Blowing up a fiat engine...
Discussion
As I believe I may have mentioned before, my engine builder Richard took it upon himself to build a test engine before he built the real (race) thing and handed it over to me.
The test engine comprised of a few bits and pieces he already had, a slightly dodgy block, a worn head, etc. - throw it all together but make sure it is all balanced and properly assembled. Then send it over to the dyno so it can be mapped and then played with. The idea was to try out different cams and then see what breaks when you push it too hard.
After some 7 hours on the dyno he finally managed to crack a ring landing on #3 piston by running the engine at peak torque and the using the dyno load to hold the engine at those revs - for about an hour. The only signs that something had broke was a slight drop in temperature on #3 and a bit of smoke from the exhaust.
Not satisfied with this the engine was pulled apart to find out that a chunk had actually snapped off the piston. It was then thrown back together (sans piston fragment) and given some more hellish treatment. Earlier this week (after a period of 6 weeks of intermitent attempts) Richard finally succeeded in destroying the engine. He had tried everything he could to break it but the blasted thing wouldn't give up that is right until the load shaft on the bench dyno parted company with the engine.
Luckily Richard spotted the massive spike in revs and engine temperature and managed to evacuate the test cell control room in time. According to the ECU the engine reached (and held) 14500 rpm for nearly 15 seconds before the crank case exploded. Initial examination of the wreckage suggests that the oil pump drive shaft seized first with obvious catastrophic effects to the crank and bearings.
Just hoping the rev limiter on the real engine will be set a bit lower
The test engine comprised of a few bits and pieces he already had, a slightly dodgy block, a worn head, etc. - throw it all together but make sure it is all balanced and properly assembled. Then send it over to the dyno so it can be mapped and then played with. The idea was to try out different cams and then see what breaks when you push it too hard.
After some 7 hours on the dyno he finally managed to crack a ring landing on #3 piston by running the engine at peak torque and the using the dyno load to hold the engine at those revs - for about an hour. The only signs that something had broke was a slight drop in temperature on #3 and a bit of smoke from the exhaust.
Not satisfied with this the engine was pulled apart to find out that a chunk had actually snapped off the piston. It was then thrown back together (sans piston fragment) and given some more hellish treatment. Earlier this week (after a period of 6 weeks of intermitent attempts) Richard finally succeeded in destroying the engine. He had tried everything he could to break it but the blasted thing wouldn't give up that is right until the load shaft on the bench dyno parted company with the engine.
Luckily Richard spotted the massive spike in revs and engine temperature and managed to evacuate the test cell control room in time. According to the ECU the engine reached (and held) 14500 rpm for nearly 15 seconds before the crank case exploded. Initial examination of the wreckage suggests that the oil pump drive shaft seized first with obvious catastrophic effects to the crank and bearings.
Just hoping the rev limiter on the real engine will be set a bit lower
Jimbros profile said:
Trying to compete in the LMA EuroSaloon Championship (previously the Auto Italia series).
First season (2002) - One DNF (throttle jammed open), One 5th in class (with one odd wheel thanks to a flat tyre in practice), One 2nd in class
2003 series: dns on first two rounds due to blown turbo in practice. Car is back up and running (end of August) after finding a whole series of faults. Took 3rd in class at Oulton Park and with it grabbed 3rd in class overall - my first trophy!
2004: An accident during testing at Mallory has slowed things down (bent o/s/r) but still going strong. Took my first class win on Monday (at Mallory) so it can't be too bad! Oulton gave another class win. Silverstone was a good finish but killed the engine. At Brands the engine died in qualifying - finally at Cadwell park everything was running right again until the car in front of me decided to bounce off a tyre wall into the front of my car...
2005: New car is coming along nicely but still a way to go...
Suddenly it all makes sense...
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