I wanted to post this thread, because I really want to vent about this. So basically this is my 3rd built motor to spin a bearing in less than a year. I am pretty mad and frustrated at this point. The 1st built motor was in the car when I bought it. It had around 10k miles on the build right around 380whp(20psi). I drove the car as it was for 3 months no issues. Didn't burn oil etc.
By this time I am ready for more power. So I contacted Tom at tscompusa seeing that I had good results with remote tuning with previous cars. He completley retunes the car and it is a new animal with 492whp. The same night Its starts to miss at wot. Stock ignition couldn't keep up. I get a spoolin cop ordered right away. As I am on my way home I hear a tap. It sounded bad... I soon to find out a I spun a bearing. I thought to myself S*** happens. I know of a local guy/shop that has alot of experience with built motors and dsms. I contact him and decide to let him rebuild the engine. I also send my trans to shep, to get freshend up. I try to do things once and do it right.
Fast forward a month, and I am ready to put car back together I have a fresh exedy twin, trans, spoolin cop, new gaskets, and fresh motor. I am very excited at this point. I check all fluids and watch for leaks etc, everything checks out ok. I put a 100 easy miles on it and keep an eye on everything. I make sure hallman is turned all the way down on wg spring(20psi). I do a few pulls car feels good. I bust out the laptop to watch afr and knock count and start to turn boost up. The Boost gets near 30psi. I let off and tap tap tap tap . Motor has only 114 miles. Once you hear this sound once You can't forget it. I unplug coilpack #4 sound goes away. Looks like I have spun a bearing once again. I am Sick to my stomach.
I call builder, He didn't admit it was his fault. But says he won't charge me labor if I buy the parts. At this point, I am a bit leary of his engine building skills. I decide to give buschur racing a call. I talk to nick@buschur, he says they don't rebuild engines, But only build their own. Sounds good to me, do it once do it right. I decide to go with buschur 2.0 stage 3 shortblock. I told him I didn't want no surprises and he was very helpful. So along with my new short block being built. I order complete oem gasket kit , timing belt kit, front cover, oil pump and oil cooler delete kit. I also get everything hot tanked. I liked buschur racing because they are straight forward with you. Outstanding products with good customer service. I then find out from buschur racing that previous engine builder installed the wrong size bearings! Not cool .
Once I got everything back from buschur and new parts etc, I start to assemble everything. Fast forward a week and I have a built evo 8 ready to hit the streets once again. I proceed to drive the car and I liked the fact, no break in required . I contact tom and we get tune dialed back in. The car rips makes a hair over 500whp. I do notice a bit of oil consumption. No big deal I keep an eye on it and top it off every half tank. So I daily drive the car over winter for next few months. Fast forward to 5 months and 7,800 miles later. I am on my way to work temps got warmer I have my windows down. I hear a faint tap, I thought to myself wtf? It can't be... well it is A SPUN BEARING! Now I am at a crossroads and am losing faith in my evo...I don't know if its worth dumping more money into just to let me down once again!

car was never low on oil not more than a qt..
I always ran brad penn 20w50 and 10w30 in winter..
Why Do I keep losing motors to bearings!?
Is it not realistic to have a 500whp daily driven evo?

 

contamination in the oil will kill rod bearings quite easily. very difficult to get all the particles out after the first failure. oil coolers reused causes it most of time. but reusing the head without cleaning it will do it as well. virtually any reused part can hide particles that dont come out even with cleaning. that loosen and get you later.
shame more builders dont recommend Nitrided cranks in their builds. The slightest knock on untreated crank will damage the journal. With treated crank you can drop the pan and install fresh bearings and you are ready to rock. sounds like two engine rebuilds could have been avoided if they had been built with nitrided crank. I had a customer call me after his first engine build had an oil change. car came back to me with only 30psi pressure and very loud knock. Saw the pan had been used to jack car up. starved pickup tube of oil. car was driven two weeks on very low oil pressure. Pulled pan to find bearing completely wiped. car ran perfect with just new bearings swapped in.
heres a picture of the bearing shells from that engine.

 

Did you check your oil often with the Buschur motor? Those motors consume a good amount of oil and have to be checked often (they are are built pretty loose compared to a stock motor with tight clearances). Also, did you replace your oil cooler before putting in your new motor?

Either way, sorry to hear about your luck

 

Yikes. I'd have a tough time not just pushing the car off of a cliff after all of that, let alone selling it and building something else. How are you driving it? Mashing the throttle all day every day? How high do you rev it out? 8,000+? If you're hard on it, and your goal is a 500 whp daily, then I think you'd be better off building a 2.3L or 2.4L, then you can run fewer revs and less boost to achieve your HP goals, and SHOULD experience greater engine longevity.

 

If you never replaced your oil cooler after the first spun bearing that is more than likely your problem...

 

^^^^ That could definitely do it. Wish it was standard among engine builders for turbo'd applications when rebuilding after a failure.

 

Serisouly guys, read the thread. He says in the post that he bought an oil cooler delete kit...

 

That didn't happen until after the first two failures.

 

Sorry to hear about this man, I feel your pain.

 

horrible story.

 

I'm with 94awdcoupe on this one, from 2008!


the oil contamination makes more sense than your motor mysteriously spinning bearings. The crank might be the problem coupled with any type of possible contamination in the oil or dirty head.

 

3 in one year is crazy. I'm not sure I could deal with that.

 

Has this always been the same block? I find it hard to believe that much hardware problems isnt related to some hardware issue, i.e. mainline on the block, oil galley, etc.

Do you have an oil pressure gauge on the car? If so what has it been reading? What does the turbo look like?

Aaron

 

I think after two in a year I'd be on suicide watch.



Best of luck moving forward

 

you ran the buschur engine on 10W30 in winter? i dont know what he recommends, but 10W30 is awful thin for a built engine with loose clearances.