(Let's keep the drama and specifics to shops out of this)

What do people think are reasonable expectations for a built engine in terms of mileage and warranty?
Just ballpark your answer and copy/paste my post into yours.
Try to keep snarky comments to a minimum

Assuming that proper maintenance/monitoring, good tune, supporting mods, and proper octane fuel are a given for all classes:




For normal enthusiast driving with maybe a few sessions a year at the drag strip or road course or drifting:


300 whp/tq or less of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

301-400 whp/tq of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

401-500 whp/tq of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

501-600 whp/tq of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

601-800 whp/tq of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

801 or higher whp/tq of normal enthusiast driving: ____mileage, ____months of warranty





For racing conditions where prolonged high rpms are maintained such as numerous top speed runs, more than just a few road course sessions or drag strip sessions or drifting sessions a year:


300 or less whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

301-400 whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

401-500 whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

501-600 whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

601-800 whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty

801 or higher whp/tq of racing conditions: ____mileage, ____months of warranty



Or how about just posting your expectations for how long you expect your engine to last with YOUR current or planned setup/situation/driving style?

 

edit-mi is right, not even worth it

 

Bert, some restaint here. This may be a lackluster thread but you dont need to be so harsh...

To Answer your question Sentry.... There is no possible way to know, and I dont think many builders warranty the block just their work.

 

I say buyer beware on all built motors.

None of them should frankly be warrantied because none of the shops test any of their engines for longevity before putting them together.

None of the shops that build engines have mechanical engineers doing their R&D, just a bunch of mechanics. (if I'm wrong on this one please feel free to correct me)

The engines we all purchase that have warranties from the car manufacturer (Nissan in this case) have been tested for hundreds of hours in various different methods and conditions so that they can feel comfortable giving it out without losing too much money on errors or design flaws.

I've yet to see careful data collection and analysis from any of the engine builders on this forum in any way that could be considered remotely scientific.

This is different from other aftermarket brand names that are determined to sell quality products such as Dinan, Cobb, Alpina, Saleen, Mugen, Stillen, Motordyne etc. They spend a large quantity of money, time, and effort having/hiring engineers that do things methodically to test and fine tune every product they dish out.

Even Nismo doesn't warranty any of their "race application" products (like their heads or cams) that are for "off road" use only.

If these shops that are basically bolting together engines and having their neighborhood machinist put it together want to warranty things on a case by case basis then so be it but the expectations for buyers should be low to nil.

 

lol @ this thread

 

From a "Top Knotch" shop , like the one Sentry is trying to defend here . I would expect ANY motor from that shop to be able withstand most anything put at it . And as WHP goes up , the life of that motor will be shortened of course . But by how much that motors life will be shortened because of a high WHP build...is any ones guess . But Alberto is right , there are toooooo many variables to even try to start a thread like this asking people to guess on what they think how many miles a motor should last .

 

this can't be answered with any real value.

I will say that some of the parts you guys use are crap. The rods are the main thing I dislike,whatever cheap *** MF decided H-beam is a good idea should be kicked in the ***** and the I-Beam pennt pincher isn't much better.

this is followed by sleves....actually, I have to list them number one.
The crank is going to turn. Godzilla isn't going to stop that. As the crank turns it moves the rod and piston and once again....it will take an amazing force to stop them from moving along the cylander wall, luckily the wall is part of the block and doesn't move. This is truely irresitable force meeting immovable object and it works out for all parts involved..oh wait, let's put a sleeve in there and hope it doesn't move even with alluminum blocks that expand and contract at a different rate than the sleeves. Oh, the thiness of the wall will bring the heat chamber closer to the water jacket too so I hope you live in a cold climate because heat kills motors and that sleeved block puts out more with poorer internal cooling.

OK, I've bashed enough.
I miss the Domestic (pre emmisions) small block V8.

 

F

 

I agree there are way too many variables. That's sort of my point.

I'm just trying to have a mature open discussion and leave the BS and anger with shops out of this.


So all the people that have bought built engines - you really had no idea what to expect?
Did you have any idea how long your stock block would last with FI at your power level?

I just find it hard to believe individuals with their own setups, whp goals, and driving styles don't have any rough idea of what to expect for engine life.

 

.

 

Who cares? The most important part is...when something fails...why?

 

that's right, of course I agree.



but if a part fails - for whatever reason it might be, that seems to get some people really pissed off which implies their expectations were not met.

I'm trying to find out what those expectations are, even on a case by case scenario, and if some of them are even realistic.



I damaged my stock engine.
I'm pretty sure the reason is due to FI and running more power than it was designed to handle.
I fully expected my stock engine to not last forever. I told everyone I fully expect it do die someday and don't follow my footsteps if they're not ready for the expenses and hassle.

How many FI people warn NA people to not go FI without first accepting the risks?

 

toooooo many variables.........this thread is:

 

73,823,208 miles

 

why not use your own variables and confidence in the parts on your own cars?

how long do you built guys expect your engine to last?
Is it truly a random unpredictable thing and that's just understood??
If so, why do people get so mad when they have an engine problem then if they knew it was unpredictable with so many variables?

 

My car makes 615 whp on 93 octane and 722 on Q16 race gas I expect my engine to last at the very MINIMUM 50,000 miles. W/ the proper care and not beating on the car all the time i see no reason why it shouldn't be possible.

 

With FI you honestly cant expect anything. Even if you have the worlds best builder/tuner, STILL, something can go wrong. Everyone here that has been in the FI game can agree that there is no guarantee when we start to modify our engines.

+1 just too many variables

 

I don't see it as too many variables. Thats a cop out. Its all engineering. Variables should be accounted for with known values. I'm sure eagle doesnt just make rods without metallurgic analysis. etc etc

honestly, barring unseen error,

I would expect my built motor to handle the power it was built for. If i had greddy twins tuned for 600 hp on a motor rated at 600rwhp, then it should run 600 hp all day every day. It should be built with parts that handle that horsepower easily and never near the ragged edge of ratings.

if that's naive, then the builder should not sell that as a 600 hp motor. Those issues need to be hammered out before any money is exchanged, along with an understanding on what happens in the event of failure. If the shop says "tough luck", so be it, but the buyers has been made aware and can go from there.

In the light of the recent built motor threads, I see it increasingly important to have as few hands in the build process as possible.

 

i second what str8dum1 said, that is a cop out. When you are putting together a FI setup you account for variables before hand. Engineers don't just say "hey anything can happen, too many variables to account for everything". The company i work for builds Oil Refineries and when we approach the project we assess all potential problems BEFORE HAND and take measures to prevent these issues. If we didn't we would be responsible for another grand canyon in the earths surface.

Granted little things will cause you headaches such as pipes blowing off, torn vacc lines and couplers, sensors going out. But there is absolutely no excuse for catostrophic failure if everything is planned for accordingly.

 

I agree with previous few posts.

When you buy a brand new car and leave it stock, we have expectations with how long the engine will last, even beyond its factory warranty.
Even a bone stock car has "too many variables" and they have all sorts of pro engineers designing them, but still a realistic expectation exists.

The OEM engine is designed to last around 200k-250k miles in theory.
What I'm just asking what mileage should a built engine with FI theoretically last at different power levels and conditions (if maintenance and supporting mods are considered to be taken care of within reason)

where do you draw the line in terms of mileage where you'd be flat out pissed if your built engine blew, granted your power and driving habits??