KA-T Longevity Survey

[Edub1]

Time to collect some data on KA-T longevity. Hopefully we can get a good sample so please contribute.

Also, if everyone sticks to the format, we might end up with something usefull.

1) RWHP & driving habits? ie normal, agressive, raced.

2) Miles driven at said RWHP?

3) Miles on & general condition of motor when turbo was installed? Mention internals if you've upgraded.

4) When failure occured & what part failed?

5) Why you think failure occured?
Modified by Edub1 at 10:44 AM 2/12/2006

[nissanfanatic]

1 & 2)

A: 5psi(prolly 180whp) non intercooled, PVC intake piping, FMU for...eh...3 monthsB: 6psi same setup as above...for 2 months.C: added intercooler(sidemount) maybe 210whp for 2 monthsD: added FMIC, drove at prolly 220whp for 3 monthsD: added enthalpy setup, ran 8psi for 2 months, slowly upped it to 11psi and ran that for 2 months prolly.(270whp approx)E: added GZ manifold and T04E/T3, ran 9psi for a month or so.(280whp)F: Added AVC-R and ran that at 11psi for 3 months.(300whp+)G: Upped it to 12psi and ran that for 3 months prolly. (326whp/311wtq)H: Most recently it has been at 14psi. Never goes below that.(338whp/330wtq) with spark miss. I occasionally turn it up to 15-16psi.

Those are approximations, but the car has been turbo'd for 18 months now. wow...I remember when I was like "damn" when orion told me his car had been turbo'd for 18 months.lol Thats awesome!

All on pump gas of course. Driving habits.....aggresive I'd say. I boost daily. If I go in town, I boost a lot. The car gets used.

3) Turbo'd at 135k. Engine was in great shape. Still is. Still 180psi across all four. 141k and a few.

4) N/A

5) N/A

[fiznat]

1. 430rwhp/410rwtq and I drove it like I stole it.

2. 1500 miles

3. Motor was freshly rebuilt

4. Stock rods failed at this power level

5. Mechanical failure of the rods. Next time I'll get forged.

[S14tat]

1) RWHP & driving habits? ie normal, agressive, raced.

250-300whp stock internals

2) Miles driven at said RWHP?

30K miles at 230-240whp with normal driving habits but i do hit atleast 5-6 psi twice a day to merge on to the freeway and i do race ocassionaly with my buddies.

20K miles at 270-300whp same driving habbits, but i would hit 10 psi most of the time i merge now.

3) Miles on & general condition of motor when turbo was installed?

turbo was installed at 76K miles and condition of engine was mint. compression tested 10K miles ago and engine is still in perfect condition.

4) When failure occured & what part failed?

no failure at all.

5) Why you think failure occured?

non

[Colorado_S14]

1) 286 RWHP stock internals, driven every day aggressively.

2) Probably 30,000 miles on the turbo setup, maybe half at 220whp and the other half at this power level.

3) Around 100,000 miles on the motor when turbo, seemed to be in good shape, compression was good.

4) No failures yet, cyl 3 had lost 5psi compression on my last test.

5) If it fails it will be due to the motor being old, and perhaps the tuning being a bit too lean for too long. I plan on the rings going bad because I dont plan to get the power to rod breaking levels on the stock internals.

[Structure240sx]

40+k miles on built motor more than half 350-500rwhp. 50+ dyno pulls countless drag strip and street races

only "failure" could have been lifting the head at 20psi on stock studs. car was still drivable just overheating a little until i put on a cometic gasket and arp studs

[bruinbear714]

8psi of boost, front mount intercooled, moter had 80,000 miles on it, now has over 105,000. Went to a few autocross sessions and it held up fine. Has been my daily driver for the last few years - with half agressive driving, half grandma driving.

Engine is starting to get a little noiser though, but it could because of lack of maintanence. Only thing I've done to it since the turbo install was oil changes.

[koukiKA240]

1) prolly something like 350hp, and i drive it from granny to agressive, but mainly granny. And its autoxed 2-3 times a month. And shes not a stranger to road trips

2) so far 9k

3) rebuilt it

4) The first rebuild failed because a bolt found its way to the motor. The second motor failed because im an idiot and let someone else drive it.

5) I know the second one occured due to me being retarded and letting someone drive it. They overreved the motor and a bearing spun. I replaced the bearings, piston rings, oil pump and turbo because bearing destroyed the last one.

[Edub1]

Wow, this is going well. After a while we'll have a real good picture of what can handle what.

