Not that we really want to discuss this but it seems like a few more engines have bit the dust. If we can figure out what happened with yours, maybe we can prevent another 350Z engine from sharing the same fate.

For those of you that have blown motors using some type of F/I, please post the kit, how much boost you were running, who installed it, what part of the motor failed and please list any fuel and timing adjustments you had over stock.

 

mine was run lean stock without a timing solution. Most boost it ever made back then was around 6.2 IIRC.

The fix was more fuel and less timing.

Peas

 

I'd like to know whether the blowup in each case can be attributed to professional tuning or owner tuning.

--Steve

 

Come on guys... I know there are several of you out there.

Joenismo, zerotosixty, fernandito7, natve4ply, ZRAYGO, G35, enron exec, topics II, Ravaz, to list a few...

Thank you Max for posting your experience. I remember your issue being tuner related?

I would like to know if all of the bad motors were quick failures or slow gradual ones like may be the case with Enron?

 

Mine went out while road tuning. THe rod did not hold up. THe rods on our Z's are shittty and IMO really bad quality and design. As people say, u learn from ur mistakes and i have learned. Stock boost here i come.......

 

Well.....I dont know how it happened but.....my engine mysteriously spiked up to 10psi while road racing some guy in a eclipse turbo. We were racing at night and after I beat him we pulled over and he told me that when i was pulling away from him that all he saw was white smoke that pretty much clouded his vision when he was behind me. The car still drove quite well but I thought that I would have my mechanic look at it just to make sure. He said that I blew the number 6 ring. The engine was supposed to test at 200psi on the leakdown test but only tested 160psi. At that point I had already ordered my cams and rods and pistons but was not really ready to have them installed as of yet. Well that is where my engine is today at AEBS getting resleaved and re-everything that you can do at this point. After speaking with Dave (AEBS) he says that my engine will be able to handle somewhere between 15-25psi if tuned right. He said that it will be bomb proof. My car has been gone now for about 10 weeks and I miss it dearly. For those of you who have bought a F/I kit (Greddy in my case) its probably good to get this done before or as you are having the kit installed (just to be safe). If I had to do it all over again, I would have probably had this done in the beginning before I had my engine installed.

Oh and by the way, the people that installed my kit used to work for Area 51 and some guy named Kinji from Greddy was also there to assist since they are right down the street. They are pretty knowledgable and gave me a great deal and also. My beef with Greddy is why dont they install thier own kits and tune thier own customers cars. They refer you (localy) to a place called Dynamic Autosport. These guys are cool but thier dyno is not installed as of yet, so therefore they refer you to sp engineering which wants to charge you an arm and a leg.

 

Thank you guys for posting. Please keep it coming.

Notes so far:

-2 cars have gone back to stock internals, 1 forged

-2 Greddy TT, 1 ATI Procharger

-1 piston, 1 rod and 1 ring gone bad (this stinks)

-2 blew while tuning, 1 while racing

 

I'd like to know longevity as well and how the car is driven.

As for myself, I want twin turbos just to get the good old Z32 feeling that I don't get with the 350Z. Don't worry, my dad's the proud owner of his Z32 TT, so I drive it once in awhile for kicks.

I barely race, too... but sometimes I like to rev it. I baby this car so much I end up with 23.7mpg on the trip computer.

Still... turbos are lovely :-D

 

Mine broke cylinder #5's rod with the greddy TT at 6.6lbs. of boost. I am still considering all of my options on the rebuild of my engine. It still does not appear to me that the rod broke because of a tuning mistake, but more that the rod simply could not take the power.

 

Great thread keep it coming.. i'm subscribing for info.

 

It is also interesting to note that different forms of FI may cause different problems.

Maybe the ATI kit is more likely to cause a burned/melted piston while the greddy TT kit is more prone to bending or throwing a rod...

 

Yes, please keep this coming! I am soon to be at 9 psi with the ATI kit and so far haven't even fixed the timing problems. I take it easy and always use 94 octane gas but will be getting the larger injectors, fuel solution and TS ECU flash along with the 9 psi pulley.

Any more ATI guys out there who have this setup? Any problems?

Thanks!

 

sounds like mostly tuning problem.

 

When I had the Procharger installed August of last year, my motor blew due to a combo of bad Tuning and stock timing. Had holes in 2 pistons, don't remember which ones, but it screwed up the cyl walls. That block got resleeved and has been ready to go for a while onw. Oops, I blew a headgasket last night racing a 03 Cobra with the Greddy kit installed, oh f*ck

 

Did you really blow a headgasket?

 

I didnt know that Greddy made a turbo kit for the Cobra.

 

Ravaz:

What ever became of that mess you had last year with AA? Did you ever get that monster engine that they were supposedly going to build for you after yours blew?

 

Not that bad tuning can't destroy any FI engone, but It would be expected that a TT setup may kill more "rods" due to the significantly higher TQ levels through out the driveable power band. Much more averrage and peak TQ means much more Rod stress.

 

Good Post

I think I see a pattern
Looks like alot of blown engines in Cali, which has lower octane gas.

For those that have blown there engine, would like to see what
octane and a/f you were at when the engine blew...

 

Mine broke a rod with 94 octane gas, 6.6lbs. boost, A/F of 11's, two steps colder plugs, 65 degrees outside, with no timing taken out.