Folks if you look at my posts as I posted them, once I pulled the #3 rod- or what was left of it I said DAMN-
it was cavitation- and I posted that up for my friends here.
Then as I further pulled some more rods out and looked, I said uh oh.... not entirely the case....
I even hinted to Prof, that I had pics- he would pop his twizzler stick over. :marchmellow:
Then I posted the pics of the pistons. . . . :argh:
The pistons are junk -PERIOD.
As each one came out I examined them, I took a few pics after examination and confirming what Prof has been quietly professing. Then upon examination of the ring land areas on the # 9 piston I noticed a small hairline crack- I turned the piston and spied another. I took my fingernail and ran it through this area- and out popped the section of piston between the ring pack!! When I pulled the piston it appeared fine. Closer examination revealed otherwise.
I can only surmise that the #3 bearing possibly starved itself at one time or another, then really took abused and a pounding once the piston let go. I can't explain why #4 looks way better though- the rest of the bearings look absolutely fine. In fact the wear through the engine looks fine also, I can attribute that to my religious oil changes with Royal Purple Synthetic oil. :congrats:
Bottom line is friends, Dodge went cheap on their supercar engine.
This area is those junk ass money saving hypertectic pistons:argh: . They were in a pinch to solve a emissions problem *numerous respected Viper Techs told me this info*.... The only the reason I can come up with for saving money and solving their emissions hurdle was that- upon startup the engines had shown blowby when cold with forged pistons, they solved their problem by installing hypertectic pistons that are known to swell as the heat gets into them. Their expansion rate is greater than a true forged piston.
Also the unmeaty piston design is for being able to rev in the rpm band like these engines were designed for. Had they put enough time into the design, the hypertectic pistons probably would weigh quite a bit more than what we have and this would have cost the engine power. Dodge and Chevy have always been in the hp wars and they don't like losing.
I really don't understand why they couldn't or didn't investigate further with the forged pistons that they USED to install in the earlier Viper engines. Maybe it was machining costs and time? I cannot answer that.:slug:
Fact is these pistons are a HUGE weak link-
Followed closely by the rods.
Then there is a known problem with #3 rod bearings -taking an exteme abuse- more so than the others- Is it block distortion? Dunno.
I strongly suggest an aftermarket damper to improve the torsional dynamics that the crankshaft puts into the engine.
It really sucks that my engine went like it did. Once again I shame Dodge for skimping on their supercar engine.
Sorry for the long winded post. I hope it just helps my friends here with a better understanding as to what can potentially happen, but with preperation and thought into the purchase of hop up items you guys can combat this potential problem.
Haulin
