So I recently installed a VMP TVS setup with a 79mm pulley. The install went well, nothing really difficult about it. Those worried about the timing cover, it's honestly not as bad as it may seem. The dual fan AFCO does require a good bit of cutting on the lower bumper/grill area to get proper fitment. Again nothing major. The car felt great. Justin's base tune fired up, idled smooth, and the car ran great. The parts arrived quickly. The kit was extremely nice. Everything seemed on track.
Until... I had the setup together for 200 miles. Had some minor bugs, but nothing major. Finally got the car completely sorted, and was going to the track last Sunday. Had Justin from VMP send me a revised tune that Saturday, and headed out to the local car meet. On the way home Saturday night decided to give it a 3rd gear pull into 4th as I had a good bit of road to stretch the cars legs. That was a mistake. Car pulled fine into 4th, and poof. The smoke gremlins released themselves, and I killed every mosquito in the area.
Since I was literally a few turns and a quarter mile away from home I limped it there. Saved the data log (will post it for those interested), and started to pull things apart. Pulled the driver side first, actually went right to #8.
First off here are the passenger side plugs #1-4 (left to right):
These look pretty good. The heat range was right as per the line on the strap. You can see #5-8 on the bottom, and by now you can probably spot the issue.
Now here is the driver side #5-8 (again left to right):
#6 was definitely full of oil. #5, #7, and #8 all had oil on the strap with #5 and surprisingly #8 the best of the bunch.
Looking into the combustion chamber from the spark plug hole showed a huge pool of oil in #6 and #7.
Tore it down a bit more. Pulled the upper off, elbow, and throttle body. The throttle body has just a little oil in it, as did the elbow. The upper had a good bit of oil in it, and there was some on the lower as well.
I am pretty sure that the ultimate cause of failure was detonation. Finding oil in the blower also points to a lot of crankcase pressure which was pushed back through the PCV into the blower (didn't have a catch can setup yet, was on my list of things to purchase). From the log I saw a good bit of timing, something I didn't see in the initial logs. Not sure what happened, but I know it's either unhappy ringlands or a cracked piston(s).
Here is the log for those interested (pull happens at 7 minutes):
http://www.techwerkz.com/kaboom.zip
So looks like a built short block is in my future. Might as well aim a bit higher this time. From the other thread with a 75mm and this setup making 650/600, I would assume I was in the 620-630 range with the 79mm, if not a little more. I hit 12-13lbs of boost.
The worst part about all this is the car was in straight race car mode with the new Welds as well:
Would have been great to see what it ran. :shrug:
Until... I had the setup together for 200 miles. Had some minor bugs, but nothing major. Finally got the car completely sorted, and was going to the track last Sunday. Had Justin from VMP send me a revised tune that Saturday, and headed out to the local car meet. On the way home Saturday night decided to give it a 3rd gear pull into 4th as I had a good bit of road to stretch the cars legs. That was a mistake. Car pulled fine into 4th, and poof. The smoke gremlins released themselves, and I killed every mosquito in the area.
Since I was literally a few turns and a quarter mile away from home I limped it there. Saved the data log (will post it for those interested), and started to pull things apart. Pulled the driver side first, actually went right to #8.
First off here are the passenger side plugs #1-4 (left to right):
These look pretty good. The heat range was right as per the line on the strap. You can see #5-8 on the bottom, and by now you can probably spot the issue.
Now here is the driver side #5-8 (again left to right):
#6 was definitely full of oil. #5, #7, and #8 all had oil on the strap with #5 and surprisingly #8 the best of the bunch.
Looking into the combustion chamber from the spark plug hole showed a huge pool of oil in #6 and #7.
Tore it down a bit more. Pulled the upper off, elbow, and throttle body. The throttle body has just a little oil in it, as did the elbow. The upper had a good bit of oil in it, and there was some on the lower as well.
I am pretty sure that the ultimate cause of failure was detonation. Finding oil in the blower also points to a lot of crankcase pressure which was pushed back through the PCV into the blower (didn't have a catch can setup yet, was on my list of things to purchase). From the log I saw a good bit of timing, something I didn't see in the initial logs. Not sure what happened, but I know it's either unhappy ringlands or a cracked piston(s).
Here is the log for those interested (pull happens at 7 minutes):
http://www.techwerkz.com/kaboom.zip
So looks like a built short block is in my future. Might as well aim a bit higher this time. From the other thread with a 75mm and this setup making 650/600, I would assume I was in the 620-630 range with the 79mm, if not a little more. I hit 12-13lbs of boost.
The worst part about all this is the car was in straight race car mode with the new Welds as well:
Would have been great to see what it ran. :shrug:
Last edited:
