Just go for it - spare no expense and get that puppy fix!

You know its possible to go for days without eating.

 

Cuz I'm sure if any of us told you to bring back to stock you'd listen anyway!

Do it, DO IT.

 

Now where did you get that quote adam?

 

[font=Courier New]Well I must say that the only surprise with this is that you have had the courage to come forth with this information not that the car is having problems. From what I have seen locally and found brief mention of on the various forums there are 4 cars with this system and ALL of them have had major issues. There is a local shop in town that has been taking care of two of them Hubie's car has had his share but his is the real R and D car so that is to be expected and now yours.
Locally there was a dark silver S that first had " something " go thru the turbo and destroy it. That was replaced and the car lasted a week before the number one cylinder was fried. The car was again taken apart and a ground up motor built. The other car is a all red one that has been in and out of that shop many times with a variety of issues the last one requiring a entire motor rebuild . Why this has been kept quiet for so long is really a disservice to the Mini community at large. I commend you for sharing your situation and bringing these issues to light. [/font]

 

If memory serves, the MCS engine has hypereutectic cast pistons, not forged.

The pistons in the MINI engines have the rings high on the pistons (very close to the piston crown), the rings themselves are very thin and the ring packs are quite tight. This is done for maximum efficiency and lwered emissions. Problem is, detonation and/or very high chamber temps can collapse the top ring land and cause the rings to bind, or break the upper land completely. This can happen easier with high-ringed pistons since there is not much material beneath the crown and the top ring. Heavy duty pistons would have the rings lower on the piston skirt and more 'meat' between the crown and ring to dissipate the heat into the piston and withstand detonation and high pressures better.

If the cylinder head gasket blows and it is not 'external' (blowing into the water jacket, oil passage or right out from under the head) it usually blows between the cylinders causing two adjacent ones with low compression. Since you have a single bad jug, it could be head, valve or piston/ring related. A leak check should indicate where the leak is heading, if you have air coming from the crankcase (oil fill hole), it's a bad piston. If you have bubbles in the coolant, it's a head gasket in most cases. If it comes out the intake or exhaust, it's bad/burned valves.

If I were you, I'd pull the head and check what caused the trouble. If the piston did indeed fail, I'd pop a set of 'race' pistons in, preferrably forged.

 

the coolant does boil over, and the exhaust has an oil smelling fumes.. thanks for the suggestions for where to look.

 

I don't really understand much about car... but your(Maximusmini) MINI looks awesome. I wish I have that money for twincharger.

 

Who makes pistons for the MINI? I remember hearing Pilo did but i checked their website and i could not find them (this is with me navigating so they most likely are there somewhere) If you find them could you post a link?
TIA,
Ben

 

Hubie/SPI has pistons that have been in Hubies car for a while now.

If you need pistons that will hold up with th etwin charge contact Hubie.

Is the kit on the car in question an SPI kit ?

 

Yes the kit is a SPI kit, thanks for the info on the pistons.

 

I'd rather not do another SPI kit unless that is what it comes down too.. Sorry for bad advertisement, but it's true.

 

Who tuned the APEXI after the SPI Kit was installed? Was it left w/ the default settings, or was it changed? I wonder how was your A/F ratio?

Also, did you push the car a lot to its limit, or was it just babied? Did you have an EGT gauge? Or an oil temp?

Sorry for the many questions. I'm about to pick up a kit myself so I'm just wondering what to watch for, or thinking if it's still a good idea..

///Gilbert

 

Maximusmini..

By the way, have you informed Detroit Tuned or SPI what had happen to your car? Maybe this would be good info for them to gather to try and put some (any) form of safety in their kits..

///Gilbert

 

As far as things go, no.. Detroit Tuned did not install it, it was simply installed third party. I took it to a large shop called Wheel 2 Wheel. for more info visit www.w2wpowertrain.com

 

A new or soon to be supplier of pistons would be Endyne (TOO). See JLM's shortblock post. Supposedly BMW bought his piston design? Or something like that? JLM help us out here.

The engine design paper in MTZ worldwide 7-8/2002 Volume 63 at page 7 states:

"The pistons are made from the
high-temperature alloy AL 142 by the
Mahle company. The piston groove for the
compression ring is anodised and the
height of the piston’s top land is only 4 mm,
a very low figure for a supercharged engine."

It does not state whether pistons are cast or forged.
rods and crank are forged.

To me it looks like the weak link is in the piston design, when much higher boost is used with advanced timing or lean condition or bad gas. But what do I know?

 

my knowledge would tell me that the mahle pistons are forged but that is just an assumption, mahle also does a lot of development with "coatings" on pistons.

 

Hey Bro, I have confirmed that the stock Pistons are Mahle. Now the alternatives are Endyne, and also JE Pistons.

 

I believe the Mahle 142 are eutectic aluminum/silicon alloy pistons (same material as a GM LT1 engine). That would make them cast, not forged.

 

oooh thanks for the info, i knew gm was using mahle pistons, so i probably should have figured they were cast and not forged just for the dollar savings, being as all ar makers are cheap when they can be.

 

There are 19 of these kits out just so you know.

ZAK, before you start guessing about what is wrong you should tear the motor down. Have you ever over reved? EVER? This can float a valve.

How could you crack a block? Seriously? I am sure that block can take a little more than the twincharge!

Hubie has ran 430 to wheels on his block. NO issues. He has run boost and Nitrous. Still no block issues.

My point being... Before you start talking down the twincharge kit and say you wouldn'y buy anything from SPI, you might want to go and learn a thing ar two about the car you are building... I mean having built! Breaking things is part of being a tuner. Take your car and have it torn down and get back to us when you know what is actually know what is wrong.

In conclusion, to answer your original question, YES you should put your car back to stock, it looks like anything more than that just might be too much seat for you!

 

Thats the smartest thing I have heard anyone say!!!!

 

I am sure BMW dropped everthing the have been doing for years to see what Endyne has to offer. Although not impossible it would really suprise me!

Seeing as BMW is a German based company, I find it hard to believe they are going to swich over to the small little company from Ft. Worth Texas!

Endyne Powered BMW F1? Not anytime soon. Pretty sure BMW can afford the technology to CRUSH Endyne!

 

well said motorsports m3!


here is the other thing

According to all of the manufacturers litertaure AND the conversations that i have PERSONALLY had with the enginers who originally designed the car the pistons are forged!


Please provide any published information that says that they are not forged and are indeed cast.

 

They are not forged pistons... according to this document

Click here

 

That reference is from 2002, Things may be different now