Terminator piston damage (pic)
- Thread starter Grey03Cobra
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Blak92 said:
Sounds like both ... close piston to cylinder clearance + possible cooling issues + tunes based on who-know's-what A/F under load = recipe for disaster. :shrug:
Uhh well it's not really a design flaw..The whole setup,as developed by Ford is pretty well thought out..The cooling system in particular is very well designed.Blak92 said:
It's a matter of exceeding the perameters of what the engine was designed to endure.In the case of my brothers car,the tune's not an issue either.It was tuned by one of the best in the business(Amazon)..
I'll go out on a limb here & speculate that an unmodified termintor with good pump gas will run hard all day with out any problems.
When you start throwing 1 bar of boost at the engine & tripling the posted speed limit is when we start topics like this.
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9A Pilot said:
It's more likely that excessive chamber temps causes pre-ignition more than anything else. Silent. Deadly. Damage to spark plug tips is a clear indicator of this issue. Check out this article:
http://www.centuryperformance.com/spark2.asp
Horsepower is a fuction of heat...The hotter the fire,the bigger the bang.. 600 plus hp(or a 450rwhp) out of 281 measly cubic inches requires some heat..Thats power per liter rivaling something on the high banks of Daytona.
I suspect those NekCar boys use a slightly better piston than what in your Cobra.
The plugs in my brothers car looked dandy.
I suspect those NekCar boys use a slightly better piston than what in your Cobra.
The plugs in my brothers car looked dandy.
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9A Pilot said:
Absolutely. Many of the cars running high boost (>15 psi) are also running lean from what I can tell on here. That's where problems begin. On 1/4 mile tracks that may or may not be a big deal. On a road course with prolonged high speed straights, it's suicide. Tack on detonation and it's a perfect combination for "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!"
Even with good pistons, pre-ignition will murder an engine in a matter of seconds. Imagine the plugs firing halfway up the compression stroke.
9A Pilot said:
very well designed ? based on what ? (not meant as inflamitory .. just why the efforts to mods like Apten if everything is peachy)
Ok, but how do you explain the people with stock cars (no pulley, no tune) that have the same cylinders damaged ? If it was random cylinders, it would be easier to dismiss.
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Bluedot_26 said:
I'd like to test a theory. Let's say for a second that cylinders 3 and 7 have higher compression than the remaining six on a stock motor. That being said, these 2 cylinders would be more proned to detonation and pre-ignition, wouldn't you say?
Has anyone done a pre-mod compression test to confirm even cylinder compression?
Well,the cooling system is at the very least,quite elaborate for a production car..I assume Ford didn't do this because thr guys in the cooling system department had a better lobby & stole money away from the guys designing pistons.They did it becuse they wanted to avoid warranty issues.Bluedot_26 said:
As far as any anecdotes about guys with totally stock Cobras smoke checking 7 & 3..All I can comment on is what I'VE seen...I suppose its possible for that to happen..They are machines after all..machines break.But zortching pistons doesn't seem to ba a major concern of most terminator owners here..There's no TSB out on it..So it appears to be a realitivly rare occurance..Hey,maybe the majority of the Cobra owners here just dont have the balls(or disregard for the lives the rest of the motoring public) to bury their speedometers.
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Here is a decent page that describes piston damage with possible causes (pay particular attention to the first piston dome damage section):
http://www.theultralightplace.com/pistons.htm
http://www.theultralightplace.com/pistons.htm
:bash: :bash: :bash: :bash:
For the record..When this happend,he had half a tank of 100 octane..on a tune set up for 91...& an 11.1-1 AFR..as indicated by the wideband installed IN THE CAR..WITH THE APTEN COOLING MOD..
Heat's a mother fu cker if you ask me..
For the record..When this happend,he had half a tank of 100 octane..on a tune set up for 91...& an 11.1-1 AFR..as indicated by the wideband installed IN THE CAR..WITH THE APTEN COOLING MOD..
Heat's a mother fu cker if you ask me..
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Gotcha.
Was timing advanced at all? :read:
Was timing advanced at all? :read:
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It's just frustrating to have seen him spend all that cash ,do all that work & do everything that convetional wisdom said was right...& still end up with a really good looking paper weight...
9A Pilot said:
That does suck. :nonono:
I guess we're all going to have to add these to our tuning checklist:
- Check for detonation using a tester (like the one shown above) or scope
- Measure EGT's throroughly and check for dips in exhaust temps at WOT
It was set up by Rick @ Amazon on an SCT xcalibrator/big air MAF..PlatinumCobra said:
He set it up with alot less timing than stock..It was on the safe side.
Tune wasnt the issue.Tune probably kept it together as long as it did.
:idea: Or keep the right foot in check,but what fun would that be?PlatinumCobra said:
If your gonna lean on the car with boost & aftermarket superchargers..it is abunantly clear that a stock piston isnt going to cut it.
Or just enjoy your first four gears..leave 5-6 for what they were designed for..cruising.
9A Pilot said:
Well, looks like he did everything possible to avoid this unfortunate mess.
DING DING!..Could one of the mods archive this..This thread might save some ones engine.
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