I haven't read the entire thread.

I do believe a heat range 7 along with a leaner afr... NOT an unsafe afr just on the leaner side....is the cause for the melted plug. A 8 heat range would be ok in this build but I would also run a 9 heat range.

If you ever drop a plug during install...Throw it away. There are a few spark plug etiquettes that I live by.

1. never install a plug if I know it was dropped or if I dropped it LOL
2. no excessive plug gap changes i.e. you close the gap then open it up.
3. Keep anti-seeze away from the plug tip.
4. If there any signs of detonation...ANY throw it away!

 

Thanks for checking out the thread Craig i will be sure to run the plug you rec'd for my set-up next outting.

Those are good words to live by and something i follow strictly along with keeping close tabs on everything else on the car including the 02 sensor, fluids, and ethanol content everytime it gets more fuel.

I never had any issues with the LFR7AIX's in the past 4 yrs. but maybe it was just a lethal combo when pushing the motor to over 700HP and 40psi of boost.

Hard lesson learned and noted

 

Thanks, I fear that the same thing may have happened to my car but Im unsure...

AWD is checking it out for me to find out what happened, cranking up my car doesnt seem to be low on compression as it fires right up.

At idle she sounds great and driving it sounds great and the turbo sounds healthy, but when I hit around 24psi or so I break up pretty bad...

I noticed white smoke once in a while and my coolant was dropping all the time so I know something is up, thing is I have no idea what exactly it could be but I have an idea being fairly mechanically inclined

Time will tell as Mike and his crew at AWD are figuring it out... planning for the worst unfortunately... but maybe I will get lucky

 

I know of someone else that makes 700hp and swears by heat range 7's. I have warned him many times. He says it "doesn't break up..pulls clean"

Unfortunately it may pull clean...right up to where the plug melts

Get her back together Pat and go get your 8sec pass.

 

Best of luck on the rebuild. Hope things go smoothly this time around.

 

I appreciate the good words fellas!

Got a bit of good news yesterday......our machinist came by the shop and took a look at the block and said the head would be pretty easy too fix however i did see a couple of valves that may need to be replaced but easy enough!

Also the he said that the block could also be saved by getting honed after i remove the rods/pistons so that he can measure the trueness of the bore so hopefully a fairly straight forward fix as well :cross fingers:

I do have a couple of questions though 1 regarding if i should go to a high CR piston 9:1 vs 10:1

I plan to run Wiseco HD's w/ the larger wrist pin but not sure if i should go with the "E85 specific" 10:1 or not? i Haven't done all my research yet but is there anything else specific in those pistons besides the CR?

Also if anyone has run the Kiggly or similar beehive valve spring and needed to shim the springs after having a valve done to the head? I e-mailed Kevin Kiggly but thought i'd ask here as well.

 

im staying a 2.0L and ill be using the HD Wisecos also(86mm bore) for my application. My engine builder recommended 9.1CR to me for the simple fact my car will see 50% track time 50% street. Im also going to be on Aluminum Rods and i know your going steel. id talk to whoever is building your motor for you n see what they suggest.

 

Hey Pat, sorry for the slow response but I will sell you a set of those plugs no problem. I have no use for them at all. Let me know when your ready for them and will go from bud!

 

damn that sucks man.. but at least it happened now and not in the middle of the race season!

 

Jeff and Pauls car both at 1000+whp have ran 7 heat range. We do run 9 heat range in Jeffs car now but we have ran many 8sec passes on heat range 7.

Something in the tuned caused that. Could be a electrical problem. Bad cam crank sensor, bad AEM, bad injector connection. When ever I do sequential ignition I mark 4 spots on the crank pulley and make sure I check the timing in every cylinder.

Not sure if you are running any plug and play inj adapters, but if you are get rid of those and solder in your injector clips.

I can assure you that you are all barking up the wrong tree with the heat range on the plug and you will blow the next motor just the same unless you fix your real problem.

 

I hear ya and totally trust your experience Lucas no doubt!

It's funny because as i have been speaking to Sean the past few days he has said the exact same thing in regards to a possible electrical issue maybe something as simple as a bad crimp on the wires that are pinned into the harness for the AEM and it possible having an erratic signal with all the vibrations in the car......

I had brought up the fact that maybe it may be due to something in the AEM as this box is not the same one i had ran a couple years ago but rather another one from a customer of ours that went back to the stock ecu

I will double check the injector connections but was sure to NOT run a plug-n-play adapter but rather have them soldered in {thumb up}

As the motor is repaired we will definitely be giving things a thorough look to be sure we don't run into the same issue again.......and i will be sure to double check the timing per cylinder as you stated.

Thanks again i knew we weren't crazy with the 7 heat range plug as we have ran that in numerous set-ups here even though many people do not rec'd it i completely trust Sean and his decisions on what to run on the car but i know there are many out there that just follow what they read w/o actual first hand experiences in testing things but i do like to hear others input for the sake of edification

 

I also trust your experience Lucas . Can we agree that a heat range 7 should not be run at these hp levels? Lets face it in this industry we do alot of things that we probably shouldn't be doing.

I love the forums but i'm a hands on problem solver, don't really like giving out too many scenarios without having all the facts. With any problem the obvious solution is to find the source. In these scenarios it can often be impossible to say for sure what it was, unless you find a loose wire or something electrical. I know the obvious has been gone over with a fine tooth comb (injectors bench tested, maybe sending them out to be checked) Do you have individual cylinder afr logs? How would you know if only that cylinder leaned out?

Let's say you don't find the source. I still highly suggest not running a heat range 7 again

 

Very clever, highly recommended

 

I thought too hot of plug will cause preignition. Leading to maybe a bent rod for broke piston. It looks like the skirts were melting for sure, wouldnt that mean bad fuel, too much timing or running lean causing detonation? Either will break the strap off the plug im sure. I have been using 8 range with no issues so far.... I notice the engine does not run as clean on the 9's. When i make a run through the gears and look at the plugs, I can see the heat mark on the bottom of the strap indicating slightly cold but i didnt wanna try a 7 plug since it runs great on the 8 plug. 250mj Ignition box helps keep them clean also.....

Post up a pic of a plug that wasent broken so we can see.....

 

Why run a hotter plug that cannot control it's thermal condition? It's illogical not to run a colder plug. Maybe it's not the reason that you junked your engine, but I'm sure it's not helping.