I don't think i ever blamed the tuner?! but i did say my car has a very long history of pinging... i NEVER had a ping free tune!! on the road.. most times... on wsid... i always saw the check engine light flash and would fix by chucking in octane booster!
rev limiter is set to about 7.5k i think... and i VERY RARELY hit it! even at ec! i did hit it once or twice when i was still learning where it was.. but thats all... and on the track... i don't think i hit the limiter at all!!! there isn't even enough room to!
it was an oil surge and not detonation like i previously thought.. but it does look like (as adrian has stated) that there was some detonation... and my mechanic did see alot of damage due to detonation in the engine... it may very well have been a combo of both!
no oil pressure gauge and i use motul!
thanks for the offer for parts... i'll keep that in mind!