ktm Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Well, I've had a run of "luck" over the past 1.5 years and managed to only blow head gaskets. My luck just ran out it seems. I blew a headgasket along with the ring(s) on cylinder 3 for sure and maybe more. Detonation damage for sure. As you can see, the HG blew at cylinder 4 and missed all the water jackets. I thought it was a simple exhaust leak as the sound was exactly like one. I ran it like this for about a month. I kept losing a small amount of water but thought nothing of it. I am not running an overflow tank and figured it was dropping onto the ground. I can see at #5 what looks to be a small conduit to the cylinder. I decided to pull the head after I ran a compression test and got the following numbers (1-6): 150 145 80 60 50 50. This was a 5 crank test as well. You can clearly see vertical scoring on #3 - there goes the rings. The pistons seem unusually dark and the residue is a bit oily on all cylinders, a result of blowby or the PCV system (mine is hooked up). As a point of note, the HG at #6 looks fine. The cooling mod seems to have done the trick, at least based on the HG damage. Ah well, time for a bottom end rebuild. I am sorely torn about what I should do. I am thinking about selling/trading my entire setup (Wolf included) for a sorted stroker engine with triples, opt for an LS1 or SBC setup, or just rebuild the bottom end. It is more frustration than anything doing all the thinking/talking at this point. I just need to step back, calm down, appease the goddess with an offering, and approach the project with a clear head. If I rebuild the bottom end, I plan on boring it out a bit and have not decided on dished or flat tops. My wife is a bit pissed so this will have to wait a few months if I want to sleep in the same bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenshinX Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Sorry to hear the bad news.. Are you considering a stroker with triples because you are disappointed with the turbo setup? I've always admired your build and im currently having second thoughts about a turbo swap. might possibly do fuel injection with itbs. I really love the sound and look of triples though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Man that sucks Im on my second engine in like a little over 15 months. It sucks but it is kinda what to expect when we push the limits of these engines. Im debating right now on if i want to build my second block with forged bottom end or if i want to scrap the l-series or if i want to go with a 2jz-gte or a lsx. so many options and its really hard to make a decision in my book. Best of luck on everything and i look foward to hearing about your new adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aziza z Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 So I guess this means your going for the ls motor we talked about at msa? You wont be disappointed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozconnection Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Sorry to hear about your bad news. May I attribute your troubles with a 'cheap' headgasket. Doesn't look like a genuine Nissan item because there are so few steam transfer ports open between the block and head mating surfaces. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck with it mate. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Contact Warren. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 You will be sorely disapointed with a 'stroker with tripples' after what you had Bo. Drop the boost just a tad and live with only 390HP than doens't cause any problems. I ran a max of 350HP, and turned it back to 275-300 and have put well over 40K on a stock N/A L28... not that it's run for 10 years... but that is beside the point. When one of my turbos lost a thrust bearing and lunched, I drove it for a while with tripples only...and was sorely disapointed. Once you feel the power of the dark side, going back to the ways of a common villager is hard... your only option is to go bigger, or boost higher... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardBlack Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Once you feel the power of the dark side, going back to the ways of a common villager is hard... your only option is to go bigger, or boost higher... QFT. I would detune it a bit and be happy until you really really gotta have LS power. Likewise, sorry to hear about that. I've been in the same spot before; pushing the known limits of a particular platform. Your patience can get short when something goes bad after working so hard at it for so long. I did the dumb thing and had the engine rebuilt and then sold it. I was much better off to do the simple fixup (along with anything solve the link that broke), throw it back in and rock it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I wouldn't say 400 HP is the limit of the platform, but for a stock head gasket and bottom end it likely is pretty much the upper limit for durability of any sort. I mean, if you think about what you have... You could buy another junkyard engine for $450, put it in and run it. Cheap. When it happens again, repeat. Somewhere down the line, you will either have plenty of cores to build the thing the right way after getting your tuning rock solid tuned correctly, or plenty of prospective wine racks when you swap to a V8... Either way, for the current price of L28ET's I'd get another and go on a-boostin! Maybe put the feelers out for anybody getting rid of L28ET stock pistons and rods as a set for a 'rotating exchange' sort of setup between two engine blocks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slown280z Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 ktm, were you using the knock addon module (the name escapes me now) with the Wolf? It seems like you and x64v have had troubles with munching rings as well now that you modified the cooling track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LowCarbZ Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 All this talk is making me try to convince myself that i'd be best to stick with the Triples i've got. Sounds like an expensive, slippery slope. I already got into that sickness with Jeeps. Started modding and now i've got 4 of them and not one is stock... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 Thanks all for the words of advice. Tony, your suggestion is a great one. I'm now on the hunt for an N42 or another F54 block. I was playing with the engine calculator last night and dreaming of a low compression 3098 cc stroker. I am looking for the N42 to support that dream, but another turbo block - even flat tops, would be fine. Know anybody local? slown280z, x64v (Sean) munched the #3 ring because his dizzy came loose and advanced crazily. His HG was blown at every cylinder but #3, which munched the ring. It had nothing to do with the cooling mod. I blew out #4 and detonated the rings to death on at least #3. I am confident it was not attributable to the cooling mod. If anything, this shows that the cooling mod helps with #5 and #6. Wolf does not have a knock sensor input. I was trying to make the stock one work without much success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Well that sucks. I agree with Tony D, Once you've gone turbo I think you'll miss it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woldson Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Heehee, do the same thing for more cyls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calgary280ZT Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Hey Bo, I notice in your first post you didn't mention your meth injection setup...are you still running it? If so, any chance a malfunction was responsible for the detonation? Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Comments about reliability vs. hp were a bit of a wake up call for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Bo how much boost were you pushing? Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Yasin, I was running 22 psi increasing to 24ish after peak torque. Mark, I was running methanol injection, up to 1400 cc/min. The detonation was a result of my tuning efforts and not the methanol system failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slown280z Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 Ah, ok, it was the J&S Knock Guard that I was thinking about. I thought a few people on here were running them on their Wolfs. What I'm wondering about the cooling mod is that if it wasn't performed, then wouldn't the HG have failed before ring damage on the last cylinders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Detonation caused the damage. Too much timing caused the detonation in mine ans Sean's cases. It is not cooling related. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 I wouldn't say 400 HP is the limit of the platform, but for a stock head gasket and bottom end it likely is pretty much the upper limit for durability of any sort. I mean, if you think about what you have... You could buy another junkyard engine for $450, put it in and run it. Cheap. When it happens again, repeat. Somewhere down the line, you will either have plenty of cores to build the thing the right way after getting your tuning rock solid tuned correctly, or plenty of prospective wine racks when you swap to a V8... Either way, for the current price of L28ET's I'd get another and go on a-boostin! Maybe put the feelers out for anybody getting rid of L28ET stock pistons and rods as a set for a 'rotating exchange' sort of setup between two engine blocks... This is the EXACT route I plan on going. It just makes sense to me, especially financially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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