Piston Damage

[johnnyt]

Hey guys

Ok so a set of standard turbos popped on my freshly built rb26 and i have some damage to 2x pistons

1 piston is destroyed, ive added a pic to serve as a warning to anyone running there fresh engine in on standard turbs:(

the one that is completely stuffed was number 6 the other one is number 4.. do you think number 4 could be cleaned up? i have an option to get another supertech piston from the states for around $315 or i can get a set of acl race series for under $800.

what would you do? taking into consideration that ive only just spent a huge amount of cash on this engine!! and now ive gotta do it again!

[GT-RZ]

Id check my bank balance and try again. if all the other pistons are perfect? are they perfect? then just replace them ones. how is the cylinder wall damage? does it need a rebore? if so, new pistons.

apart from that it serves as a big lesson to rush things! no way i personally would strap the timebombs on a new engine.

[The Dan]

Can you post up a close up pic of the damage on #6 side on and close to the top?

[Adriano]

I would be checking the bore, as that will more than likely result in requiring a full set of pistons.

[kwl33]

Looks like it leaned out, like my old motor, has the marks (that look like) from the spark plug tip bouncing round on the cylinder top after melting off from overheating. (thats what happened to me anyway).

[s13_Skyline_inside]

sorry but what have the standard turbo's got to do with the dead engine, did they blow up and go through it or did it lean out?

[G0DZLR]

sorry but what have the standard turbo's got to do with the dead engine, did they blow up and go through it or did it lean out?

one would presume the blades shattered and went through

[The Dan]

one would presume the blades shattered and went through

Possibly. But it is very unlikely they would cause that damage to the piston.

Still waiting on better photos of the damaged piston

[G0DZLR]

if they were metal blades...maybe :S

[The Dan]

if they were metal blades...maybe :S

Most compressor blades are metal. The turbo would have to ingest something. Then it would have to pass through the intercooler. Anything small enough to fit through the intercooler will not do that kind of damage. Aluminium dust and steel dust from the compressor blades/compressor cover will cause abrasive marks on the cylinder wall but not break pistons in half.

[johnnyt]

I'll get some more pics of the sides of the pistons tonight..

it was a rear turbo that dropped the ceramic wheel and only number 4 and 6 pistons were damaged, ive seen a fair bit of information around the place about guys damaging bores and pistons from ceramic ingestion.

and the bores do have some slight marks but i have 2x spare 86.mm blocks here to work with, so thats not an issue

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

I'll get some more pics of the sides of the pistons tonight..

it was a rear turbo that dropped the ceramic wheel and only number 4 and 6 pistons were damaged, ive seen a fair bit of information around the place about guys damaging bores and pistons from ceramic ingestion.

and the bores do have some slight marks but i have 2x spare 86.mm blocks here to work with, so thats not an issue

eh? I'm confused.. how could chatty ceramic turbos do that kind of damage? If the ceramic wheel comes out, it would fall into the dump, if it's the compressor side, like somoene has said already, it will need to travel up the hot pipe, through the intercooler, then into the throttle body then into the motor.

Chances of that are low, because the ceramic bits will get lodged into the intercooler.

There's noway the motor can ingest ceramic bits from the turbo manifold, there's no way, it's an exhaust, there's always exhaust pressure coming out not in.

[Yeedogga]

Actually, there is a way, it has been documented that RB26's can lose turbine wheels and they end up in the motor.

[johnnyt]

eh? I'm confused.. how could chatty ceramic turbos do that kind of damage? If the ceramic wheel comes out, it would fall into the dump, if it's the compressor side, like somoene has said already, it will need to travel up the hot pipe, through the intercooler, then into the throttle body then into the motor.

Chances of that are low, because the ceramic bits will get lodged into the intercooler.

There's noway the motor can ingest ceramic bits from the turbo manifold, there's no way, it's an exhaust, there's always exhaust pressure coming out not in.

im not 100% sure that mine was caused my ceramic ingestion but! i was running standard turbos on a forged engine, standard ecu injectors the whole lot and when the turbo popped this was the result.

a lot of people have had this happen!

[Ultimategtr]

I have heard a few 26 blow the stock turbos and end up needing a rebuild as a result. Something to do with the design of the stock manifold where theres less turns, which makes it easier for the shattered ceramic bits n pieces to travel and back into the chamber.

Im sure there are a few threads on here with that happening.

[jba05]

not good mate if u have enough money go the good pistons again but if not the acl will do fine up to a certain hp..

Edited July 6, 2009 by jba05

[OzLeroy]

Firstly I feel for you mate. I had the stock rear ceramic let go one me and it utterly destroyed cyls 4, 5 and 6 and severly damaged the pistons. For me it was the stock engine and internals but to have a freshly rebuilt engine taken out, that sucks, sorry to hear it.

Check carefully for bore damage. If you get another new piston make sure its balanced with the rest of the set as others have metioned.

In considering turbos, if you're after decent response i can recommend the 2860-5's, with plenty of headroom for power.

good luck with the rebuild.

[N1GTR]

standard turbos popped on my freshly built rb26

Just for anyone searching in the future, here's why stock turbos belong in the bin

[Takahashi GTR]

Sorry to hear this mate, but its a hard way to learn. Talk to anyone with experience they will tell you never rebuild without doing the turbo's too, why didnt you? Just had mine rebuilt and had to fork out a massive amount for a new pair but its worth it in the long run. Ceramics are rubbish.

Good luck with the rebuild.

[johnnyt]

Sorry to hear this mate, but its a hard way to learn. Talk to anyone with experience they will tell you never rebuild without doing the turbo's too, why didnt you? Just had mine rebuilt and had to fork out a massive amount for a new pair but its worth it in the long run. Ceramics are rubbish.

Good luck with the rebuild.

i had collected a fair bit of the parts needed to do a single conversion but was waiting on a turbo and more money, so made the fatal decision to run in the engine with standard turbs! as you can see this decision proved very expensive HAHAHAH (If you dont laugh, you cry)

damn to make this decision even harder.. cant get the acl slugs for 3 weeks!! so that puts a halt on the machining too:(