I don't know what happened, but I was shifting from 2nd to 3rd this morning (driving kind of hard), and I heard a loud bang and then the car started making weird noises and smoking like a steam engine. Then it shut down. Fortunately, I had enough coast speed to pull into the parking lot. So I get out to look at the car and there is this looooong trail of oil behind me. So I let the car cool off, and head back out to have a closer look and after jacking the car up (btw, there is a nice sized puddle of oil under the car), I see aluminum chunks caught between the oil pan and the block. So I knock them out with my finger and lo and behold, there is a hole in my block about 2 inches wide. Among the debris, I found what looked like a piece of a piston ring. So I guess I have to build the bottom end again. I'm hoping I didn't damage the turbo any, although that's really the least of my concerns right now. I'm not stressing much really, since I have the funds to repair it. It just sucks that it had to happen around Christmas time. But this gives me a good excuse to get that Cosworth block from FS that I've had my eye on.

http://www.focussport.com/images/cosworthblock.gif

So if I get that, what pistons and rods do yall recommend? I was looking at the Cosworth rods, but I don't see piston heads. And what about the rings and all that good stuff? I won't know what condition the crank and stuff is in until I tear the motor apart, but would it be wise to use the stock crank with the Cosworth block?

Any advise would be appreciated, especially from the veteran FI folks. I was curious as to where I should get the oil squirters from as well.

that sucks about the motor, but atlease you've got the funds to repair. good excuse to get that new block

who did your tuning? how much power were you making before it blew?

Always sucks when you hear a bang and see the smoke.

ouch man that blows. Atleast you can find some positive from the negative.

JE pistons, Eagle Rods, simple but effective.

Hey Goat, what compression pistons do you think I should get for that block? I don't really know how the sizes work. And do you think those will be as strong as the Cosworth pieces?

do you plan on goin over 15psi? if not, just get 9 to 1, if more then get 8 to 5 or 8 to 1, how many miles were on your car..and did you even have tuning period?

I can do you a much better deal on that CGI block

If your power goal is in the 280 to 300 i would stay with 8.9 to 9.2 compression , do the crower Rods and our CGI blocks come with stock or billet main caps

Use ARP head and main studs as well

Dont skimp on the bottom end it is the life of the engine

Or we can do you a short block or complete Turbo engine

Tom

YES I had tuning. I've stated this once or twice before. It was tuned by Tom. And the engine had ~ 60,000miles on it. As far as how much boost I plan on running, I was actually quite content with the 7lbs regulated by the wastegate, although if I ever ran into the situation where I wanted to turn up the boost, I'd like to have to ability to do so.

odd..what do you think caused it?

So did you blow a piston ring? That sucks for real. You got funds though, so it's a good learning experience. Also have you checked out boost controllers?

damn that really sucks!!! good luck fixing it...

im really curious to know what caused your engine to come apart. have you looked at the plugs? are you planning to pull the head? im surprised to hear tom tuned the car, seeing as how conservative he can be. leads me to believe it was possibly something mechanical.

dude that sucks, especially since, didnt recently install the turbo? yeah i would like to know what caused this. good luck

werent you running a chip that wasnt actually tuned for your car? it was tuned for zx3focusguy's car wasnt it? Same code, different engines doesnt mean the tune was right on. I would have gotten to a dyno before beating on my car.

Well, I purchased the kit from another member on this site who shared the same ECU code as me. He had his car tuned by Tom and it ran fine for 15,000 miles, so I doubt it was the tune. I didn't change the spark plugs because he didn't mention it when I was talking to him about the install. But do yall think that the wastegate may have been stuck? It was pretty cold out this morning, maybe the boost spiked? I don't know. I'll be pulling the motor out on Friday, so we'll see. I'll take pics for you guys. Like I said, I went out there earlier and was greet by a handful of aluminum chunks, so...yeah. That, and the oil that is splattered everywhere. I was really thinking about dropping another low-mileage Zetec in for the time being so I can take my time on building this new engine. What do yall think?

MalcolmsSVT: Yeah, I did recently install it AND I just fixed the exhaust leak. Lol, I had weird luck.

p0sitivevibez: Yeah, I do have a boost controller that had yet to be installed.

ah, well yea, it definitely could be the tune if you just switched chips from one car to another. you didnt necessarily have to change plugs but sometimes a quick look at them after your engine blew will tell you alot. theres always the possibility you did just have a boost spike, main reason to have a gauge or that bc installed. were you hammering on it while the engine was still warming up?

No, it was at operating temperature. How could the chip be the cause if it is the same code? I also had gauges, but I have no clue on how to install them, so I was going to drive to Lucedale to get someone to install them for me because our shops here in Biloxi got washed away. I work so often though, that it was a battle just to get a day off. I'll take a look at the spark plugs right now to see what they look like.

if you have the funds you would benifit the most from building a new engine with new crank pistons cams and everything, beef it up that way it will handle more boost. saftly

Yeah, that's what my plan is.

Darrell, I hate so much to hear this. Before you build another engine, you need to find out what the cause was. My first thought is that without the boost controller you were getting more then 7lbs of boost. Did you finally get the boost gauge installed?? Were you ever able to get it on the dyno to check everthing? im me sometime please

How good did you clean the ECU before installing the chip , Did you take it apart ans clean the ECU where the chip goes REAL GOOD , If not that is what happened

Tom

Tom, I did take the metal cover off of the ecu and used the smallest grit sand paper I could find to sand the glue stuff off. I'm sure I got all of it off. But if that was the cause, wouldn't it have caused problems sooner?

Originally posted by turbozetec
Always sucks when you hear a bang and see the smoke.

That is the truth ^^

... Glad to hear you have the funds to rebuild her..