Project D - 1 DEC 2007

ja but they will have some back up saying that you had a 30day warrenty or some shit like that. You might get them to redo the head for free but pistons, I HIGHLY doubt that.

Shit Dude...

I'm so sorry to hear, it will be ok dude

that is the worst news ever. i feel for you man. and what comeback is there really, thats what really grates me about these places.

they've basically broken a hole in your pocket and will fight you not to help you out.

god - my blood pressure is getting high just thinking about it.

Here is a pick of one of the pistons... this one isn't so bad, but there is some that is a little worse

so more than one valve dropped its guides???

if it was only one, then recourse might have been difficult. you would've heard arguments about manufacturers guarantees, more than poor workmanship.

but if all the pistons are like that, then its a sure case of poor workmanship. how can all the guides start breaking or dropping of??? makes no sense, unless they fitted the wrong ones - in which case its clearly their fault, and they must pay up. for all of the damage done!!!

Yeah bit of a toughy... I checked JR's invoice they didn't replace any valve guides, only reseated the valves and skeemed the the head. Makes no sense why they broke... and also why all 4 pistons got damaged?

Duane reckons it might be rings as well that broke and came past the pistons, which is all my fault I never knew you need to gap, the rings on these performance pistons. But we'll find out this week what the exact damage is.

This is a truly fucked situation. 😈
I don't have the finances to have this fixed, I'm going to put my self into trouble if I do, my one half says get it done and get it done right, while the other half says... enough put back the old engine - sell the bitch.
On the one hand I really really like the car and I want it running! But damn R10-15K is a lot of doe, to pull out of my ass.

Ouch! Really, really sorry to hear this! I still don't understand exactly what happened there, and not sure what damage I'm looking for on the pistons. I hope you find a way to sort this out cheaply, but that sure is nasty. Now I'm scared to do anything more on my engine... 😮

think of it this way - the more holes in your pistons, the more juice you can shove down the bitch's throat

too much compression leads to depression

after i read this i thought that i must mention that i was talking about cars here

Yo dude, that f*cken sucks.
Hey as a fellow SX owner, I can try I help out as much as I can. I have an engine that was on my old car & was replaced because of a bearing knock.

I was keeping the engine for spares, but maybe you need it more then i do.

So let me know if it would help......It's gratis bru.

Before anybody starts asking for my engine & it's spares, it really is for me, but I hate to see this happen to anybody, SX driver or not SX driver.

CALL TO ARMS
enough of this shite
i can get family member details
i am so fed up with all this screwing in joburg that i might just pop a vein

FUCK THIS LEMME KILLEM

just say the word

Aye I say we be clubbing 😈

i love this guy

Yo bro, sorry to hear the bad news.

I chatted to guy that works with me (previously worked at honda and did thier racing bikes) and he recons the only way he knows of guides breaking is if the they cut the valve seats with a valve seat machine (for better valve sealing) instead of the traditional method, and the angle of the machine is not perfectly in line with the valve guide. So basically what happens every time the valve closes it puts pressure on the valve guide because the valve doesn't seat squarely. not long and the valve guide breaks or the the valve siezes in the guide, more friction on one side than the other.

Hey Ian... That sorta makes sense because that is what JR did, they refaced all my valves and recut all my seats...

This was bothering me since, I couldn't understand how they broke as JR didn't touch the valve guides... Now I thought it might have been the previous guys that worked on the head (Cylinder Head Services in PTA) but that head was running fine, I didn't use it long, probably 200/300km.

I'm just waiting for Daune to come back to me, as soon as we know the exact cause of the damage I might start the war, till then I'll hold Widowmaker back.

After pulling the pistons and doing some Sherlock Holmes moves I am pretty sure the turbine wheel in the turbo is the culprit.
There are pieces broken off most of the blades and they have the same degree of magnetism as the piece that was imbedded in the squish band of the head.

The ringing noises that were heard was pieces of turbine wheel hitting the branch at speed.

thats just unlucky buddy!!!

so what now????

hang on - how did they get through the cooler?

Well its obvious the engine will need to be rebuilt 😢

Yeah I rocked up there at Duane's workshop yesterday, we took apart some of the engine... We noticed a couple of problems

1st: I never gapped my rings...
2nd: Some dirt got in between my bearings...
3rd: Known but yeah my pistons were shot, we then found the broken turbine wheel on the turbo... Now VC you asked how it got through the FMIC... Well it didn't it got sucked back from the exhaust! While driving in the engine I was driving on gears allot, slowing the car down on the engine's own power, when you do that it can suck back "reversion process" as Duane explained to me yesterday.

Bottom line is I would have needed to rebuild this anyway a few thousand K's later, due to my faults... I leaned a hell of a lot yesterday from the little time spent with Duane.

We checked the valve guides through the intake ports they are fine - Sorry JR.

Now no Project D update is complete without pics... Not the type of pics I'd like to post but it's part of the "School fees"

This is a CP piston

This is another CP piston, slightly damaged

This is a F#cked CP piston

I started planning the new build already... This time it will be built by Duane, I'll like to attend to learn from it...
Building a performance motor is not the same as building a stock motor, this was a costly mistake... I have helped built a VW motor as Opel Corsa motor and my 1st CA, those all ran fine, but there are some minor changes when building a performance motor.

The biggest problem is funds, I am making plans and have acquired some funds but not nearly enough. Would need to resource the following.

* Pistons - going 84mm 8.5:1 CP's again.
* Bearings - 0.25 oversize on mains, 0.5 oversize on rods.
* Gasket kit
* ARP Studs - Highly recommended but would come down to funds.
* Turbo - I'd like to drop in a T28 but again comes down to funds.

why wont those pistons still work?
just add rings?

why wont those pistons still work?
just add rings?

1: The holes and dents cause hot spots promoting detonation
2: The ring lands have been compressed slightly
3: The holes and dents are stress risers.
4: stripping a engine costs a whack of money in labour and parts is it economical to save 3 or 4k on pistons now with the good chance that you may end up redoing the job again in the future?
Especially after a piece of piston has broken out and completely stuffed up your cylinder head?

If it was NA and purely transport I may have considered the idea but on a turbo engine thats going to be caned its just insanity.[/quote]