Which mods reduce dependabilty
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2012
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From: South Dakota
Which mods reduce dependabilty
With so many C7 owners adding this, that and everything else mods, at what point and which mods begin to start to diminish the cars overall dependability and reliableness as compared to the car when it was totally stock?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2022
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From: MSP
Generally? Anything that increases power will increase stress on drivetrain components. More stress, more wear. More wear, faster failure.
It's just a question of balancing the accelerated wear with the expected lifespan of the vehicle. Suppose the engine can do about 500k miles stock. If you drop that to 375k miles through mods... does it matter? Probably not, so go ahead and do that intake, headers, and exhaust and enjoy a few extra horsepower without worry.
It's just a question of balancing the accelerated wear with the expected lifespan of the vehicle. Suppose the engine can do about 500k miles stock. If you drop that to 375k miles through mods... does it matter? Probably not, so go ahead and do that intake, headers, and exhaust and enjoy a few extra horsepower without worry.
Pro
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 703
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From: Central TX
Given the issues with AFM I would say adding a cam adds some durability and removes some given the power increase, higher lift, etc.
Also, it really depends on how many miles you put on a vehicle, how you drive it when you do, etc. For me, the H/C/E/I mods I did will surely reduce the long term life of the car. But, we only put 5k miles a year on it so I doubt I'll ever see a problem. And if I do, I'll deal with it.
There is always a price for playing.
Also, it really depends on how many miles you put on a vehicle, how you drive it when you do, etc. For me, the H/C/E/I mods I did will surely reduce the long term life of the car. But, we only put 5k miles a year on it so I doubt I'll ever see a problem. And if I do, I'll deal with it.
There is always a price for playing.
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With SoCal traffic being so bad, I find the most reliable modification I can do is to attach the Battery Tender, Junior, when, I park in the garage. 
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2019
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From: Georgetown, Tx
I've been down this performance upgrade road before. My Z51 is a street car and with the hp and torque we're all familiar with, I'm no longer interested to find the weakest link in the drivetrain.
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Drifting
Joined: Aug 2019
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From: Houston
More power is more wear so anything that adds it will reduce reliability. You could probably increase it with stuff like cooling mods and weight reduction. Stuff that would allows the car to work more efficiently and have less strain.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: South Florida
If a shaft or beam for example can withstand X lbf-ft of torque, as long as never yielded to X it will last forever. When engineers design the engine and drivetrain there is philosophy of safety factor which ensures that within as wide margin as possible all parts experience yield or failure in the similar range much higher than the vehicle may experience naturally. External forces such as leverage applied by tires rapidly changing direction with momentum may apply much higher forces to the drivetrain than an engine producing 3x or 4x the power that it does naturally. Thus the conditions are failure are mostly unrelated to engine power output. For example with very low power you may snap an axle or driveshaft using a slick tire and a powerful clutch, even with the engine producing only half or less potential stock power.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2022
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From: MSP
I disagree. In engineering applications for structures, stress does not cause wear. Only fatigue and yield are points for failure.
If a shaft or beam for example can withstand X lbf-ft of torque, as long as never yielded to X it will last forever. When engineers design the engine and drivetrain there is philosophy of safety factor which ensures that within as wide margin as possible all parts experience yield or failure in the similar range much higher than the vehicle may experience naturally. External forces such as leverage applied by tires rapidly changing direction with momentum may apply much higher forces to the drivetrain than an engine producing 3x or 4x the power that it does naturally. Thus the conditions are failure are mostly unrelated to engine power output. For example with very low power you may snap an axle or driveshaft using a slick tire and a powerful clutch, even with the engine producing only half or less potential stock power.
If a shaft or beam for example can withstand X lbf-ft of torque, as long as never yielded to X it will last forever. When engineers design the engine and drivetrain there is philosophy of safety factor which ensures that within as wide margin as possible all parts experience yield or failure in the similar range much higher than the vehicle may experience naturally. External forces such as leverage applied by tires rapidly changing direction with momentum may apply much higher forces to the drivetrain than an engine producing 3x or 4x the power that it does naturally. Thus the conditions are failure are mostly unrelated to engine power output. For example with very low power you may snap an axle or driveshaft using a slick tire and a powerful clutch, even with the engine producing only half or less potential stock power.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2019
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From: near philly
I disagree. In engineering applications for structures, stress does not cause wear. Only fatigue and yield are points for failure.
