(Possibly) Blew a head gasket looking for suggestions

[M-Sport fan]

Following SP63s requirements:
0-150 miles - Motul 10w-40 break in oil
150-300 miles - conventional 10w-40 (I got castrol, but any decent conventional is fine)
300-500 miles and 500-1000 - conventional again (and again)
1000+ and in perpetuity - Amsoil extended life 100% synthetic 10w-40

Did SP63 purposely build it with clearances to handle a 10W-40 oil, or is that what they suggest anticipating the proposed cylinder pressures with your setup under increased boost and an aggressive tune (or some combo of the two)?

 

[Capri to ST]

Did SP63 purposely build it with clearances to handle a 10W-40 oil, or is that what they suggest anticipating the proposed cylinder pressures with your setup under increased boost and an aggressive tune (or some combo of the two)?

I was also wondering why you're using 10W-40 oil.

 

[arlisscm]

Did SP63 purposely build it with clearances to handle a 10W-40 oil, or is that what they suggest anticipating the proposed cylinder pressures with your setup under increased boost and an aggressive tune (or some combo of the two)?

10W-40 is the requirement from SP63 as that is what the bearing clearances are set up for.

As you mentioned, my guess would be it is for higher load capacity to handle higher cylinder pressures, bearing loads, etc.

Since the engine durability is rated for 550-600HP, it is built with a lot more stress in mind than what it is going to see. For now....

 

[arlisscm]

Using my commute to contribute to the break in miles (only ~36 miles a day, but adding extra by just driving around more on my way home), looking to hit the 500 mark tomorrow to do oil change #3. Then get to the full 1K by the end of the weekend to get it all done and sorted. Dyno/tuning session still scheduled for May 11th as of right now.

Scope of the rebuild continues to creep, just pulled the trigger on a Paragon/Alcon front BBK to replace my Wilwood setup. Wilwood setup has worked fine, I just go through pads/rotors so fast, so I want something more track focused and beefy to hopefully get more time out of the consumables. Lead time is 4 weeks, so I may or may not have them on for my first set of track days May 30 and 31. Ordered a new set of front pads for the Wilwoods just in case the new setup hasn't arrived yet.

 

[arlisscm]

500 mile mark achieved, oil change #3 complete.

Nothing on the magnet, nothing in the filter, and a few stray bits of glitter in the pan. I cleaned the pan fairly well before hand, but who knows, was a dozen or so little bits in there. I'm not overly concerned.

 

[MattM]

Kind of seems like the “glitter” has decreased with each change. Have you mentioned this to the engine builder? Hopefully you stop seeing it all together soon

 

[arlisscm]

Kind of seems like the “glitter” has decreased with each change. Have you mentioned this to the engine builder? Hopefully you stop seeing it all together soon

Yeah, mentioned it to SP63, all normal stuff. Should be doing the 1,000 mile change this evening. I'll give the pan a more thorough clean to eliminate residual glitter. But there are all sorts of places for it to hang up, so it probably won't stop completely for a few thousand miles.

 

[arlisscm]

1,000 mile oil change done yesterday evening. Once again, clean plug, clean filter, and a few stray flecks of glitter hanging out. Cleaned the pan pretty well this go around, hit it with brake clean until I started contemplating the vastness of the universe and smelling colors, so the glitter should only be the new stuff. But, there was a very small amount and it was hard to get on camera. (I tilted the pan to get it all in one spot)

Break in is "done", going to keep driving it throughout the week, then onto the dyno for tuning next Monday.

 

[arlisscm]

Did a nut and bolt check/perusal yesterday, aside from a little tidy up and a few more zip ties everything was good to go.

Did a compression test now that I'm >1,100 miles. Note I ran the test dead cold, so grain of salt there, but looks good. Likely revisit later when the engine has more miles.

Giving the car a wash/clean today before dropping it off at Circuit Demon for its Dyno/tuning session tomorrow.

 

[MattM]

Good and consistent across all cylinders. Nice!

 

[arlisscm]

Car is still at Circuit Demon, guess it was next up on the dyno yesterday afternoon sometime, so I'm hoping to hear back/pick it up today.

