Hey guys, don't know if you remembered it or not. I went to the track a couple of months ago and I missed fouth gear and redlined and I started getting a lot of smoke coming out of my exhaust. Well my car has been in Scott Performance for over a month now and it was confirmed that I blew a piston ring on cylinder #3. And I guess it scraped my old block. So Ted ordered me a brand new block from Nissan and I was ready to go. Well today, I just got the call saying my engine is done and will be ready to be transplanted. It will be done next week he says. You guys dont know how happy I am after hearing this! I was without my baby for over 2 months since I was lagging on the install. Here are some pics of what happened to my pistons.

closeup look






my brand new block


my turbos just sitting in the trunk


my Z, heart broken


and lastly, my Greddy TT Z next to a new APS TT Z


As you can see, you can see the difference between the piston on cylinder #3 compared to the other one. Thats why I have been getting a lot of white smoke out of my tailpipe.

 

Looking good,

and then it's all done...let the boosting begin !


Tasso-

 

In the last pic.... thats my ride your next to... nice color car...

 

thanks! I didnt know mine was sitting next to your's! Nice ride!

 

damn tim...can't wait for your ride to get out...i hope it's done before the meet.....we can trade cars for a day....c if you miss the stock power Z...lol holla at cha boi...peace

 

broken ringland...exactly what happened on my forged arias pistons!...now i', riunning the super duty ones, with ringlands double the size...i hope your new pistons have beefy ringlands!
good luck

 

I don't see a broken ringland here....looks more like an oiling problem.

 

this is one of the pictures where youc an clearly see the broken ringland:

look at the top ring, then look at the chunk missing (about 1/8 the circumference of the piston)...both rings are intact..the middle ringland has fractured...

ok, i'm bored:
smiley= intact ringland
unhappy face= where ringland USED to be


close-up of ringland fracture of picture provided above:

here's a pic of my forged piston with a broken ringland...identicle to the picture above:



while i'm at it..the pistons i have in there now:


a comparison in ringland size
standard arias piston vs super duty zero silicone forged aluminum:


makes you wish the block was see-thru

 

thanks for the help! Yeah the ringland is fractured. You can see a chunk missing.

 

How did the ringlands on the standard duty Arias pistons break? Any idea?

 

O.K.....I see it now. Did not see it in the first pic with the ring in the way.

 

Wow, thanks for pointing that out so that the uninformed (such as myself) could clearly see it. 350zDCalb, how's the noise on your block when you start it when cold, compared to stock? Really not trying to be negative, but just curious. I guess we'll have to wait for the cold weather cold-starts to hear it at its worst. Maybe it'll turn out to be not much noisier than stock and it will be a non-issue.

 

I know some others will get mad at me for what i am about to say, but i think the reason that the standard arias pistons broke was because they were designed poorly...
the ringlands of these pistons are identicle to the stock piston configuration, definatelt not a "turbo piston" design...

possibly my motor was detonating and that is what pushed the thin ringlands over the edge and caused them to break off, but really, i doubt it
i think, ultimately, the design of the piston was lacking and the weakest link in the design was the frail, thin ringlands, poor design on arias' part, i've heard that there are 4 or so reported cases of arias pistons breaking at the ringland...lucky me, i was one of them

 

I flew out to tune Todd's motor with the Extreme Duty Arias piston (exclusive to forgedinternals.com) The motor sounds near stock...even when cold. It surprised me as well. The only noise I hear is his clutch, and an occasional clunk because he car idles at like 550rpm.

 

it really hasn't been an issue..sharif heard my motor in person a few months back when he was out here, he was really suprised how similar my motor sounded to his, very little audible difference..

there are times in which i think i am hearing mild piston slap at start up, but it is so difficult to distinguish with the loud clutch/flywheel...

i can say that my motor sounds VERY SIMILAR to how it sounded with the aluminum/silicone blended thin ringlanded original arias pistons

 

that;s funny! you replied 2.5 seconds before me!

 

D@mn, those things are bad @ss!