my engine blew!!! need opinions...

ASSISTANCE Forced Induction
1

ok here is the deal…

i had ALOT of stuff done to the car…

list:
Engine:

B18A1 Block

Stock crank (BALANCED)

ACL Race bearings

ARP main studs

Shot peened stock rods

ARP rod bolts

ROSS “PR3 Style” forged pistons (11.5:1 comp)

Gsr oil pump

Cometech 3 layer head gasket

(Max) ported head w/ 3 angle valve job

Supertech nitride coated race valves

Supertech duel valve springs

Supertech titanium retainers

Supertech race valve seals

Crower Stage 3 cams(404’s)

Onsuko adjustable cam gears

Greddy Kevlar timing belt

B20 valve cover

ARP head studs

Blox type-r style intake manifold (port matched)

Blox 70mm throttle body (matched with manifold)

450cc DSM injectors

Treadstone log manifold

Turbonetics delta 2 wastegate

Turbonetics T04E-60 turbo

well here is what happened:
the head that was ported, apparently had to be repaired by the machine shop due to my mechanic breaking through the water jacket(passages in the head for coolant) in the no.4 intake port. the machine shop didnt weld it properly and it cracked at the end of the weld, letting coolent slowly drip into the no.4 cylinder… here is the result:

when coolant is in a cylinder it evaperates and is so hot it melts shit… :frowning:

so anyways, i now have a stock motor in the car with the intake manifold and throtle body and was wondering what would be a good turbo to use? with all the stuff i had done to the old engine it still didnt spool the turbo up until like 4000rpm and i reved to 8500rpm. now i rev to 7000 at most and would like a turbo that would spool real fast and hold boost till 7000rpm… any sugestions… all i need is a turbo and intercooler and i can turbo the car again… i have some stuff for sale also…

http://abilene.craigslist.org/pts/1428859052.html
http://abilene.craigslist.org/pts/1428847483.html
http://abilene.craigslist.org/pts/1427637476.html

2

what was your compression ratio? how did the motor feel, i’m thinking of boosting my b16 with ctr pistons:p

3

It felt real nice… It pulled really hard and ran smooth… The CR was 11.5:1

4

is their anyone? i know its only been up a day but i was hoping for a response fairly quick…

i was thinking of just using a garrett turbo off a saab 900 the .48 A/R i know its small but they use a 2.0l i belive and im not trying to get like a million hp so… i just want something that will spool quick and hold it

5

Were you not running an intercooler at that CR??? What engine management are you running? Is it tuned? That’s just asking for detonation! Coolant hitting the piston wouldn’t do that. The coolant is already pretty hot to begin with, it’s not super cool or anything, especially at operating temp. Until you can invest into some proper parts to keep your engine/intake air cool, it’s just going to happen again with that high of CR.

6

ok… I was running an intercooler… I was running turbo edit and yes I tuned it myself and no there was no detonation!!! I’m not stupid and am pretty knowledgeable with cars so… the coolant when compressed and burned is hotter than the fuel… detonation would cause a hole in the center of the piston and signs of it would be on other pistons in the form of pits and there was none. I have been running this set up for 10,000 miles and I think if it was a bad tune it wouldn’t have lasted this long… I had well over 10,000 dollars in the motor and this is not the first I built. I know what I’m doing so before you go and start blaming my intelligence maybe you should ask for all the info first… thank you for not thinking before you commented

7

i dont think he was dissing your intelligence you got awfully defencive because of his suggestion though. i’m not about to doubt your intelligence and experience either but i will say with a T04 on that high of compression would require more then just a self tune, it would require tune time on a dyno and lots of data logging even the most knowlegeable tuner wouldn’t be able to get it strict enough with out dyno and logging
on that note check out this link
http://www.theultralightplace.com/pistons.htm
the 5th picture down lookes similar to yours just not as severe. detonation can occur on more spots than just the top of the piston, now you could be correct with your cooling possiblity as you said but because of that it looks as though because of the coolant leak issue you may have had cylinder cooling issues causing that side of the cylinder to get exceedingly hot causing detonation, and piston and sleeve scoring on that side of the cylinder where it got hot
just to explain my suggestion i borrowed your picture and circled the points i’m particularly talking about

