WARNING: Howto destroy and engine in 1500km's. Be careful who u trust. [PICS]

[Weq]

So guys, i dont know if u have followed my rebuild or not but last month i something real bad happen to my engine.

Lets play, Spot whats wrong?









Rebuild consisted of:
CP 9.0:1 pistons
Eagle rods
Cylinders bored and honed to 75.5mm
OEM gaskets, pumps and bearings all around
usual crank linishing etc.

Ok so this engine has 1,500km's on it. Not pretty huh?

First thought would be the tune was off! My reply, i ran a wideband since 0km's. It was street tuned for perfect A/F's from 0km's by a reputable tuner (i'll let him name himself if he wants too).

The backgorund:
About 2yrs ago now i tried installed a cam into my engine. It was all going well until i incorrectly torqued down the cam caps. After this i had to pull the head off to get new cam cams line-honed. While the head was off i deiceded to get 'the works'. New crower valve train, post and polish and ur standard rebuild. New gaskets and seals all around. Everything honed,bored, checked.

After receiving the head back i installed it, standed her up and everything was fine. Well after i replaced the headgasket again because it never sealed properly, it was fine. Well apart from a small amount of smoke on de-accleeration, it was fine...... Fast forward a few weeks and under 200km's done. I go to take the car to the tuner to re-tune her for the new cam and on the way my idle goes funny. Wierd i pull over and notice oil leaking from the exhaust manifold gasket area.. Weirder... Pull the braker cap and dipstick out and notice puffs of white smoke - ringlands gone.

Fast forward to decembder 05. Machinest and mechanic put new bottom end with my 200km old topend. Re-install engine. Few other mods (new turbo kit, injectors, clutch, hondata etc). I broke the engine in for 1000km's. Never over under 3000rpm for the first 200kms. Change oil, never over 3500 till 500km's. Take her onto the highway and it starts overheating after 10minutes. Never overheats around town... Change oil, never over 4000 until 1000km's. NO boost at all during this period. Install a new 70mm dual core radiator. The whole time i still noticed the small amount of white smoke on de-accleration.

After 1k, mechanic readjusted the valve lash because he thought it sounded a little 'loud'. The car hasnt overheated since aven after a small 20minute highway run so i think its all good. Take car to the dyno. Puts down 142kw @ 5500rpm on 9psi - clutch starts to slip. Puts down 167kw @ 5500rpm on 16psi - clutch still slipping. Engine never overheated on dyno or street tune runs. 90c at idle, 93'c in boost.

Get car back with intension of sorting out clutch issues. Take car for a thrash on the weekend, fine all night. Next morning idle bounces a bit and its a bit tempermental. THink nothing off it, we will fix it next time its on the dyno.

So i am thinking sweet, lets take the car home, back to canberra. I prepare everything, hook the laptop up to monitor the engine and head on my way.. After about 1.5hrs of driving at hiway speeds, i notice the engine temp starting to creep. I have had real bad overheating problems before so i know exactly where my temps should and shouldnt be. I pull over in about 10minutes at the next service station. As i slow down the temps rise very quickly. I turn on the heater and its cools down quickly. I check the overflow and its bubbling like mum's hot soup. Radiator is 80% empty. Fill her up and limp it another hr at 100km's/hr. Finally make it to canberra, check the water, hasnt moved. At this point im thinking the thermostat is ****ed since it was sitting for almost 8months.

For the next week i randomly take her out random runs. Im very easy on her. James (BLKCRX) is in town so i take him for a run. Do a few runs on the street and he verifiys the tune is very safe - comments the motor should last for 'years''. Few days later i do a 1-4th run at the track and it overheats by the end of the second run....I get very disapointed and prepare for the worse.

Take the car home again to Sydney. Have exactly the same issues. The car would just boil the coolant like the radiator wasnt doing its job. Blows most of the coolant out and i can garentee it formed hot-spots where the temp prob didnt metre. The radiator is now bubbling and frothing like a hooker o.d'ing. Headgasket is gone.......

Leave the car for a week after this. Come back home and start her up - now its sounding like a WRX. I decide to drive it to the mechanics to see if he would warrenty his 1500km old headgasket. 1 minute up the road the car starts to smoke like a MOTHER ****ER. BIG plooms of WHITE, dense WHITE smoke on de-acceleration...

*breath* Thats the first half of the saga - i will post the second part of the saga after dinner... Dont worry, it gets better Any guesses on what went wrong !!!

Oh i almost forgot, this is how the head looked after 1500km's.






PART 2