Catastrophic Failure
Turbo Mini Forums

I think I'll let the pics do the talking

















Myself and Paul started making a replacement engine today. It's a 1380 with an SW10 cam

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

i think i can pinpoint your main problem,
excesive over use of hermatite, gasket sealant, leading ot oil contamination , and subsequent breakdown of running clearances leading to to your rod bowing out,

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

Bad luck.....

I'm guessing big end bolt(s) came loose on that rod, maybe failed but at least one seems intact in the 11th photo.

The cap is certainly off the rod in the 4th photo and the bearing shells have spun in the 5th.....

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

haven't seen an engine kill its self like that for a while.....

I'd say the same as fast carl , rather a lot of instant gaskit all over, possible cause.

what Rpm did she go out?

Cheers, Andrew

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Little car Little power........... For now That is!!!!!

1983 mini down paid, must collect soon and get welding!
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Nice!!!


time for a certain head............ haha

Unlucky

Lads, the cause was running with no oil. Oil pressure light came on whilst driving on the motorway so I put 3 litres in to get it to minimum. Then kept driving it. the rod that failed was furthest from the oil pump. There wasn't enough oil to get to that end of the block, the big end bearing failed and I kept driving it until the rod snapped. The big end bolts were fine

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

I don't think the location of the oil pump had any bearing on which rod fialed first (excuse the puhn)

If you had to put 3 litres oil in it, that should have told you something

A perfectly good engine and box just wasted, you lot must have money to burn

Edited by Sprocket on 4th Apr, 2009.

It wasn't a perfectly good box Sprocket. Second gear synchros were wanked

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

yar, that'd be fucked that'd be

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Ok lads Gary went for his NCT on friday last week. He filled it with
oil and went his
way. On tuesday he went for a spin to a local river about 200miles from dublin which the car done no problam. On his way home, about 20miles from home the oil light flicked on on a down shif,he then stoped in the nearest garrage and put in 3L of oil. Drove it anouther few miles when engine lost power very quickly after that the rod broke, bear in mind this all happened at motorway speeds, where this type of failure hapens very quickly. The engine block is a wright of the gearbox is NOT, it needs a small patch and a little clean and it will
fight another day :)

Edited by PaulH on 4th Apr, 2009.

would it have been cheaper to get a tow truck?

how fast do you go on the motorway?

good to see a replacement is already underway!

Aussie Supercharged 1360 Clubby

The limit is 120Kph

And it did end on a toe truck

Thread Cleaned - keep it nice on here folks...

AlexF

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

bad luck !

as soo as the oil light came on you should have shut down the engine pronto !

any way its a costly mistake lads

We all say shut the engine down, but who does when ur miles from home! I didnt and it cost me my turbo and thrusts. Lucky really.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

AlexF

Fair enough but if it needed three litres of oil to get it to the minimum, surely sense would say that the oil you have just put in is going the same way as the original oil.

Three litres plus of oil lost is not just an oil leak now is it.

I think what spaceboy was saying is that it would have been cheaper to get the tow truck at the point of relising the engine had lost 3 litres of oil, at least the engine would still be in one piece and the box wouldnt have a hole in it. Either way there is the cost of the tow.

Having said that, its made way for a bigger engine, and a few mantle trophies, which is not such a bad thing after all now is it

Its an easy way to make raised crown pistons. I asume it was a 12g940 head?

Rod, that wasn't directed at you. Did I quote you by mistake? If so, I apologise.

The conrod (using the full name to differenciate from your name ) end cap was actually just as the picture showed when I separated engine from box. However, the bolts had good thread as did the conrod. It appears that they simply vibrated out as a result of the knocking.

I will fix the gearbox in the next couple of weeks. I need to find a second gear though as it is rough and has been since long before I bought the car.

I completely agree about the standard light and its function. I believe it comes on at 4psi!

If anyone is still a bit confused by me driving after the light came on, there are a few reasons. I knew the engine was coming out for some serious work once the light came on. Also, the engine was built for the cost of a diff pin and gasket set. I had bearings and rings spare from the first iteration of the engine build that is now the 1098 turbo. Thirdly, I was getting ring gaps of almost 1mm and the ringlands were sloppy when building the engine. So an overbore and pistons were needed anyway.


I'm back on the road now anyway. 1380 with pre-verto clutch, a rebuilt gearbox and megajolt. I just need a stronger diaphragm to stop clutch slip.

On 12th Nov, 2009 Paul S said:

I think Gary OS has taken over my role as the forum smart arse

On 5th Apr, 2009 GaryOS said:
The conrod (using the full name to differenciate from your name ) end cap was actually just as the picture showed when I separated engine from box. However, the bolts had good thread as did the conrod. It appears that they simply vibrated out as a result of the knocking.

Edited by Rod S on 5th Apr, 2009.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Have to agree with Colin, Rod using loctite on rod bolts is a very bad idea.

The cap most defently did not come lose first.