Well i know couple of folks who ran 400+ whp on ldk with no issues so....without investigating the actual engine for a definite answer it's all speculation what the probable cause is.

 

For how long, 15k? Maybe it's a stress over time thing, or maybe a bad batch of parts.

 

Yes..is the "how long" an issue ?
The third picture was taken from a car was tuned a year before it blown up.

 

A year could be 5k, 10k, 50k? :P Also could be on a select-a-tune and not see the full hp/tq most of the time. Many variables when it comes to modded vehicles.

How long have LDK's been out for I'm sure there is more to discover just like how we are finding new thing's out about the LNF's.

Hopefully just a bad batch of parts though it happens. Cough porous block issue.

 

When did GM report a batch of faulty rods?

 

Faulty Connecting-Rod Bearing Causing Engine Failures in GM Four-Cylinders

 

Based off of very little research I think the cars named in this article use a different engine the LTG

 

Also the Regal GS

 

This thread is useless without more specific information.

 

This is why my car was tuned at PWerks. Not a degree of legitimate knock since!

 

We never found Davids rod when it blew a hole in the block

 

x2. Photos of destroyed rods does not mean the rods can't handle it, we have no clue on a lot of variables that effect the rods.

 

Rod bearing failures could be what's happening here, but if a rod bearing fails it will fail at stock power or even less, it has no bearing on what power you hit it with. If you read the link you posted, magazine testers were blowing up stock, brand new cars. Hardly a power abuse failure.

 

Well im not trying to come off as a dick because you may be right, but the third picture (hole in the block, is my buick regal GS) So heres my story, for what it's worth....

ZZP has touched my car since day one... I wanted a little extra horsepower so I came to this forum and everyone recommended them (2.5 hour drive). They recommended the ZFR and e85... A tad beyond my budget but I agree (mainly because everyone says how stout this motor should be). My clutch didn't make it a mile off the dyno without slipping, though they thought since it was new it would last (8k miles on the car at this point)... so I had to buy a stage 4+ clutch and install it through my buddies shop due to other cars being in the bay. I made it two miles from my buddies shop and the finger height was incorrect (apparently my car is different from the 6 speed ZZP sells) So it over extends my throw out bearing and explodes. I have to have it towed to ZZP (400 dollars). They fix it free of charge (minus my tow, but whatever) and tell me that my motor seems to have a slight knock that may be due to a bad injector but say its not really a big deal.

I get all new injectors through the dealership and they are flow tested better than my old stock ones, I now run the car the rest of last year, throwing a rich code right after winter. I take it to ZZP again and get it retuned, everything is allegedly perfect. I make it a week and the code Is thrown again. Sweet I now cant pass emissions....

Spring/summer of this year--- My (now southbend clutch) breaks a spring on the clutch so I limp it to ZZP again and they warranty the clutch with another revised stage 4+ clutch, I make it into Indiana on my way home and it blows yet another TOB, I have it towed back to ZZP (350 Dollars). They warranty it and say well now that it's here we have stage 3 cams available for your car and valve springs so you can rev to 7500 RPM. I think about it and say f it, because they warrantied my clutch I might as well just get it done as I am pretty lenient in understanding the regal was a first of it's kind they have messed with. I understand it will come with some flaws . They email me and say it will be a stage 2/3 combo due to some **** (I really don't understand half this stuff anyway). Ok cool, I get an email saying it made 420hp on less boost.

I pick up the car and im still at 25lbs so im assuming im around 450 hp but I have no clue... I have no dyno sheet ever given to me, no specs of my cam nothing--- and my receipt says stage 2 cams, nothing about a 2/3 combo. On my way home the car hauls ass but I smell something not right, my ******* figures its the new cam and oil burning off it. My buddy who owns a cobalt and is on this forum says it smokes when I let off the throttle (same day I left ZZP). He told me don't worry about it and drive the damn car. I would sit at a stop sign and it looked like someone tossed a freaking smoke bomb under my car intermittently... obviously something not right. ZZP stated I might need a catch can, but really showed no other interest in what it may be- nor said to bring it by to be checked out (these blocks can hold 500whp, remember??).

