Insurance idea, anyone whose blown a motor pls advise...

[Redline240]

Been awhile since i've posted, stoped reading for awhile, but thanks to the AIM list posted i still get questions all the time...anyway, been busy changing jobs and getting sidetracked with the bike scene but i'm once again full force KA-T. Been working on my setup for quite some time now, hopefully it'll turn a few heads...I dunno if Ivan still reads this site or not, but you'll be hearing from me a lot later on this winter, lol...hope to bring my car to you for some tuning soon enough...anyway, on to the point!

Since KA's can be had for fairly cheap and we can now get stock bore pistons i'm thinking i'm goin to just goin to throw in forged pistons for now. My reason is because it's goin to be a ***** to tune i'd rather not blow a fully built motor, but a stock motor with the same compression pistons could still be tuned to 400-450hp and if i blow it(detonation) i only loose the cost of the pistons, sorta insurance. What i'm wondering is this;

What can i put on the "insurance" block that i won't damageif it blows and can reuse on the built block? ARP bolts? Head gasket? Pullys are a given. But what about the head, that's built(well it'll be finished when the cams become available) but could i damage this? Warp it maybe? I'd like to use the head because then the tune would be identical on the built block...i also need help with turbo selection, i've had my mind set so many times now i'm lost again...but i'll get into that a little later, lots of other work to finish first...just looking for some troubleshooting sort to speak on the costs of using the "dummy block" idea...anyone whose blown their ka, tell me what was damaged! thanks guys!

Redline

[MS180SX]

wait what? im confused

if you plan on blowing up this ka with a bad tune anyways, why not just save your money and buy oem pistons...there good to what, 300 hp..

i think i have blown more motors than anyone here, and i have yet to apply boost to any of them..

My 6th motor is in my shed right now. I blow alot of headgaskets.. overheating seems to be my biggest prob. So i guess a metal headgasket is a good place to start.. I also blew #3 rod out the block. That was pretty cool too...

SO idk.. if i were you, id buy a spare motor, and start building up that one. If you blow the 1 u have right now, who cares. Then just build the other one, so its really strong and have a good tune done on it before you drive it around all over the place...idk

[Redline240]

Ok, let me explain...if i put in some stock bore forged pistons in my motor now, she should hold to 450hp if i don't rev it too high...so for the cost of the pistons but none of the machining...just hone and new pistons and rings...compression back up, major weakness removed...now i'll be building my spare block, as well as head. Basically what i wanna know is can i damage my head if i blow a rod or piston or crack my block or anything, if i don't really have to worry then i'll put the built head on too...among other things i'll be tunning map instead of maf so since i don't know what i'm at i might screw up big time. But if all goes well then i can get it running good with a nice base tune around 400hp and break everything else in and fine tune it all before i add the built block and turn up the boost...

So what can i reuse i guess is what i wanna know, cometic head gasket? arp main studs? head studs? also has anyone tried ITB's on a boosted ka yet, just wondering...

Redline

[Redline240]

SO idk.. if i were you, id buy a spare motor, and start building up that one. If you blow the 1 u have right now, who cares.

Yea, thats the idea but my compression is 150 across the board so i don't wanna push it. And if i did its certainly not gonna get me to 400hp so stock bore forged pistons will be stronger and i can regain some compresion....

Redline

[Checkered-Member]

I think I see what you're saying. The only thing that wont get damaged in case of total motor failure is the intake manifold. You can always throw a rod punch a hole in the block and the pistons will fly right into the head, even with a minor thing like the piston hitting a valve it can still damage the head beyond repair,

and the pistons are good for 250, yes there are people running 350 but I have seen people blow them at 210

[KATwo40]

and the pistons are good for 250, yes there are people running 350 but I have seen people blow them at 210

The pistons are fine at 350. The reason they blow at 210 is the same reason forged pistons blow at 410 -Poor tuning, improper engine care (not allowing for warmup time before blasting out of the driveway) and down right abuse, with the exception of the occasional "just a bad part this time."

I'd say at 150 across the board, you'll be fine running a few psi. Heck, that just means your cylinder pressures will be low under boost and be safer. The pistons will be fine. I currently run 10psi on a pretty small turbo (higher intake temps) on a bone stock KADE (stock head gasket) and it has about 175k miles on it. And my tuning is merely 370's, Walbro 255, stock MAF, SAFC2, base timing @ 15*

[MS180SX]

Yea, thats the idea but my compression is 150 across the board so i don't wanna push it. And if i did its certainly not gonna get me to 400hp so stock bore forged pistons will be stronger and i can regain some compresion....

Redline

yeah.. i believe that should work just fine.. I think Foster(FIZNAT) used just forged pistons and that worked well for quite some time..

and i dont know about reusing arp studs. I believe your not supposed to reuse oem ones, but idk about reusing the other stuff... How much power are you looking for with the new pistons?

[Redline240]

How much power are you looking for with the new pistons?

With my current block and just some forged pistons, no machine work, i don't feel any need to push it past 450whp. At that point all the kinks in tuning the ems will be sorted out, now if i still have the stock head on it then i may just say the hell of it and go for 500+ with stock rods and head for bragging rights...but not until the built motor and head are ready to go in...in the end i'm not looking for any streetablity at all, screw it, if it spools by 5k that that's fine with me, just build the head to run 8k rpms...but modest for the time being, i'm new to tuning and there's some weird things i'm doing that i'm gonna be on my own when it comes to making it run right...thus the stock block and pistons, less to loose but enough hold the power...

but if i'm throwing pistons in it i'll need new studs and head gasket, save me a good bit if i can reuse them on the built motor...ahh, we'll see i guess...how much are stock studs and head gasket?

Redline

[MS180SX]

stock studs and headgasket shouldn't be more than like 150 bux at autozone..

idk about 450hp on stock rods...thats really pushing it.. But if your only going for something to pass some time, why not go for some bragging rights...

i hear what your saying about no streetability too.. i got the racebug bitting me hardcar.. so i just wana make a weekend toy to beat some dsm's in Spring Valley.. eat some evo's ya know..

Now all i need is some more money....