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Broke a piston on 17 lbs WHY!!!

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Old 05-06-2009, 11:45 AM
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Detonation and the wrong piston for it. Did you verify the timing was at 21 with a light at high rpm, are you using coils and a MSD 6010?
Old 05-06-2009, 12:05 PM
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That piston doesn't look burnt in that picture. Looks like the ringland just snapped off. That could just be from too much cylinder pressure for that piston. Could be from detonation. How did the plugs look?
Old 05-06-2009, 12:15 PM
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Originally Posted by SoCalSpd
I was surprised to see so many posts until KP's about the powerpak pistons...

You have far surpassed the capability of that piston. Its a 4032 alloy that I wouldnt run over about 8-10 psi on (600 rwhp would be my recommended limit for a converter/auto or maybe closer to 700 rwhp on a stick car).

You need to go to a 2618 alloy custom piston /w lowered ring lands, upgraded hell-fire or stainless top ring and upgraded tool steel pins.

If this is that piston you are talking about, then basicly those pistons are no better than stock piston's!!!
Old 05-06-2009, 12:53 PM
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Originally Posted by blazingfast
My 408 317 headed twin 76 blow thru was just sneeking up on running some good numbers went 5.06 140 then 5.05 140 .Then on the 3rd pass on 17lbs right in the lights made a noise went 5.10 136. Got it home took the head off and #2 has a hole on the side down to the first ring. piston is a Mahle powerpak which is forged alum.AFR was 6.6 on E85,timing was 21. Any ideas on this
5.06 in the 1/8?
Old 05-06-2009, 01:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Phil99vette
5.06 in the 1/8?
Engine is in a 1964 GTO sq tube chassis car on 10.5s. Dont have it out of the car yet. Knock would have showed on the log. AFR was fat and happy all 3 passes
Old 05-06-2009, 01:02 PM
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Originally Posted by HUNTER02SS
Engine is in a 1964 GTO sq tube chassis car on 10.5s. Dont have it out of the car yet. Knock would have showed on the log. AFR was fat and happy all 3 passes
Yeah, I saw that....
Old 05-06-2009, 01:09 PM
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i purchased the power for my build then heard some bad rumors about the powerpak pistons icallthier tech he told them my build an boost i planed to run (25--30)psi 6 boltsEptheads Lsx block. his word was dont use them but we can make you a set that will work i ended up useing Diamonds no problem yet i had used diamonds before on (20-25)psi car ran 540s at137-140 mph never aproblem till one day bang!!!!!
Old 05-06-2009, 01:23 PM
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We started with diamonds and are now running a set of custom JE pistons for our LSx, the diamonds just weren't made right.
Old 05-06-2009, 04:55 PM
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Originally Posted by SoCalSpd
I was surprised to see so many posts until KP's about the powerpak pistons...

You have far surpassed the capability of that piston. Its a 4032 alloy that I wouldnt run over about 8-10 psi on (600 rwhp would be my recommended limit for a converter/auto or maybe closer to 700 rwhp on a stick car).

You need to go to a 2618 alloy custom piston /w lowered ring lands, upgraded hell-fire or stainless top ring and upgraded tool steel pins.
Thanks for the reply. Why is it you always find out about these things after the fact. Wow!! 600 rwhp I had to be pushing over 950 @ the wheel because 60' was off .06 would have been 4.98 @ 140.
what would a set of dish pistons and rings like I need cost? i have to see what I end up with head wise before i can tell you dish size the old ones were -12s
Old 05-06-2009, 05:05 PM
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I was in the same boat, but I will tell you this. I detonated the **** out of my motor at 17 psi. I was running the Mahle Power Pak L92 pistons too!
The pistons held up great, there are a few pepper marks on almost all of them, but nothing broken. The coating held up well too. Totally reusable, but will put some 2618's in it and crank the boost way up!
Oh I ran 5.60 on that pass, but it didn't start detonating until high gear in the last 1/8th, still ran a 8.84 at only 151.
Old 05-06-2009, 05:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Phil99vette
5.06 in the 1/8?
Yes 5.05 @ 140 in th 1/8 1.19 60'. The weekend before it went 1.14 60' but was going left. Fixed that and went on T&T night and could only go 1.19 60'. Your mustang has the engine like I need, But I dont want to do the time for robbing a bank. LOL!!! I was worried about lifting the heads and had a ticking bomb inside I guess i was lucky it didn't destory everything
Old 05-06-2009, 05:21 PM
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Originally Posted by hellbents10
Detonation and the wrong piston for it. Did you verify the timing was at 21 with a light at high rpm, are you using coils and a MSD 6010?
Coils and a 6010 with a map.I did verify the timing on the MSD screen and put air on the map and watched it take it out. You could hear the engine change sounds as the timing came out.
Old 05-06-2009, 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted by slow67
Who built the carb?
I dont want this to bacome a carb bashing thread.The carb. is working great,AFR said mid 6s on E85 plugs verify that it was fat. So if the piston was burnt we could bash the carb guy
Old 05-06-2009, 05:46 PM
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If it was too fat there may have been unburnt fuel in between the ring lands. This then combusted in between the rings breaking the piston. To fat can be just as destructive as being to lean
Old 05-06-2009, 05:51 PM
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I am not making near the power you are, but I am using a similar Mahle pistons on my vette.

