Bananaevo9

Hey Evo lovers from around the world

I am posting this thread as I would like to share with you a recent failure that I had with my Evo IX (4G63) egine. Any comments or people that had experineces the same/similar situation, is more than welcome. I will try to provide as much as info I can along with pics in order to make the situation as clear as I can. If you have any questions please ask me.

I bought my Evo 9 MR about 1,5 year ago. The car millage was 90.000 km (56.000 miles). Generally the car condition was outstanding as no major mods had been made on it and was always stock. The only mod that the previous owner made on the car was the ARP studs (standard type, not ARP 625+), which for me is not considered as "modification" but more like as an upgrade since we all know that OEM billet studs are not good enough for the power that evo makes. Pretty much that is the background of the car.

Moving on, when I bought the car the first purchase was the Link ECU G4+ which was installed and tuned by the tuner. From the very first moment I noticed the difference in the power and generally the reaction of the egine as it woked up. To be honest I am not the evo guy who wants his evo to produce 1000+ bhp, but I want it to be fast enough (to make around 400 bhp) and above all to be driven safely without running any risks of engine failure. I noticed from the power that I make that the stock wastegate is not good enough to handle the pressure from 5.000 to 7.500 rpm, and therefore I replaced it with Turbosmart internal wastegate which is a leading brand name in that area. Alongside with this upgrade I installed the GSC Power-Division Zero-Tick Lifters. Only these 3 mods in total was the mods that I made to my car.

With these mods, the car went on dyno and produce 385 bhp. The stock clutch was a piece of scrab after dyno as it was not capable anymore to handle this power. From the day I own it I am very careful driver and very rarely I do runs and the car is not an everyday driven car. 2 months later after the dyno results and tuning, as I was driving the car for a walk to the city centre I had heard a very big noise and parts hitting each other. Here is worth to mention that the when the engine broke up the rpm metter showed around 4.000-5.000 rpm at the time.
The car was taken to the garage in order to break the engine in pieces and find what went wrong. Suprisingly, when I broke up the engine I saw that the ARP billet studs were installed from the wrong way. What I mean? The semi circle of the stud should look outside the billet and not inside. Unfortunatley, the semi circle studs on my billet were installed and looking inside. To compare, I got a friend's billet to where the studs were installed from the correct postion and it looked like new without any damage. So, I reach the conclusion that the egine failed becasue of the guy who installed wrong the studs. That's the only logical thing that I can think. Lastly, it's worth to mention that for lubrication I used MOTUL.

After the engine failure, I started to look for parts for my new build. Fortunately I was ucky in my misfortune as the head (camshafts, valves etc) were undamaged amd they could be used. However, I was not so lucky with the block (block itself, rods, crankshaft, pistons) as everything was damaged very badly. I got another block and I decided to go with aftermarket parts this time as I didn't trust the OEM parts for any future build.

Engine
2.0LR Block
Manley 7-Bolt 4G63 (DSM/EVO) H-Tuff Steel Connecting Rods (ARP 625+ billet studs)
CP-Carrilo 85.5mm Pistons
Stock Crankshaft
GSC Race Balance Shaft
Stock Crank Pulley
Stock intake manifold
Stock throttle body
Stock manifold
Stock Turbo
Turbosmart Wastegate
Twister Exhaust
Autobahn intercooler (i know this brand is not a good one and is in my plans to change it, I just bought it with the car)
Mishimoto oil cooler kit
ARP 2000 Head Studs
ARP Main Studs
V-muse 02 pipe (also known as screamer pipe)

Head
Stock Cams
Stock spring & Retainer
GSC Zero Tick Lifters
Stock valves
Stock Pulleys
Kiggly Racing oil regulator

Transmission
6-speed
ACT Clutch

ECU
Link G4+

Fuel
Aftermarket Fuel Pump (i am not sure the brand name, but I am sure it's not something wow as the previous owners installed it)
Stock injectors
98 V-Power Shell

Handling
K-Sport (very disatisfied, but again I had no choice as it was already installed, however is the next thing that I am goint to change when I will have the money)
Project mu 2 piece SCR-Pro front rotors and HC+ pads with teflon brake lines

I am very satisfied with the new build and brands I chosen, especially from the v-muse o2 pipe that has been installed. It helped a lot the car as it gets rid off the gases very quickly and it keeps pushes the car. That's the main difference I noticed with my old build up. Also, the products of CP-Carillo and Mishimotor have an outstanding quality and finish! What's more, Kiglly Racing regulatos even though you can't see it, it does a great work as it oils the head with the correct amoun of oil and not throw it rapidly as the OEM one does. It's a very good thing and is worth to have one installed on your car.

Now the car is tuned with a boost key which means I always have low boost (1.2 bar) and when I want to make a run and switch to high I press the button and enjoy the (1.7 bar). The car has not been put on dyno yet to know what results will make, but I guess that it will not make more than 400 bhp as none of the parts gave me so much power. Everything was done in order to be safe rather than power.

Here I would like to thank you for your patient and time to read my post but I am wondering to find what went wrong in order to not repeat it and have an engine failure again. Hopefully this post will benefit everyone and anyone who experienced something like this.

Now pics will follow:

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

Seems more likely the connecting rod simply failed. The direction those rod bolts get installed in probably doesn't really matter, the instructions don't mention it.

hutch959

iTrader: (18)

what he said^^^^

japspec