Opps! I melted my engine...

[nutron]

Actually I did it about six months ago but I've been busy. Problem is I don't know when the damage was done for sure. I carried out some experiments with butane/propane that resulted in some rather large bangs and lots of oil flting about on several occasions. I have also run a rather large amount of NOS through it. I'm fairly sure that the 100% methanol injection, using Aquamists 2ltr/minute industrial pump on a 1mm and a 0.7mm would not have been not have been good for it though.

I ran it on the rollers a month before it died and it kicked out 235 wheel horse power (est 270bhp) and 380lbft (est 405@fly). The torque is quite low because the clutch can't hold it, infact I was suprised it held that much as it usuall starts slipping around 350lbft. I was running methanol and Nos and it showed no sign of dying then. On my way back from a show some the next month I was running just methanol and as I came down the on ramp (not fast either), there was a noise, some reduction in power (not loss) and a big black cloud behind me. I pulled over and check it over and found the sump was heavily pressurized. So I came to the conclusion that the piston seals had gone and got it towed home. When they dropped the engine out, I found that one of the pistons had actually cracked clean in two vertically down the middle. All four piston heads had been melted baddly too. Unsurpprisingly Vauxhall didn't want to pay for a new engine in my 07 Reg Vectra, as they suspected I might have tuned it...

So I found a brand new engine to go in and had that fitted and now feel some 4,000 pounds lighter! Not doing that again for a while but sure enough, the water/methanol kit was back on within a week. I'll keep the ratio at 50:50 though now and not use the unrestricted NOS injection.

[raddy]

can you post some pictures of piston damage?

[nutron]

I kept the piston, it's in the back of the car but I'm abroad for another three weeks. The pistons had buckets in the top and all the edge and the flat top surfaces showed signs of melting (suprised it didn't sieze at some point). The crack runs all the way through straight down the centre. I also had trouble with a leaking injector seal on that cylinder so I'm not sure if there was a problem with that cylinder before I started or if that cylinder just draws in my air because of it's placement relative to the intake manifold.