19 psi (small turbos) and still holding up at the 750++ rwhp level. I am running a pretty loose gap.

Maybe your ring gap was too tight?
Old 05-06-2009, 06:26 PM
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Originally Posted by blazingfast
Yes 5.05 @ 140 in th 1/8 1.19 60'. The weekend before it went 1.14 60' but was going left. Fixed that and went on T&T night and could only go 1.19 60'. Your mustang has the engine like I need, But I dont want to do the time for robbing a bank. LOL!!! I was worried about lifting the heads and had a ticking bomb inside I guess i was lucky it didn't destory everything
Damn thats what I thought. You got an easy 7 second ride with a mild combo.
Old 05-06-2009, 06:34 PM
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When I picked out the pistons, I called Mahle several times. I told them it would be boosted, they asked how much, I said 18-20 psi, they said no problem. I did go with a different ring gap, then what was specified in the sheet with the pistons. The tech guy gave me a spec he wanted to run, and I called back to verify, because it was different then what was in the sheet. I have it wrote down, but I believe it was wider on the second ring, which is opposite of what the sheet said. He was animate about it, and I think it worked well.
The 4032 piston may not be the best for an all out combo, but the Mahle overall are a great piston.
My datalogs didn't show anything out of the ordinary when it was detonating, so that still might be the cause of the broken piston.
Old 05-06-2009, 06:58 PM
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Originally Posted by blazingfast
I dont want this to bacome a carb bashing thread.The carb. is working great,AFR said mid 6s on E85 plugs verify that it was fat. So if the piston was burnt we could bash the carb guy
I wasn't gonna bash the carb, I'm a carb guy myself. There are TONS of blowthru carbs out there nowadays. If the AFR was good, then it doesn't matter if its carb or fuel injection. Just curious
Old 05-06-2009, 07:33 PM
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Originally Posted by koolrayz
If it was too fat there may have been unburnt fuel in between the ring lands. This then combusted in between the rings breaking the piston. To fat can be just as destructive as being to lean
I'll give you that. 6.4 is max power rich
Originally Posted by Phil99vette
Damn thats what I thought. You got an easy 7 second ride with a mild combo.
I'll trade you

Originally Posted by veee8
When I picked out the pistons, I called Mahle several times. I told them it would be boosted, they asked how much, I said 18-20 psi, they said no problem. I did go with a different ring gap, then what was specified in the sheet with the pistons. The tech guy gave me a spec he wanted to run, and I called back to verify, because it was different then what was in the sheet. I have it wrote down, but I believe it was wider on the second ring, which is opposite of what the sheet said. He was animate about it, and I think it worked well.
The 4032 piston may not be the best for an all out combo, but the Mahle overall are a great piston.
My datalogs didn't show anything out of the ordinary when it was detonating, so that still might be the cause of the broken piston.
I gapped them at what the sheet said in the box

Originally Posted by slow67
I wasn't gonna bash the carb, I'm a carb guy myself. There are TONS of blowthru carbs out there nowadays. If the AFR was good, then it doesn't matter if its carb or fuel injection. Just curious
CSU- Kevin has been a big help
Old 05-06-2009, 08:49 PM
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Blazingfast,
Can you share the cam specs?


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