Hey guys, these motor failures have really changed my plans for my car. I was planning to get a green and push 400whp. I am not sure if the stock components can take it.

I have built over 10 6-bolt 4G63 motors in the past and I have never had a motor failure related to my builds. I have a few questions for those who have experience with the 4B11T.

1. Does the 4B11T use standard size bearings or are they matched to the journals as in the old 7-bolt 4G63's?
2. I am not familar with Brian Crowler rods and I see they are $200 cheaper than Manleys. What are peoples thoughts on those?
3. Assuming I have the correct tools and building experience, is there any reason why I wouldn't be able to pull the head/pan/oil pump and drop in these components myself and expect reliable results?

Lots of shops are doing drop-ins so you should be fine there.

Bump

yeah I'm looking at doing this..

but what I need is a COMPLETE understanding of EVERYTHING involved..

I don't want to get half way through and realise I can't (lack of tool, or lack of knowledge) do something

Maybe we can put together a PRE-HOWTO (rather than a POST HOWTO, which is how most HOWTO's are created )

^Don't let my motor going scare you guys, which i am sure you saw.

Many people ran close to my levels with no problems. It is very hit or miss when you get there. If you stay under 30psi and/or stock turbo i wouldn't worry about this.

well i'm tuned for 28 psi, stock turbo, meth injection

sometimes it spikes to 30/31 psi..

so yeah I am scared by your experience

I ran the stock turbo up to 31psi daily for 6 months and no problems, it ran awesome.

But the torque the stocker makes is a concern for sure.

For all i know all the torque from the stock setup weakened everything but nothing will be able to be proven. I think the stock turbo setup is rather safe and if i had to do it again and had the stock turbo i would leave the motor stock, but not to say nothing can happen.

31psi and E85 I presume?

Interestingly enough on our ROMID the ECU has the upper timing limit actually blocked out for below 3000rpm...

Almost like mitsu knew high torque low rpm kills these engines:

Yes 31psi and e85..of course

Very interesting...it just seems the load the motor sees at low rpm's high throttle input is huge and very demanding. The torque down there is huge, which i think is what my car saw.

yeah... I've just pulled a degree out - just incase lol

i just did the same LOL although on a stocker but better be on the safe side i don't mind losing 20- 30 whp for the sake of safety.

Thanks Murlo, but as your experience has shown, it is MUCH more expensive to upgrade after a failure. Just the core charge alone from shops is more than the costs of upgrading before a failure.

Very true, my next step was to build the motor. Didn't get that far though

I agree with this completely though, if you are worried and have the means, building the motor is always worth it.

While I am sure we will get to the root cause of Murlo's and others failures, I would like this thread to stay on the topic of DIY upgrading.

I still need to know if these 4B11T motors utilize standard bearing sizes or have to be matched to the journals?

I also need to know if going with Manley's versus BC Rods is an option? Manley's being $200 more might not necessarily equate to a more durable rod.

For the average DIY in a garage that is upgrading to support 400-450WHP on 93 octane, will the BC rods be "enough"? Do we believe they will have the reliability to last 100k miles?

Honestly, i would pay the extra 200 for the Manley's. They have proven themselves time and time again and are a very solid product. Remember, you almost always get what you pay for. Piping is one thing to cheap out on...in reality pipes are just pipes so it's ok to go economical there. However, internals, in my mind, should never be skimped upon. The BC products in the evo world do not come with high regard.

I will end up with Manley's i am sure.