Engine autopsy

05smoker

I'm officially done!
Mar 30, 2007
2,379
0
36
Lebanon, OH
I guess the jury is still out on whether the Mahle Forged pistons are plenty adequate though. I mean, we've seen Pat's set that got really hot and failed, we've seen Matt's that failed due to heat via nitrous, I'm sure there are others that have failed but have they been failing because of inadequacy or because of unneeded abuse? Sure, they are more brittle than the Arias, that much I've learned, but if the Arias eats rings up and possibly bores too, why go through the hassle? Some have called the Mahle a "compromise piston" but until I see a situation where they failed or caused a different failure without extenuating circumstances I don't think that's a valid claim against them.

Didn't camomax melt a set of the Mahles?
 

Akdiesel

IFS Hater
Aug 23, 2009
2,213
0
0
Fairbanks
I'm not sure some of you guy's are being real with your want's! You are NOT going to have a 1k motor and drive it like escort! You are NOT going to run 10's and NOT have to work on it! The Mahle piston will work for a daily driver/racer/puller and hold up FAIRLY well. Pat was doing something hard on a motor and nobody had really done until he did it with a duramax so it was a step learning curve. It's hard that's why nobody had done it. He learned a lot and will benifit from it. Matt's truck (with stock pistons) had stock injectors. You can only get so much fuel from stock injector's! You add a bunch of nitrous with a limited amount of fuel it will live for a little bit. Now he is running stock pistons with big injectors so we will get a better idea of how long that will last. I hope it holds up well then all we need to do is put rods in these motors and let them eat. It would be a lot cheaper for everyone. If he gets a season out of it it would be stupid to build a motor! Get a stocker, put rods in it and have at it. Nothing will last forever no matter how much money you have or what supertuner you have or who you know! It's still mechanical and it will still break! Jeff

Well put! So matt didn't even touch his pistons and just put rods in it? That's a pretty neat idea it'll be nice to see how it does.
 

camomax

pushing the limits
Nov 5, 2008
503
0
0
54
Florida
Didn't camomax melt a set of the Mahles?
Yes Ed. My forged made about 8 total passes(6 on spray) before melting a quarter sized hole down the outer wall of one. What bothered me the most was the way all 7 others were deteriorating rapidly(spray pattern).

Well put! So matt didn't even touch his pistons and just put rods in it? That's a pretty neat idea it'll be nice to see how it does.

They are 80,??? mi stockers. Out and right back in with rods. I will keep you guys updated. So far they have 10 passes. Half were 1/8 mi(6.50s to 6.70s)
 

duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
7,139
10
0
Wyoming
what temp does the piston itself see at sustained wot under load? HOT!!!, some people peg 2000* pyrometers and that's not even as high as cylinder temps

Dustin he asked what temp does the PISTON ITSELF SEE. The piston is not getting to 2000*, Ill tell you that right now. Come on, its aluminum, it would have melted way before then...
 

dmaxfireman

'Can do' kind of guy
Apr 8, 2007
2,329
1
38
CT
ok if ALL cracking failures are parallel to the wrist pin then what is the wrist pin diameter in relation to the wrist pin bore on the piston.

the lbzs all have brass bushings that may be the cause. i'm just throwing ideas out that may help us narrow down the culprit and work our way on to the next weakest link (hopefully a more easily serviceable one for when we break them hahaha)
 

sweetdiesel

That's better
Aug 6, 2006
10,390
0
0
51
Thailand
Simon, it wasn't a dig at you buddy, sorry if it came across that way.

No worries:)

Tuning was the least of my issues last year.

The biggest mistake i made was using procomp jounce bumpers off a lifted truck on the rear, We thought it would push down the axle:(
Instead it would bounce on shifts! Sooo the harder the launch the slower i would go Hence the poor 60s all year on low ET passes. The first 10 second pass of the season was actually with a 2.1 second 60'

I also think that was the reason for taking out the trans from it bouncing into second gear.You could not see it in any vids that we got but alot of people in the crowd said it litterly jumped on the shift and then bang snap carnage.