Did I mention those with upgraded internals should say so so we don't mistake it for stock.

[fabio420]

1) 270rwhp; driving style-agressive(~30 dyno pulls and maybe 20 races plus daily driving)2) I've driven about 1200 miles an it no problem (10 psi- automatic) 3)Turbo was installed with 112k miles on it Stock internals. Engine never opened.Compression was 180 across. Might have lost 5 psi here and there, but nothing serious4) blew the first engine at 14 psi in the highway at part throttle/full boost5) the ringlands on the 4th piston went, as well as I put a hole in the side of said piston. Prbly detonated from timing not being retarted and safc settings were not right

[Edub1]

How were you at full boost under partial throttle?

What is the data for the motor that blew?

[fabio420]

small t3 turbo had full (14psi) boost with only 30% throttle on the highway(automatic)Data? what do u mean?

[KATwo40]

Approx. 220whp for about 1 year. Stock engine (S13), stock clutch, SUPER small turbo (incredibly high egt's, backpressure in the ex. mani. and high intake temps...10psi.)

I drive the piss out of this car, but I don't abuse it (proper warm-up/cool-down, etc.). It has over 200k on the clock, engine approaching 170k. I put 15k miles on it with the small turbo running 10psi. The first 3 months it was non-intercooled with 7psi.

Now, I'm running 8-9psi on a T3/T04E, same engine, same driving habits, maybe even more aggressively now. I drag, autoX, and daily drive the car. Also take spirited drives through twisty mountain roads here in east TN. Oh, and it's still well-mannered enough for my wife to drive frequently in heavy traffic and whatnot.

Oh, engine management is stock ECU, Walbro 255, SAFC2, 370cc injectors, base timing @ 15* BTDC, LM-1 wideband O2 used for skr33t tooning.

[akstunt600]

3.5 mileshks gt2510sblitz twin sbc550ccs walboro255s14 motor in s13 80,000 mile motorat 280hp

one detonation(never even heard) and i made a base map with the safc, distributor must have been slightly advanced

bye bye ringlands

[Florida240sx]

2 motors done.#1 motor 175k 5psi with t3/t4 on IAP kit Failure was a leaking injector that resulted in spun rod bearing. Engine is being built as we speak with forgies#2 Motor was 110k and previous owner beat the hell out of it before I received it. Lasted one month at 12psi. Ringlands are the cause of failure.

[MarkEmark]

This is for the first engine, not my newly rebuilt engine:

1.) ~300 whp (16 psi) normal driving habits (happened at 3000 rpm in 5th gear)

2.) 1000 miles

3.) 1000 miles...engine was freshly and completely rebuilt....wisecos, head job, oversized intake/exhaust valves, all new timing chains/accessories, new oil pump, yadda yadda yadda

4.) after 1000 miles, 5th gear, 3000 rpm, 16 psi. STOCK CONNECTING ROD FAILURE.

5.) Mechanical failure of the (STOCK) connecting rod. Otherwise the engine broke in perfectly....there were no oiling problems/low oil pressure issues, no signs before it happened; it rain flawlessly and smoothly.

[9sec240]

567 RWHP thru an AT transmission. About 25 dyno passes 450 whp on up. 4 passes at the track... Dyno and track passes running to 8000 rpms...

Currently at about 1000 miles of street driving on the motor running up to about 20psi ....

Motor was at zero miles (just fully built) when the turbo was installed...

No failure yet...

Going to push the boost up on the dyno this week I hope... Working on really testing the limits of the stock crank and block... I am shooting for aprox 1000 crank HP / 800 WHP

[1995240sxSE]

not too sure of the power but a t304e .70 on the compressor side. 440 cc injectors walbro safc II and msd 6 btm. total length of drive 1.3 miles before total ringland inilation!!!!!!!!

[1995240sxSE]

btw 15+ psi at 4500 rpm and I took it to 6300 rpms so it could be closer to 20 psi. I wasnt watching it that close was looking at smoke in rearview window mostly! new motor should be in by sunday!