If a shaft or beam for example can withstand X lbf-ft of torque, as long as never yielded to X it will last forever. When engineers design the engine and drivetrain there is philosophy of safety factor which ensures that within as wide margin as possible all parts experience yield or failure in the similar range much higher than the vehicle may experience naturally. External forces such as leverage applied by tires rapidly changing direction with momentum may apply much higher forces to the drivetrain than an engine producing 3x or 4x the power that it does naturally. Thus the conditions are failure are mostly unrelated to engine power output. For example with very low power you may snap an axle or driveshaft using a slick tire and a powerful clutch, even with the engine producing only half or less potential stock power.
If a shaft or beam for example can withstand X lbf-ft of torque, as long as never yielded to X it will last forever. When engineers design the engine and drivetrain there is philosophy of safety factor which ensures that within as wide margin as possible all parts experience yield or failure in the similar range much higher than the vehicle may experience naturally. External forces such as leverage applied by tires rapidly changing direction with momentum may apply much higher forces to the drivetrain than an engine producing 3x or 4x the power that it does naturally. Thus the conditions are failure are mostly unrelated to engine power output. For example with very low power you may snap an axle or driveshaft using a slick tire and a powerful clutch, even with the engine producing only half or less potential stock power.
Cyclic loading, even when well below yield strength for materials will ALWAYS result in eventual failure. And cyclic loading is what car engines experience. 100% of the time any part will fail given enough cycles.
Obviously engineers jobs are to make a part last for a reasonable expectation of time, and the load cycles can easily be in the millions and billions.
But when you significantly increase power you can exponentially reduce the number of cycles a part can withstand. Doubling power may reduce cycles by a factor of 4 or more.
Completely different than a static beam with "x" weight hanging on it, in that case yes, if below yield stress it can hang there for 1000 years. Put that load on, then remove it, and repeat that 10,000x's per day and it will fail one day.
Increase the load by 20% and it will fail in far less cycles.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: South Florida
Sure, but I don't think the comparison is relevant. We're not talking about a (relatively) static structure supporting a load here, the shear strength of your axles, or bending a component to the point of plastic deformation. We're talking about moving components that wear against each other, suspended only by a tiny film of oil. Your cylinder bore, piston rings, conrod bearings... more power is more stress to these, and more stress is more wear. You're punching through the oil film just that much more if you're making a bigger boom. You're depositing just a little more fuel into your oil with that blowby with each revolution. The ball bearings in your axle CV joint are shearing that grease just a little harder with the additional power.
they use the same pistons and internal parts. Actually stress is higher in the natural aspirated versions because of higher compression.
You guys also neglect area under the curve for power. Engines dont make power they applied force to connecting rod and piston at a variety of angles forcexlength. A lower peak pressure in the cylinder can result with higher output in terms of power with reduced peak stress on the piston with wider area under the curve of pressure. That is a tuning and setup issue with respect to reliability- not power.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 1,202
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From: MSP
You talk about engine wear- lets use an example. A stock skyline or supra engine with 200hp/liter will go 200 to 300,000 miles. A stock skyline or supra engine without a turbocharger at less than 1/3 the power output will go the same mileage. Do you get my point now
they use the same pistons and internal parts. Actually stress is higher in the natural aspirated versions because of higher compression.
You guys also neglect area under the curve for power. Engines dont make power they applied force to connecting rod and piston at a variety of angles forcexlength. A lower peak pressure in the cylinder can result with higher output in terms of power with reduced peak stress on the piston with wider area under the curve of pressure. That is a tuning and setup issue with respect to reliability- not power.
they use the same pistons and internal parts. Actually stress is higher in the natural aspirated versions because of higher compression.
You guys also neglect area under the curve for power. Engines dont make power they applied force to connecting rod and piston at a variety of angles forcexlength. A lower peak pressure in the cylinder can result with higher output in terms of power with reduced peak stress on the piston with wider area under the curve of pressure. That is a tuning and setup issue with respect to reliability- not power.
Rock on, crouton.