b20ricepower

Just recently finished up my build on my motor. Build consists of....

Sleeved and o-ringed 84mm gsr head 9:1 cp pistons- ring gap at .019 top and .021 second
piston to wall gap at .0040
blox stg2 cams
6765 precision journal bearing t4 divided

Car starts up and ran ok at first but now it seems as if it slowly got worse. Had great power with little smoke at the start of tuning but now its smoking quite a bit and power is not the same. Smoke is white in color. Doesn,t smell like rotten eggs because i'm only running distilled water as of right now so its hard to tell if its water or not. I also have a lot of crankcase pressure and oil is accumulating in the catch can. I thought at first it might be the rings so I did a compression test. Came back perfect with all cylinders showing 185 across the board. So this is making me think that I have a warped head. I bought the cylinder head second hand and it was shaved once before but who knows how long ago that was. I also noticed that my oil seemed very thin to me but with lack of experience i dont know if i'm being paranoid or not. Didn't visibly see any water in the oil but it seemed very watery even for being 5w-30. It was also very dark in color. Didn't smell like fuel either so its not overly rich. AFR in boost was about 11 to 1 and cruising about 14.5 to 15.5. So basically I need some suggestions on what the problem might actually be. I'm leaning towards a warped head. Any experienced engine builders want to chime in that would be great. Don't get discouraged from my lack of posts. I'm more of a forum shark and read more rather than post. Any suggestions appreciated.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

is your catch can vented? you will still get blow by and will get worse adding boost and high RPMs.

This pressure will kill rings.


How did you break in the engine? Did you seat the rings correctly?

As far as the water goes, did u check the head before putting it on? do you know how much was shaved before? Did you use ARP headstuds and torque down correctly? What headgasket?

Theres too many questions that need to be answered to narrow it down.



lets fix the issues 1st before tackling the 11.1 afr

Whiterice-gsr

^^^ agreed, possible head and gasket issues

Turbo-LS

iTrader: (4)

Who sleeved the block?

b20ricepower

Its a golden eagle sleeved block. Using a golden eagle head gasket with arp studs torqued to 80ftlb in factory sequence in 3 steps.I did measure how much was shaved from the head just don't remember exactly how much. It was very little in terms of resurfacing I do remember though.break in was basically gettting idle and part throttle tuned in then I began to make pulls. From what I hear that is all that is really needed. I also used conventional motor oil for break in. Yes of course my catch can is vented. Like I saidim not a total noob just in need of other opinions from fellow gearheads

Whiterice-gsr

how bad is the white smoke? are u losing coolant/water

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

usual best break in process is like this:

Now for the break in. Try to vary the revs as much as possible, with alot of short blasts. It is very important that you let the engine "brake" itself by just letting off the throttle and letting the vehicle slow down on it's own, while in gear. This creates a vaccum in the cylinder and forces the rings outward, which wears down the peaks in the cylinder's fresh hone. Do this for the first 20 miles, and then proceed to beat the **** out of the motor, up to it's maximum rev range, as long as it is tuned accordingly. As long as the bearings are within spec and the rod bolts were torqued correctly, there is NOTHING to worry about.

I guarantee you WILL NOT burn oil using this break in method. If you do, you probably have leaky valve seals or bad rings/cylinder hone, or maybe possibly even other major problems with alignment of the sleeves themselves.


Oil changing schedule:
Startup - 30w non detergent, change after warm up
after 20 miles - your favorite non-syn
after 100 miles - your favorite non-syn
after 500 miles - your favorite non-syn
after 1000 miles - your favorite non-syn/synthetic (it is now safe to run synthetic)



Im not going to bash GE's headgasket, but alot of poeple toss them in the trash when they us GE's vtec conversion kit. Usually OEM or Cometics are used in place of them.

This is just things ive read over the years and have no real GE headgasket use myself. Im running Cometic and havent had an issue. (knock on wood)

Mr. EG

I had similar issues and ended up being a gasket issue. I proceeded to buy a Cometic to replaced the GE one. I had an open deck/stock sleeve block.

SpeedwaySlick

Looking forward to the answers to these 2 questions.

I've been subscribed to this thread, because I was having the same issue.

OP, sounds like water in your catch can, not oil.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

^^

Start a thread, maybe youll get alot better exposure and answers..

and that way the OP can have his own thread.



OP: How is the catch can routed? can u provide a pic?

