| (in the ECU's timing map, not at the CAS) which is nothing aggressive especially considering my static compression ratio is ~8.3:1. The engine is not detonating. If it were detonating I would hear it on top of there being visible evidence on the piston crowns. The #6 rod bearing has always been the one that has shown a lot of wear while all of the others have been otherwise. I suspect that it may actually have been an issue with the rod itself but that was not confirmed and once the bearing failed, that could not be verified. I caught it early before the knocking was bad enough to cause severe damage to the crank/rod but once they get to that point, trying to measure the rod's specs wouldn't really be of any benefit. Shimming the pump is increasing the oil pressure across the RPM band only when the oil is cold. Once it comes up to operating temperature, oil pressures are what you would normally see at idle and up to around 4-5K but as revs are increased from there, oil pressure continues to climb higher than what a non-shimmed pump will produce. This is beneficial as spinning the motor to 8500RPM requires more pressure to increase flow beyond what the non-modified oil pump will produce. The higher oil pressures really only raise the potential for breaking the inner gear of the pump itself, however, the relief valve is still able to open in cases where the oil is thicker and will still vent pressure enough to prevent a problem. The small amount of shimming still allows the relief valve to work and I've never had an oil pump fail so I see no problem there - only benefit to increasing oil flow with a little higher oil pressure in the higher revs. As for the comment on the whole "keeping their own motor together", that's a bit below the belt, Dee. I've had conversations with all of the other well known vendors over the years and they are just as aware of the shortened lifespan of the rod bearings in motors that are producing higher power levels. Engines from every one of the companies who build motors for customers have had their fair share of them that have come apart due to rod bearing failures - they simply just wear out. What I am experiencing is something that everyone has been taking stabs at to improve rod bearing service life. This last set of bearings where the #6 failed was not a surprise - I just let it go too long before swapping bearings while I've been pretty slammed with developing/releasing some new products. From what I've seen over the years with my own engine there are clear indicators that the modifications I've made to oil viscosity and the oil pump are improving rod bearing life. I believe that the #6 was showing more wear likely due to a machining issue with the Pauter conrod. It wasn't due to detonation - there are other indicators that would show that to be the culprit which are nonexistent. At this point, the #6 rod was R&R'd so I know it is spot-on and a new crank was used so over the next 20K or so we will see what kind of wear that cylinder experiences. To check your theory I'll be installing the J&S unit I have here into my car to see if that cylinder (or any other) is experiencing detonation at all while running all of the same parameters that I've been using since the car was built/tuned and report back on that.
Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
Are you an enthusiast? If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the
tailor.
Albert Einstein
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