What the F£CK!!!!
Have a look at this, and welcome to Marky boys bad dream,
The new motor was running fine during for the first 2K miles following the re-build, both during the run in period and after.
I ran it in on mineral based 10/40 oil to bed in the rings and then onto RS10w/60 following that. A total of five oil changes during the first 2k miles.
The car went well when nailed, as it did before the re-build, but with almost no lag, gobs of torque and no knock or hesitation.
We did the re-map a few weeks ago and it was fitted with the mahoosive 57lb/hr 599cc Siemens injectors.
The session went well with the exception of one incident when a hose coming loose from the turbo to the WGFV caused the motor to overboost and produce enough torque to slip the clutch at 80 mph; this was my fault entirely as I can’t have tightened it up properly. But that was sorted quickly and the hose was tightened.
The car really performed and went like a scalded cat, even with three up (Mihnea, Greg S and me), and a full tank of gas, following that session I was well happy with it, and went home grinning like a nutter.
The next morning I started the car and I noticed a knocking sound which was worse when cold, being a bit paranoid about my lovely new engine I didn’t drive it too far, just far enough to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. I then dropped the sump and checked the bearings (even changed the big-ends) but it still did it.
I left it a couple of weeks as I had no time to do anything until last Wednesday when I took the head off of it, I was wondering if I was getting piston slap and wanted to check the bores and today I dropped the sump again and popped out the pistons.
I still have no idea what the noise I was hearing was, but I am glad I heard it in a way, as I would never have taken the motor apart, and what I found on two of the pistons has sort of stopped me dead in my tracks.
My ‘lovely’ JE pistons, numbers one and five, have both partially melted around the valve pockets! The other three are fine. The bores are thankfully OK (amazing really the way my luck seems to be going) with no damage.
One thing I have noticed about the JE’s is that the area that has melted is very thin and when compared to a standard piston, and it is plain to see that this thin area in the standard piston is machined away and the sharp edge is flattened out nicely. The JE’s are not like this, indeed the pistons look like they have just had the valve pockets machined into them and then they are taken off of the CNC and left as is.
Why has this happened?
Has this happened because of the design of the piston?
Why has it only happened on two?
Has it happened because of something I have done wrong?
Any comments, ideas and p!ss taking (Tom) welcome, as I am not to sure where to go from here, other than turning the whole lot into an expensive bonfire!
Funny I am quite calm about the whole thing, although I’m not sure how long that will last.
Now where did I put that beer?
The new motor was running fine during for the first 2K miles following the re-build, both during the run in period and after.
I ran it in on mineral based 10/40 oil to bed in the rings and then onto RS10w/60 following that. A total of five oil changes during the first 2k miles.
The car went well when nailed, as it did before the re-build, but with almost no lag, gobs of torque and no knock or hesitation.
We did the re-map a few weeks ago and it was fitted with the mahoosive 57lb/hr 599cc Siemens injectors.
The session went well with the exception of one incident when a hose coming loose from the turbo to the WGFV caused the motor to overboost and produce enough torque to slip the clutch at 80 mph; this was my fault entirely as I can’t have tightened it up properly. But that was sorted quickly and the hose was tightened.
The car really performed and went like a scalded cat, even with three up (Mihnea, Greg S and me), and a full tank of gas, following that session I was well happy with it, and went home grinning like a nutter.
The next morning I started the car and I noticed a knocking sound which was worse when cold, being a bit paranoid about my lovely new engine I didn’t drive it too far, just far enough to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. I then dropped the sump and checked the bearings (even changed the big-ends) but it still did it.
I left it a couple of weeks as I had no time to do anything until last Wednesday when I took the head off of it, I was wondering if I was getting piston slap and wanted to check the bores and today I dropped the sump again and popped out the pistons.
I still have no idea what the noise I was hearing was, but I am glad I heard it in a way, as I would never have taken the motor apart, and what I found on two of the pistons has sort of stopped me dead in my tracks.
My ‘lovely’ JE pistons, numbers one and five, have both partially melted around the valve pockets! The other three are fine. The bores are thankfully OK (amazing really the way my luck seems to be going) with no damage.
One thing I have noticed about the JE’s is that the area that has melted is very thin and when compared to a standard piston, and it is plain to see that this thin area in the standard piston is machined away and the sharp edge is flattened out nicely. The JE’s are not like this, indeed the pistons look like they have just had the valve pockets machined into them and then they are taken off of the CNC and left as is.
Why has this happened?
Has this happened because of the design of the piston?
Why has it only happened on two?
Has it happened because of something I have done wrong?
Any comments, ideas and p!ss taking (Tom) welcome, as I am not to sure where to go from here, other than turning the whole lot into an expensive bonfire!
Funny I am quite calm about the whole thing, although I’m not sure how long that will last.
Now where did I put that beer?
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