Man this hits right in the feels. Car was so fast when it was running. Sad to see it go.

 

I've heard in the past that built engine = head ache. It wasn't my experience, but I didn't have my built 4g63 for years and years (maybe 2 years of daily and HPDE events).
Is this basically another data point that anything other than factory OEM pistons and rings are bound to have issues?
Are the skills for building a 4b11 in a reliable long term manner literally non existent?

You paid attention to every detail at a level that most people don't even have a clue, and yet still ended up with a failed engine. If you cannot succeed at this, how is anyone else supposed to?

I double down on my formal protest of you throwing in the towel.

 

This a random issue. This is not a data point that a built engine is unreliable. I think there is something going that a shop that specializes in the 4b11 EvoX may have an easier time sorting out. It could be a few different things. Looking at the plug again it really doesn't look like oil.

 

Yes I suggested that too. Looks more like fuel fouling but difficult really to tell in a picture. Would have to scope #3 to really tell. Injector
swap would be easy to determine.

 

I'm pretty darn sure it was oil before this. In the cylinder and on the plug. Plug was shiny and wet and so was the cylinder.

Believe me, I wish it was just the injector.

Here was Cylinder 3 that I scoped before the car went into the shop this last time:


And a reminder of what #3 plug looked like before the car went into the shop the last two times. This car is seriously taking years off my life...

 

So... swapping the injectors didn't change anything. Still #3 dirty plug and oil in #3 cylinder.

My mechanic really wants to get this figured out so he is going to start the tear-down (again) end of this week. I'm assuming the engine is going to have to come out and get torn-down (again). One thing is for sure, I am not using the original machine shop. Probably will contact Arlington, who did my CNC head and see if he wants to make sure my block is 100%.

This whole thing the last two years has really taken me on a roller coaster. Between this, our cross-coast move, finding a place to live, starting a new job and prepping for our wedding, I am feeling super overwhelmed so I am going to log out of the forums for awhile, take some focus off this car, let the shops do their things and attend fully to the rest of my life activities.

See you all in the future at some point.

 

Why don't you send it to a reputable 4b11 builder like English Racing instead of constantly using all these random machine shops and having 5 different sets hands inside of your engine?

 

First machine shop I used, all the Mitsu and Suba shops in the SF Bay area have used for decades. It's now run by the son of the founder and in my experience outlined here, sucks **** now unfortunately.

RED who did my sleeves has been around for a long time and does R&D for Darton themselves and sleeves for pro race teams and 1200hp+ cars. Literally everyone that has used him had high regards.

Arlington does heads for hundreds of high horsepower Mitsubishi's in socal and has honestly and literally been THE BEST person I have worked with ever in my almost three decades of messing with cars (RED is a close second)

The mechanic I use has 30+ years of experience in Subaru, Mitsubishi and Toyota and I have personally seen his work and attention to detail on hundreds of cars, including my own. I trust him 100% over anyone I put on this list.

I still think all my problems stem from the first place, but time will tell, and it's time I take a break. *beer*

 

Really sad ending to your build, razorlab. I don't know you but I can feel for you and what you've been through. Take a step back, eliminate the extra stress and headache from this build, and come back to it when you are compelled to. Just don't buy another Evo X when you do...

 

Take a step back from the car and get a handle on your life. I've not had to deal with marriage but I know what it's like to have an overwhelming build and problems and have juggle it with moving and starting a new job etc. The car can always wait, after the ducks of your life are back in a row the car won't seem like as much of a burden.

 

Update.

Leakdown was conducted with the cams out. Did leak down with the piston at TDC, fully at the bottom of the stroke and in the middle. Zero leak down on all three.

Stumped....

 

Bad oil control rings won't show up on a leak down test. I've seen shattered 2nd rings not show up on a leak down.

 

Yeah, [UTAG]Pal215[/UTAG] had an oil consumption issues did to upside down rings and bad oil rings, it didn't show up in compression and leak down tests though.

 

As stated above. Slug is gonna have to come out of the #3 hole to get a read on it. Oil control issues aren't necessarily portrayed by compression or leak down results.

 

#3 was already out and examined. Scroll up to see a photo.

Nothing was found out of the ordinary.

At this point I am thinking we should take #3 out again and just replace all the rings. Can you do that on only one cylinder and make sure everything is right or should I just have him pull the motor and refresh everything? Reminder is that it revs to 8800-9k