Cathastrophic engine damage when you hit fuel cut
Sep 2, 2006, 09:53 PM
#1
Cathastrophic engine damage when you hit fuel cut
Hi fellow Evo Owners. Last week a good friend of mine had a mishap on his car. My friend Trevor has been runing Methanol for 6 years on his Dodge Stealth and he has accomplished great results, he managed to run a 10.77@138mph without NOS in Tucson.
Lets get to the point. Last week he was scheduled to join the Evo community at the Evo Dyno Day at IAperformance in Tucson, unfortunately he never made it. We were sad to not have him at the dyno , he was aiming for 650whp Mustang Dyno figures..
This is the link to pictures of his destroyed engine (including pictures). The pictures speak for itself. He snapped rods in half and he hit the piston with the valves.
Keep in mind that this car has been running flawlessly with methanol for 6 years and not a single engine failure. This time he hit fuel cut but the methanol system kept injecting huge amounts of methanol to the point that he ran a 17:1 AFR.
Keep in mind he already had forged pistons!!!
http://www.sonoranmusclecars.com/for...=0&#entry60906
Since some of you can't log into the above link this is the original write up from Trevor (Stealth R/T TT Owner and friend of mine):
I've talked to a few of you about what happened but for those that don't know the Stealth bit the dust last Saturday. Huge bottom end knock and vibration after hitting the rev limiter at the top of 3rd gear. I was running 32 psi on C16 and methanol injection. The stock computer (which I'm still running) cuts fuel at the rev limiter. Problem is it can't cut the Methanol I'm injecting. 17:1 AFR's at 32 psi and 7300 RPM are bad juju. Plan now is to run an ignition cut a couple hundred RPM before the fuel cut. What sucks is I could have done that with about 4 keystrokes in my piggyback computer. Hindsight's 20/20 they say.
So I finally got to tear into the car today. Got the front head off and saw that the valves had hit the pistons. Ran the valves thru manually with the head on the ground and they moved as advertised. I'm sure they're bent but I couldn't tell with the naked eye or with using my shop light and looking for light thru the ports. So I turn my attention back to the car and I notice that the pistons are in what looks like a wrong configuration. #3 is up near the top and #5 is up higher that it would normally be. It just didn't look right. Then it hits me...no way...I push down on the #3 piston with two fingertips and it moves down the bore.
Holy sheet. So I look closer. The valve reliefs are offset...the piston actually spun in the bore too. 
I spin the crank by hand and the #3 just sits there while the other pistons cycle. So I want the piston out NOW so I can see under it. What the hell...I drill a hole and use a screw extractor to pull it out. 
Carlos
Lets get to the point. Last week he was scheduled to join the Evo community at the Evo Dyno Day at IAperformance in Tucson, unfortunately he never made it. We were sad to not have him at the dyno , he was aiming for 650whp Mustang Dyno figures..
This is the link to pictures of his destroyed engine (including pictures). The pictures speak for itself. He snapped rods in half and he hit the piston with the valves.
Keep in mind that this car has been running flawlessly with methanol for 6 years and not a single engine failure. This time he hit fuel cut but the methanol system kept injecting huge amounts of methanol to the point that he ran a 17:1 AFR.
Keep in mind he already had forged pistons!!!
http://www.sonoranmusclecars.com/for...=0&#entry60906
Since some of you can't log into the above link this is the original write up from Trevor (Stealth R/T TT Owner and friend of mine):
I've talked to a few of you about what happened but for those that don't know the Stealth bit the dust last Saturday. Huge bottom end knock and vibration after hitting the rev limiter at the top of 3rd gear. I was running 32 psi on C16 and methanol injection. The stock computer (which I'm still running) cuts fuel at the rev limiter. Problem is it can't cut the Methanol I'm injecting. 17:1 AFR's at 32 psi and 7300 RPM are bad juju. Plan now is to run an ignition cut a couple hundred RPM before the fuel cut. What sucks is I could have done that with about 4 keystrokes in my piggyback computer. Hindsight's 20/20 they say.
So I finally got to tear into the car today. Got the front head off and saw that the valves had hit the pistons. Ran the valves thru manually with the head on the ground and they moved as advertised. I'm sure they're bent but I couldn't tell with the naked eye or with using my shop light and looking for light thru the ports. So I turn my attention back to the car and I notice that the pistons are in what looks like a wrong configuration. #3 is up near the top and #5 is up higher that it would normally be. It just didn't look right. Then it hits me...no way...I push down on the #3 piston with two fingertips and it moves down the bore.
Holy sheet. So I look closer. The valve reliefs are offset...the piston actually spun in the bore too. I spin the crank by hand and the #3 just sits there while the other pistons cycle. So I want the piston out NOW so I can see under it. What the hell...I drill a hole and use a screw extractor to pull it out. Carlos
Last edited by fromWRXtoEVO; Sep 2, 2006 at 11:29 PM.
Sep 2, 2006, 11:12 PM
#6
I particularily feel very sad because Trevor(my friend) was schedule for a photo shoot for the cover of a national important car magazine. I believe they are still taking the pics of his car but they wouldn't see him running though.
Unlike many other fast cars in the nation, Trevor does not have a sponsor nor he takes the car for tuning to a tuning shop. This guy not only fully rebuilds and assemble his car on his garage but he also tunes it by himself. Truly amaizing skills.
Stay tune as I would update you on his car. Don't be surprise if you see his car on a sport magazine cover soon.
Carlos
Unlike many other fast cars in the nation, Trevor does not have a sponsor nor he takes the car for tuning to a tuning shop. This guy not only fully rebuilds and assemble his car on his garage but he also tunes it by himself. Truly amaizing skills.
Stay tune as I would update you on his car. Don't be surprise if you see his car on a sport magazine cover soon.
Carlos
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