Had a few observations I wanted to note before I forgot now that I've had a fair bit of miles with having actual oil temperature and pressure visible.

At idle and when warming up, the oil temperature reported on the AP varies from 5-15 degrees warmer than the reading I get on the gauge (sensor is in the sandwich plate, and there is always a little oil flow through the cooler to avoid thermal shock), but when you have been cruising at operating temperature (coolant) for an extended period of time the inferred oil temperature must be assuming the oil temperature and coolant temperature align and overlay (which makes sense because with the factory cooler, they are literally interacting). So, the 5-15 degree delta at idle and startup elevates to ~40 degrees after cruising for a while, AP says ~200 degrees while the gauge says ~160 degrees. I'll have more data on this after hitting the track and getting some real heat in the oil.

Secondly, the first batch of oil was Motul break in oil 10W-40, the next 3 changes were conventional 10W-40, and the newest batch is Amsoil extended life 10W-40 (which I'll run moving forward per SP63s specification). The interesting thing is, now with the Amsoil in, the oil pressure from start to ~140 degrees is 5-8 psi higher than it was with the break in oil and conventional 10W-40 (idling and cruising). Once its warm, idle and cruising pressure are basically the same as with the others, seems the different formulation acts a little different at lower temperatures.

 

[MattM]

You’re also running an oil cooler, so I wonder if that’s contributing to the bigger difference between the inverted oil temp and what the gauge actually shows. Good data none the less and goes to show that the AP oil temps likely cannot be relied upon, at least with aftermarket oil coolers in play.

 

[arlisscm]

You’re also running an oil cooler, so I wonder if that’s contributing to the bigger difference between the inverted oil temp and what the gauge actually shows. Good data none the less and goes to show that the AP oil temps likely cannot be relied upon, at least with aftermarket oil coolers in play.

For sure it's making the AP and "actual" temperatures diverge more now that 1) the oil and coolant no longer directly exchange heat (which I'm sure really breaks some assumptions the program for the inferred oil temperature is making) and 2) there is a secondary cooler on the oil that the computer isn't aware of.

I don't recall coming across someone with an oil temperature gauge and a stock cooler setup, which would be a better way of quantifying the computers guessing ability. You could tie in a temperature port/gauge with the factory pressure sensor, but space is fairly limited there. I tried putting my pressure gauge there and everything fit with the asymmetric "T" fitting I got, but I couldn't plug in the sensor wiring connector, it just barely interfered with one of the thermostat housing connections. I may revisit this later with a different fitting. My only reasoning for trying this was with the gauge in the sandwich plate, I'm currently reading pressure pre-filter, when ideally I want to know the pressure post-filter. But I can't imagine the pressure drop is massive, so it works fine for a reference point.

 

[arlisscm]

Just talked to the tuner at Circuit Demon, they don't have 4x108 adapters for the dyno, and even if they did, he said he isn't super familiar with tuning Ecoboosts, so it would take a while. Tip of the cap to him though, he was honest and forthcoming about the situation.

So, no dyno numbers for a while unless I circle back to them to get some numbers later on.

Reached out to Jason to see if we can turn around a top-up tune real quick (leave for first track day in 17 days).

This is the first part of the plan that fell apart so far, so I guess it's not so bad.

 

[Grsemky]

Just talked to the tuner at Circuit Demon, they don't have 4x108 adapters for the dyno, and even if they did, he said he isn't super familiar with tuning Ecoboosts, so it would take a while. Tip of the cap to him though, he was honest and forthcoming about the situation.

So, no dyno numbers for a while unless I circle back to them to get some numbers later on.

Reached out to Jason to see if we can turn around a top-up tune real quick (leave for first track day in 17 days).

This is the first part of the plan that fell apart so far, so I guess it's not so bad.

Kind of lame for him to not tell you before you drive out there😒

 

[arlisscm]

Kind of lame for him to not tell you before you drive out there😒

A bit, but it was just a lack of communication between the guy I was coordinating stuff with and the actual tuner. Plus they are only ~30 minutes away, so not a big deal.

 

[Grsemky]

Yeah that's not a terrible waste of time then