my money is on the bearings like kelso said.

honda tuning did an article on the stock internals and it is a myth that the connecting rods are the weakest link. typically you will need upgraded pistons before the rods go out.

anyone know how hard it would be to upgrade the bearings?

 

i dunno, new internals is a slippery slope. its really really hard to get a built engine run well for street and strip. its usually one or the other.

josh, i really think you need to send your oil in for analysis to see exactly what your engine was doing before it blew.

 

i have been reading about a company that does a high stress bearing setup.

they have been making some sweet bearings for the mazda 13b that have been allowing it to see 25,000rpm before giving out.

would it be worth getting some high speed bearings without getting the rest of the forged internals?

 

i would most definitely swap in a k20 but some people complain that k20 is too heavy for the fit. I personally don't agree with them. look at the j's racing k24 fit. no problem.

 

look at the interior in the j's racing fit. the a pillar bar is renforced heavilly. and im positive they stripped that whole car and welded every seam and every stress joint they could. now, if you want to do a k20, thats the right way to do it. but i doubt anyone is that dedicated to go that far.

 

the j's and the spoon have some of the most intensive structural bracing of any fit.

the j's should really not even be brought up in these comparisons cause of the dedication of the car.

in all reality hit up j-pax. he has a k20 with the jackson supercharger. ask him about how it handles in comparison with the l15.

 

well i see alot of questions and ill try to answer all of them. 1 the weak point of the L15 is %100 the rod cap bolts, thats what let go on my motor. the bolt is like a 8 mm bolt, it looks like crap. 2 a k20 is a great!!!! engine just i dont want one i love the L15 i really think this can be a serious motor its very simple and well designed. sooooo whats happing with the car is cleaned up head LIGHT port job, the block is getting decked and honed to a 1.6 liter, CP pistons 9.0:1 compression the rods are being shot peened (a process where the rodes are blasted with small metal balls at a very high rate of speed, this compresses the metal molecules closer together, therefore making it stronger) then the rod caps are being drilled and chamfered to accept ARP cap bolt (fixing the weekpoint) the crank will be micro polished and oiler holes opened up and chamfered. then all bearing clearances will be set back to factory. as for the turbo im keeping the t25 right now its just getting rebuilt and a new waist gate spring. the plan for the car in a few months will be putting 260-280 to the wheels on 14 to 15 psi. my cars gona be running but the end of the month but i got to find a tuner and save my penny's, cuz right now my wallet is in the corner crying. and to the guys telling me i have a great attitude, you have to when ur building a car that was never ment to make power you have to expect something is gona go wrong, the only thing i can do is build it bigger and better and hope it dont break again. so ill keep my attitude good and thank you

 

i would love to do that but all my oil is on the side of the road lol

 

Man cant wait to see that build. You know your gonna have to give me a ride right?

 

you got it my friend

 

do i hear a build thread coming?

it would deff be good info with pics for others

 

Would love to see pictures and parts used. If your rod cap bolts went out, it's almost near my time. Preventing any parts from breaking would save money in the long run.

 

Wow high numbers there bro, good luck with the build. You said you were running 180-190 before it blew, do you still have the dyno sheet?

 

I'm still quite surprised that no one makes aftermarket rods for our car... They have pistons, so why not make the other half? Perhaps we can research to see if someone can have them made...

Good luck with the build tho Josh. I'll be keeping this thread close to me to see what the outcome is.

 

Damn that sucks to see happen. Its good to see you have such a good attitude about all this and I will definitely be keeping my eye on this thread or a build thread to see what comes of new engine.

 

Found this thread online.. seems like there's a possibility for pistons, sleeves, and rods with ARP bolts!
http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2054855

 

So it was the rod cap that failed! Is there anything left of the piston or did it go to pieces? Does the L15 use a two bolt crank bearing cap or four? Though I understand it was the rod cap that failed the crank bearing cap is bearing a awful lot of stress as well. It would be well worth it while you are having the rod caps machined to look at having the crank bearing caps modified for a four bolt arrangement (if at all possible) That way you know that mutha ain't goin anywhere! I just like to hear guys who know they are living dangerously admit that sometimes you have to break it to make it stronger, too often people want to sing the blues when their ragged edge car goes kaplooie. Sorry for all the questions BTW....

 

Rod cap didn't fail. Doesn't even look like he spun a bearing (angle of picture is kind of hard to tell). Just those dinky cap bolts... Seen 'em stretch but never seen one snap like that.

And you were running 12:1 on pump gas? Nuts, dude.

 

it was on 93 and the fit motor runs lean anyway. it ran like that no problem for 25 thousand miles no problem making good power.

for what i have in store nothing like this will happen again

 

you gotta do a build thread on all the stuff you got!