same pulley ratio (with pump gas tuning for those pulley ratios) and truly enjoy a bulletproof ride and swap pulleys/leave tuning alone but add race gas for racing events. :flag



[Modified by STAGED, 5:20 AM 7/2/2003]

 

I thought Hypereutectic Pistons did have high silicon content? The high silicon content is also needed for low friction as the pistons are very close to the wall. Kind of like the reason why non-cylinder lined aluminum blocks with Nikasil have silicon impregnated walls for friction reduction. :flag

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but just think how fun it will be down the road when you beef it up a bit more.

I'm not trying to slam anyone here or cause a big controversy, but how many of these toasted stock bottom end cars were tuned by MMS? I seem to remember some of those AF graphs and it did not look real safe to me. Perhaps the owners said get everything you can out of it, but 13.0 on pump gas does not seem safe to me.

 

You are right STAGED. I know that the Hyper's do not expand..this is why the clearances can be set really tight vs loose. Stock clearance I think it .002 with some re-rings being .001...as compared to the muscle car era motors which could come with as much as .010 clearance. If you look on the back of the setup sheets (data sheet) that come with Ross racing pistons they give setup specs for forced induction...they recommend a .006 for Street Blown motors...the pistons come as a 3.893 for stock bore (3.898) replacement...with the .006 clearance that gives you a 3.899..however if you have to deglaze the block it could be as much as .005 which is how I got into the whole discussion about the silica content in forged pistons and the stock pistons..I got reversed in my above post so I stand corrected on that..but as you can see the clearances for the stock pistons are very tight because the pistons do not expand as much...the engine management system is supposed to keep knock or detonation from occurying..therefore the stock pistons should never be a problem..until of course NOS and FI are applied...then it all changes.


[Modified by Shinobi'sZ, 9:53 PM 7/1/2003]

 

 

Bill,
look at it as a good thing..At least now you can get some forged pistons installed and you won't have to live in fear.

Good news is it happened close to home..Just imagine how P**SED you would have been if this happened on a cruise out to Vegas or something.

Best thing I ever did was blow a piston , my car has never ran faster,smoother or stronger since Andy installed my Forged Block :yesnod:

12PSI and Lovin it :D


:cheers:

Jeff