The next day I do a couple highway pulls and boom, my car is engulfed in flames and throws a rod out the back of the block. I talk to my buddy who is a GM tech and he states hes not sure why im bitching when the car stock puts down 200whp and im at almost 500 to the crank, **** is bound to blow up in a matter of time. Very true, so I took it as an accident waiting to happen.

I email ZZP, I Call ZZP.... no answer all week from anyone. I called to get a quote on a new block and some options--- Hell, I really like the guys there and I understand **** happens, but you cant even call a customer back when I have a problem? Like most guys here im a car enthusiast, being without my car sucks, I drive it to enjoy the time off work and I love being in it. Nonetheless, I've spent (just like many) several thousand dollars at ZZP and now I'm in the dark. My buddy says he will forward the into to a guy on this forum.

Jeffrey Reiland is building my block, still waiting on parts I believe for him to assemble--- I believe its carillo rods wiseco pistons etc. Not exactly the money I wanted to spend when building a house but I am told this is the best of the best, and due to the added weight of the regal that may have been a factor in it blowing up?

I believe once I break in the motor I will have Performance Autowerks review the tune and tweak accordingly. Hell, when I asked ZZP after the fact Tim told me I had all stage 3 cams--- Not according to my receipt though? So who knows what's actually in my car.

So that is my story, detonation, maybe... Shitty tune, doubtful... I thought I took it to the best tuner in the area. Shitty parts? I shelled out money for the best parts-- I really am discouraged at this point. I really hope after this built block I will have a reliable car. I am looking forward to Tail of the dragon and at least a few car shows this year; sadly it has been in the shop more than I have driven it.

My buddy thinks that when I did the pull and let off the gas (instead of pushing in the clutch) put negative pressure on the piston and tore the wrist pin off the piston, then broke the rod etc. I think my head is fine, but they think it had nothing to due with the power of my motor. Totally speculating at this point.

 

500 crank is approaching what would be accepted as the working limit of those engines, far different from what the OP claims to be "320whp". Sucks to hear your story but in reality, that's the game we all play when modding. You want to be original and do things others haven't tested yet, you are gonna find the limits one way or another.

It's possible your engine was just not as tight as some of the other ones, they are mass produced and tolerances vary. If it had a slight knock at earlier mileage and was hammered with lots of power for a long time after that, fatigue failures in the weakest link in your particular engine are not surprising. There is no reason that you couldn't just pop another stock shortblock in there and continue on, it may be fine, but it may not. Having a built block should be the final solution, as nobody has had one fail from power if it was built properly.

 

Yeah your absolutely correct, I don't plan on (right now) making more power than I did, I don't want to test the limits of the drivetrain. If im at 430 or 450 il take it

 

Damn dude that is an unfortunate turn of events. Hopefully you can enjoy your car once mongo builds you a stout motor. Good luck.

 

faulty rod bearings don't cause rods to snap like that. Shitty tunes, detonation and knock do.

Won't post tuners.. stupid.

 

Usually on this platform you see pistons melted and ringlands collapsed from detonation, the rods are significantly more robust than the cast pistons.

However, if a bearing starts locking up and exerting a constant twisting force on the rod it will fatigue it and the detonation will make it worse. I wouldn't be so quick to throw snapped rods into the 'tuner error' category. James and some of these other guys have been blowing up cars for years now and very, very few are rod failures. Much more common to see pistons or split cyls on the earlier blocks from excessive chamber pressure.

 

James... So how is a rod going before rings/pistons/blocks. Seems like the rod is the weakest link in the ldk then.

This seems to go in the same category as zzp claiming f40 6 speeds are stronger, yet have no proof. They are all starting to blow up now too.

 

A bearing failure explains a rod breaking first, that was my point. Seeing as it has happened on new stock engines and GM aparrently was finding a few cars that had failures, some of them are out there.

 

 

How are the ring lands on that particular piston?

 

These engines working limit is beyond 500 crank.

 

I'll get more pictures of it up today. .. i did notice around every piston there was a cleaner ring around the outsides of them towards the piston walls, not sure if that's normal. Tne rings broke, but one was holding it together.