Is our weak link the rods themselves or the rod bolts? high rev's or detonation? I'm just trying to find the weak link in our motors.

 

Just search it has been discussed many times before.

 

Rods, rod bolts, rings...keep it conservative on the stock shortblock or you will be sorry

 

from what I've been told by a few top tuners is that the stock rod bolts dont like going past 8,000 rpm. Our stock rods are pretty stout.

 

What are you trying to do? Detonation is a killer for any motor... but it looks like the pistons are the first to go.

 

my rod bolts were fine......

 

What were your power numbers when this happen and what was your redline? Thanks

 

That's probably how my rods looked before one finally snapped. Granted, I had some tuning issues a few days before which caused me to lose boost control, but I was still probably only making 450 lb-ft at the wheels. The rod actually gave up in 5th gear pulling past somebody going 10 under on the interstate - at half throttle. lol

I'll have pictures of that carnage tomorrow Dropping in a brand new, upgraded short block right now.

 

thats what i actually looked like when midnight hit the new year haha!!

 

^ lmao..... Yea I have read up on a few rod knock stories and a few rod bolt problems..... It all depends on how it's tuned and how it's driven I guess.....

 

How it's driven is a pretty big factor for sure... bouncing off an 8500 limiter at full boost, revving that high for long durations such as at a road course, overly aggressive tune, too much boost (even with a "safe" tune), too much sudden torque when boost hits... the list goes on.

I plan on keeping my car at an 8000 limiter for road courses and maybe do 8500 for drag racing if I actually need it once the taller final drive transmission is installed. This is with cams and springs/retainers, for now replacing the rod bolts with the block still in the car seems to be riskier than leaving them be. I'll just be avoiding the situations that kill the block in the first place and try and limit my abuse.

 

Absolutely right. In the end, it's still a car, motor, machine, and just like anything else, if you keep abusing it, it will break !

 

Stock turbo and redline. may or may not be the cause, but it was mapped on oe bov, swapped to ssqv a few days before this, oe bov must've been leaking, boost kills!??

 

bad tune kills...

 

So what would be recommended to be done to the 4b11 to comfortably handle lets say 450whp and 4ish wtq?