turbo + built bottom end still = pop

[SliverStang]

welp my best friend has been waitin for 18 months for a shop to build his engine and install a turbo. they called him last wensday and told him his car was ready to come pick it up. We got there they had not test drove it or anything and the owner tells us to just take the car so we do. The car doesn't run right so we bring it back and he gets in and makes a short run and brings it back and says that it is running fine. We hope in and go for a another test run and it seems to be running pretty good. Well we drive it to his house and go inside for about 1 hour come back out and go for another ride. This time it was making NO power it was boosting 10psi and felt like a bone stock mustang so he gets outta the gas and we start trying to find a place to turn around. Well the motor just quits while were driving down the road. No noise what so ever came from the engine it just stopped runnin so we try to start it up and will not do anything. he then called the shop that did the work and someone came and got the car. Come to find out 5 pistons are gone! This shop was suposed to tune this car and everything and this happened.From you guys experience what do you think the problem is?

 

[Josh-'96 GT]

Well, if the car wasn't tuned, that'll do it every time!!! Is that 10 psi of boost intercooled? I wouldn't run that much boost without some form of intercooling, whether its air-to-air, air-to-water, or meth/water injection...

No doubt your friend's car suffered some serious detonation, probably from a lean condition, but too much spark advance coupled with high air temps from the turbo would cause detonation as well. Either way it goes back to the tune...

 

[SliverStang]

he has the largest intercooler that you can fit on there. He has spared no expense on this car only the best stuff has been used. thatz why i can't understand why these guys cannot get his car right.

 

[sgarlic]

Doesn't really matter what's wrong with it, just tell him to bring it back there and make them fix it. If necessary, get the manager of the place to go for a ride with him.

 

[Dragstr05]

If the boost isnt too high, and everything is done right, it has to be a bad tune.

 

[DropTopPony]

Its just shotty work/tune period. 18months is a long time to wait for crap work. Tell your friend to talk to the owner and he wants it fixed asap or he will go to every online mustang forum and seriously put a dent in his business. One thing i've learned is word of mouth travels fast...Good or Bad.

 

[1fast03pony]

Shop is a bunch of morons

you cant just slap on a bunch of parts and a turbo and go around boosting

 

[sgarlic]

Wow, I didn't read the part about it taking 18 months.

On second thought, go in there, beat the owner senseless, then get your money back, and go somewhere else. A YEAR and a half for a friggen engine and turbo? I don't know who's stupidier, the owners, or your friend for allowing them to take that much time.

 

[thomas91169]

sounds like they are a very ****ty shop.

they either did a crappy tune, or built a crappy motor. either of which should be repaired and fixed by them.

sounds like its lawyer time.

 

[DBMSTNG]

it's either a crappy tune, or a crappy shortblock build. either way, it's the shops fault.

 

[DC-GT]

Turbos are not like any other power adder... If your shop doesn't have enough experience with tuning them then you will have a car that runs 10:1 A/F on the dyno and then suddenly 13+:1 on the street... That means detonation and pistons go boom.... I witnessed a TT car come off of the dyno where I watched them tune it to a flat 10:1. He then took it out on the road with his co-worker and a laptop and I was like "watcha doin now?" and he told me about how turbos load different on the road versus a dyno (even if it is equipped with full load rollers) and that "EVERY" turbo car should have a wide band O2 sensor just for that reason... Anyways, as soon as he hit the throttle the data logger showed it was headed up over 13:1 so he cut it off short, made some changes, cranked it up and did it some more... After about an hour of road tuning he let the owner drive it and it ran awesome....

 

[Josh-'96 GT]

Turbos are not like any other power adder... If your shop doesn't have enough experience with tuning them then you will have a car that runs 10:1 A/F on the dyno and then suddenly 13+:1 on the street... That means detonation and pistons go boom.... I witnessed a TT car come off of the dyno where I watched them tune it to a flat 10:1. He then took it out on the road with his co-worker and a laptop and I was like "watcha doin now?" and he told me about how turbos load different on the road versus a dyno (even if it is equipped with full load rollers) and that "EVERY" turbo car should have a wide band O2 sensor just for that reason... Anyways, as soon as he hit the throttle the data logger showed it was headed up over 13:1 so he cut it off short, made some changes, cranked it up and did it some more... After about an hour of road tuning he let the owner drive it and it ran awesome....

That's a really great point. I really couldn't believe the original post when it said the shop never even took it for a test drive! If that was my car, I would have lost my mind way before 18 months!!!