[rn240sx]

Quote » RWHP & driving habits? ie normal, agressive, raced.[/quote]Up to ~270 whp on stock internals and 414 whp on built motor.. driving habbits were all the above

Quote » Miles driven at said RWHP?[/quote]~210 whp for about 6 months: ~270 whp for about 12 months: then 315 whp for about 1 yr and then a rebuild which gave me 414 whp and it lasted 3 months b4 i killed the clutch... now im back at 270 whp

Quote »Miles on & general condition of motor when turbo was installed? Mention internals if you've upgraded.[/quote]on at ~27k original miles on stock internals

Quote » When failure occured & what part failed?[/quote]Popped # 1 ring land at about 41k miles and then popped # 4 ring land about 42k miles and it lasted about 5 miles worth to get me home b4 i let her down for a rebuild..

Quote »Why you think failure occured?[/quote]Dont know cause i was not watching the wideband nor the boost gauge. I was boosting for yrs at 15 psi and NEVER ran into a lean mixture nor boost spike so i stopped watching the gauges....One day i popped # 1 ring land, then another day popped the # 4 ring land and it was all over until the rebuild....

Now the motor is fully built with just over 1k miles on it and hits about 20-22 psi (414 whp) almost evey sat night (a few times at that) i go out and its still running strong, compression test yesterday came out with 155,163,163,155

Modified by rn240sx at 9:58 PM 5/14/2006

Modified by rn240sx at 9:59 PM 5/14/2006
Modified by rn240sx at 9:59 PM 5/14/2006

[rn240sx]

Quote »Going to push the boost up on the dyno this week I hope... Working on really testing the limits of the stock crank and block... I am shooting for aprox 1000 crank HP / 800 WHP[/quote]PLEEEEEEEEEEASE hit 800 whp... We have to beat the sr20..!!

[KATwo40]

Quote »1) RWHP & driving habits? ie normal, agressive, raced.[/quote]Dunno power outputs but...

Drove about 3 mos. on a TD04H-13C (VERY SMALL) @ 7psi non-intercooled, original SAFC (knob-style), stock ECU/MAF, 370's

Added FMIC and SAFC2 and drove approx. 6 mos. on same setup, boosting 10psi daily.

Upgraded to T3/T04E about 4-5 mos. ago, run 8psi daily on same tuning setup.

I drive this car like I stole it. I've drag raced it, autoX'd it, I give it hell on curvy mountain roads (i.e. Tail of the Dragon/Deal's Gap) and it's driven daily by either myself or my wife (who also isn't afraid to smoke some Mustangs now and again).

Quote » 2) Miles driven at said RWHP? [/quote]Approx. 25-30k miles.

Quote »3) Miles on & general condition of motor when turbo was installed?[/quote]Engine had approx. 165k miles when I turbocharged it. Don't know compression then or now. It smoked a tad now and then @ WOT when I first turbocharged it, but now it smokes pretty regularly and like a mosquito fogger on hard accel. Stock block, BTW.

Quote »4) When failure occured & what part failed?[/quote]Hasn't totally failed, but it's evident the rings are worn out. No need to bother with a comp. test or leakdown test.

Currently, I am fully building another engine to swap in. It will be controlled with megasquirt2 and 740cc/min injectors. It will be run even harder than the current setup, and will make 400+whp/wtq.

[9sec240]

PLEEEEEEEEEEASE hit 800 whp... We have to beat the sr20..!!

669 whp will be easy (state side SR dyno record)... 700 whp will not be too hard to reach.. 800 whp is pushing it though... Thats a LOT of HP on a motor that has only been proven to 638 whp (aprox 750 crank)... 1000 crank might be just outside the reach of my turbo too.... Keep in mind that my whp figures reflect aprox 5% less than they would in a manual trans car...

[Jookmasta]

how do u know ur rings are worn katw040?

[Drift Machine]

1)~220rwhp, normal-aggressive

2) Turbo'd since April of 2004, driven on occasion during the Winters. Mostly a Summer car. But ~50k - ~60k miles.

3)Engine had ~40k miles, transmission had ~60k miles.

4) N/A

5) N/A

[KATwo40]

how do u know ur rings are worn katw040?

Valve stem seals, head gasket and timing set were replaced around 40k miles ago (just before I bought the car) and the oil smoke has been increasing severely. Now, when I drive hard in the mid to upper RPM range, under boost of course, the engine fogs smoke like crazy. Also, between gears on normal driving. Oil psi is still good, but at 190k + miles on stock rings, there's really no other excuse. PCV system is clear and oil gets contaminated quite quickly after an oil change.

[Edub1]

how do u know ur rings are worn katw040?

This thread is ment as a survey of longevity data. It's probably best to stick to the format so it doesn't get off track.

Would you mind deleting the off subject posts?

[Edub1]

Bump for updates