Whoops

[kcbhiw]

Death came to Challenge Miata that wasn't. It's demise came quickly and painfully. I have to hand it to Phil. He handled it a lot better than I would have.

He'll be bringing it to my house this weekend so that I can swap a new engine into it. Unfortunately, the turbo will have to be replaced also as it injested a few junks of an adventurous connecting rod.

The carnage:

 

[Prodigy]

I'd be uber PO'd if the engine AND turbo were toasted due to one mistake.
Sorry phil.


If you need any help on the engine swap...
I'd be glad to swing by and lend a hand.
(I could bring the engine hoist over to speed up the process)

 

[kcbhiw]

I think there was something seriously wrong with the car before Phil received it. First, the stock injectors are undersized and second, I wonder what the timing advance was set to.

 

[aMaff]

Timebomb ftl. That sucks Phil, but you'll have it back. Now where is that pic of the award she won?

 

[The Mad Swede]

Ouch! Sorry to hear. At least it went out in style. If your gonna go, go with a bang! (headbang)

 

[JDM-P5]

Ha ha...yeah...definitely for sure.

 

[chiefmg]

Sorry to hear about that Phil. Make sure you keep some fragged part of the engine as a memento. I have a nicely holed piston from my former racebike to look at occasionally.

 

[JDM-P5]

Sorry to hear about that Phil. Make sure you keep some fragged part of the engine as a memento. I have a nicely holed piston from my former racebike to look at occasionally.

Yep yep...I was thinking about doing that.

 

[kcbhiw]

Yep yep...I was thinking about doing that.

I charge extra for pistons with holes.

 

[chiefmg]

I charge extra for pistons with holes.

Nah, they're easy to make. Just have a valve keeper break in half, let the valve drop into the engine while it is turning at least 8,000 rpm, and voila! That also netted me a cylinder head that has a valve head imbedded in it (upside down no less). Never found any sign of the valve stem.

 

[kcbhiw]

#9 blade please, nurse.

Phil finally got a chance to drop off his Miata off last night and the disection has commenced today. During the process of disconnecting and removing various bits to enable removal of the engine, I discovered several oddites. It, at one time, had some sort of engine management as there are taps for sensors in various places including but not limited to an EGT port, ECT tap, and BOV. Furthermore, the wiring harness is butchered and there are exposed crimp on connectors everywhere, ugh.

The most notable abnomaility was how far the timing was advanced. Looking at it's position, the CAS was advanced no less than 20*. In fact, it was modified to be advanced outside of the OE range.

Just for fun, I'll post a few pics of the process of the removal and install of the old and new engines (as well as a few of the bottom end rebuild of the replacement engine).

 

[kcbhiw]

...dos mas.

Compared below are images of the CAS positions of my challenge Miata (~12* BTDC) and Phil's Miata (assumably >20*). Note how the upper portion of the mounting area has been removed to facilitate further advancment. Why this was ever done is beyond me.

1st pic = 'normal'
2nd pic = not so good with boost.

 

[aMaff]

Aren't you supposed to retard timing for boost???

Also, did the PO cut that to get more advance? That's nuts!

 

[JDM-P5]

Yep. I saw these pics lastnight and was scratching my head like +WHAAAAAT!?+ Eh, she's in good hands now, so keep the faith people!!

 

[MiaTurbo]

with ~5psi, and 20*+ timing, wasn't it pinging?

 

[JDM-P5]

Nope. Haha....I should've checked on that earlier...but the suspension took me for a spin and I got side tracked.

 

[MiaTurbo]

Damn.. Mine was pinging at 6psi, with 12* timing... I pushed it back to 8* until I got a Bipes. Then set base at 14* and didn't have any problem with it set to pull back 10* depending on airflow/temp. Should have pulled back a little more at the track.. I learned the hard way too: running down Corvettes at VIR + 93 octane = going home on 3 cylinders. lol

Next year I'm going to try some 440cc injectors from a Supra It really needed more fuel, instead of less timing. either way if you don't get it right, as we learned, BOOM...

 

[JDM-P5]

Ouch!
Yeah...on a positive not, when Kev gets this thing running...it'll be good to go.

 

[MiaTurbo]

Mine wasn't as catastrophic as yours. i ended up burning a valve on #4. This problem is mostly due to the poor coolant flow on the back of the motor. But more fuel/less timing would have saved it with cooler cylinder temps.

It just started out sounding like a bad miss. I pulled the plugs and saw #4 was as black as my heart on Valentine's day. At first I thought it was an ignition miss, replaced the wires, and plugs, but nothing. The car still ran fine above 4000rpm, so I went out another session... the noise was a little louder, and I decided to come in early. As I was going to the pits, I could have sworn is sounded like a burnt valve, but with the turbo, and my helmet, it was hard to tell. I decided to call it a weekend, and hope that I could make the 2+ hour drive home. By the time I got home, so much raw fuel went through the turbo, it superheated it as it compressed it and the turbine housing actually expanded and pushed out on the studs, snapping 2 of them. So now I'm running on 3 cylinders, with an exhaust leak... it sounded like a badly tuned VW aircooled engine, lol

 

[JDM-P5]

DAMN!
When was this?