So, since my last update on 22nd November when the car was at Brands Hatch for a show & shine competition, you may have noticed I've been a bit quiet...
Today, I am back to break my silence! Many of you have been asking questions over the past few weeks and it seems that there have been a few rumours flying around as well. I told a few of the guys that attended the Christmas Bash what had happened but today I got to see the real extent of the damage.
Unfortunately, during the last dyno run of the day at Abbey Motorsport at the end of November for the final stage of tuning, Mark phoned me to break the bad news that the engine had gone pop (more of a BANG according to him!) and that we need to strip the engine down after just 2,100 miles of running after being rebuilt with the HKS stroker kit.
After finishing the call with Mark, my head was all over the place. We were both very confused as to how this could happen after we've ensured that every single component necessary to be upgraded to take the new charger was looked at. This project has been months in the making and to hear that it had let go after such a short amount of running time, I was absolutely gutted. I told Mark that there was no rush to get it looked at as I had no plans for the car until Spring 2016 - I wanted to make sure that we didn't rush into anything and see what has happened before we made any further plans.
However, over the Christmas break, my mind started jumping to all sorts of conclusions. I started doing some research on other 86's that had gone bang and came across various threads on the FT86 forum stating that the rocker pins for the cams are prone to failure on boosted engines due to poor manufacturing quality control in the factory. Below are a couple of pictures showing what can happen and a comparison of 2 OEM rockers which you can see are quite different
Praying that this was the issue, I started to look at stronger heads which there are a few companies in the States that offer such services and products. But unfortunately, Mark confirmed that it was a rod that had let go so my hopes were smashed and I once again felt absolutely gutted that a main component that we had upgraded was at fault.
Over the weeks I even started to look at completely changing my plans for the car. 2JZ and LS swaps were investigated, but I was just getting ahead of myself before knowing all the facts and I don't really have a spare £15k for an engine conversion...I even seriously considered selling the car in recent weeks. Just jacking it all in and starting with something new. But I've somehow managed to hold onto my optimism and stick with my original plans despite the situation we're currently in.
Today I met with Mark to see the devastation for myself. It's not pretty - I'll let the pictures do the talking...
Picture showing that the big end bearing is perfectly fine and was still attached to the crank
Basically, rod #4 has decided not to play ball. Although the rods aren't actually forged like the pistons and crank are, they are still made of a "high strength material" according to HKS which are rated to 550ps (about 500bhp) so this should have happened.
All of the bearings on the crank are fine. Piston #4 has the large chunk taken out of the side so it looks as if the small connecting end has suffered as a result of the rod snapping. As it was all still connected to the crank, this has then "windmilled" around inside the crank case causing the huge gouge marks in the case itself. AMAZINGLY none of the valves are bent and both heads are fine...HOW? We have no idea
Mark has had a sample of oil inspected and tested by Millers who have reported back with the oil performing as it should with no issues. So there was no oil starvation or anything that caused this. It simply looks to be a faulty part. Mark has been speaking to Maz at HKS about all this who will be inspecting the parts himself next week before sending them onto Japan for an official inspection and report.
Whilst I fully appreciate that internals come with no warranty as such, running at just over half the 500bhp rating and with only 2,100 miles on them, I would never expect to see such a major failure as this. Yes it's extremely disappointing but I have full confidence in Maz. HKS and their products - it's just one of those things unfortunately.
The next few weeks will probably be even more nerve-racking than the last few months while I wait to hear back from HKS. We'll just have to wait and see...