SpeedwaySlick

Edited. And you're right, but I'll have my answers soon enough, from the machine shop. No need to start another thread at this time.

OP, it will be good if it's just hg. Could also be a warped deck or sank sleeve.

b20ricepower

Well, sorry for the delay i've been a bit busy with my schedule. Well the smoke smells like oil and i'm not overheating at all. No loss of coolant it seems. I did have a local shop do the honing on the motor though so maybe it has something to do with that. I received the block from golden eagle and all was well, but i decided to go a little looser on the p2w clearance last minute so I had it rehoned. He told me that the hone that g.e. did was too fine of a stone also so he went with a rougher stone. I changed the oil and it still smokes to the point that i can see it behind me in the rear view mirror . My catch can is just overflowing with oil. I'm just so dissapointed that I am contemplating parting it out. Between school and work i'm just depressed as hell now.

Yea I'm going to try cometic this next time around. If there is one. I like this brake-inb method though. Definitely makes good sense.

b20ricepower

I'll try to take a pic later. Basically i have the Vibrant oil cap breather adapter and that line goes to one inlet of the catch can. The other line to the catch can comes from the stock breather line off of the valve cover. Catch can is baffled as well

sp00led

I always read that the GE headgaskets are OEM gaskets bored out to whatever size you need. I've been running a 84mm GE gasket for about 20k miles now w/o issues.

They even state they are OEM on their website.
http://www.goldeneaglemfg.com/index....roducts_id=234

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

Your going to need alot more venting then that..


Look into Endyne vented breather set up.

Since you have the B20, just vent off the back of the block. That will help with the pressure.

once you change the HG, take a look and see whats up. take pics and come back.

But do the venting ASAP as the pressure is playing havoc on your rings

Whiterice-gsr

that sucks dude but dont get too worked up yet this could be an easy fix. id like to see some pics of your catch can. sounds like theres def some crankcase pressure issues here or maybe just the vibrant cap style u have is causing problems. if the crosshatch was too agressive u will have some burning issues but should go away once the rings seat some more. have u managed a proper break in yet? also the burning could be turbo related hows your return line lookin? do u still have your black box installed for the pcv?
we definately need some pics man.

b20ricepower

Sorry its a bit dark at the shop where I work on my car. Its actually a barn from the 1950s anyways you should still be able to see my catch can setup. There is no black box on the bak of the block. Its a b18a1 block. Even if its not the best catch can setup I don't think I should be having that much crankcase pressure anyways. I had the same setup on a stock boosted setup and I didn't have even one drop of oil in there. I know that stock motors create almost no crankcase pressure but still. as for my oil drain from my turbo yes it might be a problem. I have a 45 degree fitting coming off of the turbo which could be causing a bit of restriction. Already ordered a new straight -10an fitting and I'm going to make that work. Clearance is definitely an issue with dual wastegates.

b20ricepower

Pic of the car just for ***** and giggles. Not easy to make it all work in a da chassis

b20ricepower

Dbl post whoops

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

Stock engines do create crank pressure and the OE PCV system sucks and its there for US emissions but doesnt do a great job for performance.Just enough for the average driver who barely goes over 4k rpms.

Since you already have the can, get these from honda:



Use 5/8th hose to the can.

Then keep the PCV system like Honda routed.




What i did after extensive research is by using the PCV system will introduce fresh air into the engine while in vac (95% of the time on street cars) and then the PCV will close when in boost and the pressure will force thru the breather. That way you dont have the vapors going into the engine under boost.

Use a little breather on the VC nipple also.

Whiterice-gsr

but keeping the pcv attached to the system under boost means it must close perfectly, ive seen lots of ppl trouble shoot "lack of power" to a boost leak in the pcv system. as for your return line u should most definatley have it come straight down for a min of 3 inches before u put a bend in it gravity needs to be allowed to do its job, and a min of 1/2" or -10 line i use 5/8" or -12an.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

I replaced my grommet and PCV and it works perfectly.

Personally, i wouldnt run a return line.. but its your ride, do what you like

Whiterice-gsr

i meant return from the turbo not catch can. don't make a return line from your can.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

oh werd..

Whiterice-gsr

i may try your pcv idea, right now i just have the line plugged off and letting everything vent to atmosphere. gonna make my own catch can cuz i cant justify the money they want for a square piece of aluminum.