When we got to the end of the season we put Rancho 9000 and removed the jounce bumpers and the truck really came alive for the first time of the season but i was so scared to launch hard and break something from all the carnage all season that i litterly walked the 60s up by 3 psi boost increments. Like I said the 1st 10 sec pass was 10.8 at 140mph with a 2.1 60

I took out 2 intercoolers,2 brand new turbos 1 flexplate, 2 converters 1 c2 hub and blew out a slick on the front going well over 130mph and be darned if i could keep a intercooler boot from blowing!!!!!! The DPR oil pump that i have has cost me thousands of dollars:(:( I actually have a true 1" drain off my PBK turbo now and this is the exact same setup that trent ran with the normal 1/2" but beecause of the high volume pump it destroyed the brand new turbos:cool: SOOOO NOOO i dont worry about what you say:D I do however not worry at the end of the day what my pistons are doing and if im being um whats the word? "unessicarly rough"

Im not bitching cause honestly a lot of fellow members have had worse luck, but it does start to frustrate a person when ya work so hard and it just doesnt work!


Juddski you are however right to follow people on this forum....i gained a ton of knowlege and if you can even learn a lil bit from me then good on ya:)
 

sweetdiesel

That's better
Aug 6, 2006
10,390
0
0
51
Thailand
Dustin he asked what temp does the PISTON ITSELF SEE. The piston is not getting to 2000*, Ill tell you that right now. Come on, its aluminum, it would have melted way before then...:rolleyes:


Ben, you know if you just answered the question instead of coming off with attitude......More people might respect you.


JUST SAYIN
 

othrgrl

Diesel Addiction Owner
Mar 10, 2008
2,150
4
38
Wilmington NC
www.mydieseladdiction.com
Dustin he asked what temp does the PISTON ITSELF SEE. The piston is not getting to 2000*, Ill tell you that right now. Come on, its aluminum, it would have melted way before then...

Ben, you know if you just answered the question instead of coming off with attitude......More people might respect you.


JUST SAYIN

Agreed, and the guy asked what a piston sees, not what the temperature of the metal is.

The piston is exposed to temps that exceed 3000 degrees. Thankfully, the piston itself does not get that hot.

Exactly what I was explaining - I've been in and seen 120* temperatures, doesn't mean that my core temperature got that high.
 

Fingers

Village Idiot
Vendor/Sponsor
Apr 1, 2008
1,713
84
48
White Oak, PA
The famous kid's experiment. Take a blow torch to a paper cup full of water. The paper does not burn below the water line.
 

Colt

New member
Jul 23, 2010
523
0
0
Please report your torch findings. Mine is put away real far back, I have to know.
 

Fingers

Village Idiot
Vendor/Sponsor
Apr 1, 2008
1,713
84
48
White Oak, PA
Playing with FEA

Ive been fine tuning a bowl design that I hope to cut into the top of some pistons. In the process, I ran it's model and the model for the Stock LLY and delipped LLY pistons through a Finite Element Analysis program. All three were run with the same anticipated load on the piston face. Only the chamber designs differ.

Stock LLY:

This first image highlights where the stress in the piston exceeds the strength of the material. No surprise there.

attachment.php


This colorful bugger is the stress distribution.

attachment.php


Delipped LLY:

This is from a model of a typical delipped LLY piston. Same as before. The Chamber is slightly larger than the stock, so compression and ultimately, the pressure on the piston would be less, but this analysis used the same load.

attachment.php


attachment.php


Oval Chamber:

Here is a design I have been working through. The chamber is the same volume as the stock LLY. The load is the same as the previous two models.

attachment.php


attachment.php
 
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rcr1978

Active member
Apr 1, 2007
790
26
28
Spring Creek, NV
John, are you going to get some blanks somewhere to machine? I guess there is no room left in a stocker if the chamber volume is going to be kept the same. This is pretty neat I would like to see some results.