Picture003.jpg
Picture003.jpg1024×768 69.5 KB

8

my tune was dead on, this isn’t the first time I did it and it was on a dyno I have at the shop I work at. there are no other signs of detonation on any other pistons and the leak wasn’t bad enough to mess with cooling in the head. I appreciate the respect on your comment and I’m sorry for getting defensive but I know what I’m doing… this isn’t about what happened though, I’m trying to figure out what turbo to run with the stock motor for the best result…

9

yes a stock Saab turbo would be good or a t3/t4, or a Super 16G, any of those i know personally work great with 2.0 - 2.2L GM motors and honda motors generally run a little more efficient then GM stock for stock

10

what kind of power are you looking for? that’s the most important question to start off with.

11

well i made 380 before and now im running a stock motor so i know that is not an option… i would like close 250-275 with a quick spool… the most important thing for me is fast spool and constant boost till 7000rpm…

12

gt28rs or bust for what u want to do…that is my turbo of choice once i get the money to buy it…in the mean time good ol’ journal bearing will do for my gsr

13

that comp ratio is way to high for boost. and looks like it was running very lean so the tune either wasnt dead on. or it was tuned for high octane and someone put some put gas in her

14

im sorry, just read all the post again, and im not trying to disrespect or anything, but you said you work at shop, know what your doing. but your runnin high comp, boosted, with forged pistons, and some stock messaged rods. i throw my stock rods away even when building any kind of power from an ls. there weak rods. i know this aint why the engine failed. but who ever made that decision also did the ecu tune. sounds like disaster. i been building honda motors for 10yrs now and i still send the car out for tune. I prolly could do it. but its not what i went to school for. so im sure the guy with schooling can do it better then me

15

when coolant is in a cylinder it evaperates and is so hot it melts shit…

that is incorrect, if anything coolant will DROP temperatures because it TAKES energy to convert water into its gaseous form. This is also the principal behind meth injection. The Water will also raise effective octane of your fuel at the area of the leak because water resists combustion.

It looks to me more like mechanical damage of the pistons because of the sharp edges that were created. Either that or you had really bad pre-ignition/detonation. Which means your tune was off by alot or your compression was way too high for the type of fuel you were running.

http://www.alcoholinjectionsystems.com/index.html

16

any gt28 is gonna be perfect.

17

if i had bad detination it would have shown on all pistons not just one… there is nothing wrong with running high comp. and boost and my car was proof… i ran 380hp at 8psi and i ran that tune for more than a year and never had a problem with it until the head cracked and the coolant leaked into it…

this thread isnt to prove me wrong or make me look dumb all im trying to do is get your opinion on the turbo i should run on my stock engine…

thank you and no more flaming… its pissing me off because their are a million was to build a motor and mine just happen to be different an no one is used to it so they think its wrong…

if i had the money i would build another high comp boosted motor because it felt freakin amazing…

so back on topic… turbo size?

18

t3/t4 57 or maybe a step smaller.

19

Sorry if my post sounded like I was intentionally trying to flame you, but my engineering/science background just screamed out at me when you said that the water melted your pistons.

Anyways, since you want fast response and you dont need that much boost. A smaller turbo like a GT28 or gt30 would be good for your application just like redtegra suggested. If you go with the 28 look for higher trim.

20

i made 300whp 292ft-lbs with a gt2871r with the .64 a/r exhaust housing on a stock b18a1. spooled 13psi at 3000rpm and 18psi at 3800rpm. ridiculous spool. if 275whp is your max hp a gt2860rs will spool even quicker and get you that power no problem.