LBZ cracked piston - What long block to with ?

Bdsankey

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They burnt the coating off the boat engines Pistons on marks Dyno not long ago.

Which coating? I know KDD and a few others haven't had the Tech Line Polyphen Gold coating burn off but who knows. I don't know what coating SoCal uses but Gabe has told me they've pulled apart engines with 100k+ miles without the coating coming off.
 

blackneck94

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Apr 19, 2017
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Which coating? I know KDD and a few others haven't had the Tech Line Polyphen Gold coating burn off but who knows. I don't know what coating SoCal uses but Gabe has told me they've pulled apart engines with 100k+ miles without the coating coming off.

Gabe seemed to think that mine were originally coated by SoCal when he had a look. Unfortunately I do not know the age or mileage on them. The only thing I know for sure about the life they lived is that the engine had compounds and 200% injectors.

For what it’s worth, the engine these pistons came out of had the first generation PPE manifolds, perhaps hinting that the coating has remained intact since the days prior to the updated manifolds were released some years ago. That’s just a shot in the dark though.

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OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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Hoping Anthony just had a lemon set of the mahle OE pistons, I just found out that's whats in my motor, not the isuzu/ gm lb7 pistons.
 
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OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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Also I called wagler since they use the mahle OE style pistons in their streetfighter series engines. They said they rate them for 800 hp but people are running them 1000+ and they are not aware of any piston problems so far. Anthony, did you just break one piston or multiple?
 
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gmduramax

Shits broke
Jun 12, 2008
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Also I called wagler since they use the mahle OE style pistons in their streetfighter series engines. They said they rate them for 800 hp but people are running them 1000+ and they are not aware of any piston problems so far. Andrew did you just break one piston or multiple?

They rate their engines at the crank so that is like 650hp to the tires. Two had holes and every single one was cracked across the top on mine
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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They rate their engines at the crank so that is like 650hp to the tires. Two had holes and every single one was cracked across the top on mine
Well I really really hope yours was just a bad set, somethin seems off about all 8 bein bad within 30,000 miles. Lbz pistons aint even that crappy. What was ur air/fuel setup at that time? Also curious whos tuning you were running..
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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Ill know soon I guess how crappy they really are, anthony your user name makes perfect sense now haha
 
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gmduramax

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Jun 12, 2008
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Well I really really hope yours was just a bad set, somethin seems off about all 8 bein bad within 30,000 miles. Lbz pistons aint even that crappy. What was ur air/fuel setup at that time? Also curious whos tuning you were running..

it’s Anthony.

stock LMM pistons lasted 25k. Had around 300 passes on those. Mahle oem has around 400 passes. Same tuning I have now with 70k and maybe 500ish passes ranging from 600-1000hp
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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I'm really curious how many others are having the same problem as anthony with mahle oem pistons, I called wagler again since I had originally talked with a new guy there. Got Austin this time and he said they are having just as much luck with the mahle oem pistons as they are the mahle motorsports, he said he knew of 2 streetfigher/piston failures one was on a 1355 hp pull on their dyno and the other was due to a different issue that grenaded the piston. I wish some others that are running them would chime in!
 

ski1

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Dec 3, 2010
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Been a while and really slow, bu the motor is in and and everything is complete. Last issue is a p0003a, commanded and actual vane positions are not matching. Turbo was sent back to Danville, replacement is experiencing similar issues. A different vane sensor was installed, issue still exists.....

can the ecm be an issue? The truck is still at the shop I went with for install, really long story I will share in the future. Waiting on more info from the shop, but if anyone has any ideas what to try, I am all ears, thanks.
 

ski1

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Dec 3, 2010
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Looks like the unison ring is sticking in the second Danville refurb turbo.... mark, if you see, I am trying to get ahold of you. Your counter guy is not helpful, this is the second turbo now my installer received and appears to be a fail.... I get you are busy, but you should be available for customers and not have the counter guy blocking access with no way to get ahold of you
 

KyleC4

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Dec 30, 2016
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Don’t worry. Mark and the guys at Danville will get you taken care of. Make sure your installer checks the oil feed to the turbo for adequate supply if you’re still feeding it from the #4 cam bearing.
 

ski1

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Dec 3, 2010
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Las Cruces, NM
Don’t worry. Mark and the guys at Danville will get you taken care of. Make sure your installer checks the oil feed to the turbo for adequate supply if you’re still feeding it from the #4 cam bearing.
Im more than concerned, two failed refurb turbos, customer service blocks comms with mark, now another 2+ weeks to get it replaced.... very disappointing. Not sure if i should just go a different direction if these turbos arw that fickle
 

Bdsankey

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Im more than concerned, two failed refurb turbos, customer service blocks comms with mark, now another 2+ weeks to get it replaced.... very disappointing. Not sure if i should just go a different direction if these turbos arw that fickle

Have you checked oil supply like stated above? Have you tried emailing Mark? He is very busy and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t handle the billing or shipping side.


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ski1

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Dec 3, 2010
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Have you checked oil supply like stated above? Have you tried emailing Mark? He is very busy and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t handle the billing or shipping side.


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According the shop, oil pressure and volume are good. Yes, emailed Mark, hope to hear back soon. 2 Refurb turbos sticking vanes has me more than hesitant to trusit a third. the shop is coordinating, I just want to connect with mark to try to get a known good unit, didn’t realize anew turbo could be this challenging....
 

OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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So how about the Mahle OE pistons, best I can tell they are still being used in the wagler streetfighter engines. I can't believe they aren't having a lot of issues by now, it's been long enough.
 

Chevy1925

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Oct 21, 2009
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So how about the Mahle OE pistons, best I can tell they are still being used in the wagler streetfighter engines. I can't believe they aren't having a lot of issues by now, it's been long enough.

they wont tell you if they are, thats bad marketing lol. I very much am still against them.
 
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OleBlackyLBZ

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May 22, 2020
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So from what I am seeing a piston weakens over time due to stress and temperature cycles. For example, Mark bent all the rods in a stock lbz at a little over 800hp but the pistons were fine. I broke a piston under 600hp but only after beating the crap out of it for about 75,000 miles. So what about the gm lb7 pistons? You see them ran in 800hp builds and they hold fine, But will they last a good while at say 700hp?
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
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Oct 21, 2009
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if you delip them, buy new, run a small pulse width at that 700, have more air than fuel at 700, i would not worry about them. i had 80-85k on my delipped LB7 pistons in the first built engine (total of 200k+ on them) and the only issue with them was pitting from eating coolant. That engine never saw under 500hp. i know of quite a few other engines that have done the same. another engine ive done has 50k on it so far on new LB7 delipped pistons pushing 600hp with no issues. hes running a 1100uS pulse width with twins. EGT's stay 1300 max.
 

S Phinney

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Aug 15, 2008
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From my experiences deli PPE’s and Mahle Motorsports pistons have done ok as long as I stayed away from compounds. Once I did that they wouldn’t hold up very long at all. Fingers bowl design has done very good as well as forged. The Mahle Motorsport pistons from what I have been told from a very reliable source are rated at 850 -1000hp max.


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