10v Motor Eats Alum Shavings for Breakfast...

[JShadzi at aol.com]

About 4-5 months ago after I did my new Intercooler ( http://www.80tq.com/intake.html ) , I noticed some boost spikes not too long after installing it, and that my ISV (that I was using at the time) mysteriously stopped working.  After doing an intense track day (8hrs of open track time) is when I really started noticing this.  About 3 weeks later at the dyno, I could not get my boost to budge past 18psi, the bleed controller I was using just wouldn't cooperate.

Later the next day I pulled the buggery little bleed valve to inspect it, and to my surprise (or not) I discovered it jammed solid full of small alum shavings, just like the ones that went all over the place while porting the inlets and outlets of the IC.  Upon seeing this, I realized that my intake system must be full of these alum shavings, and sure enough it was.

After building and grinding on the IC, I flushed it and flushed it to the best of my abilities, but an IC that big takes a good 20-30 sec just to full up with a hose, much less be flushed under pressure.  All the hosing, soap and water I hit it with must not have been enough to get some of the shavings out, because that track day disloged them real good with all the airflow.

Well, like I said its been about 4-5 months now, no hickups or problems to speak of from the engine even with another track day and plenty of tuning and driving.

A couple weeks ago I was reminded of this event.  I pulled my cat to do some exh work and heard something rattling around in the cat as I brought it off the car.  Again, I was ironically surprised to see what I found, rattling around in the chamber of my 3" cat, directly in front of the tight ceramic matrix...a 3/8" ball of molten alum, trapped against is will and gleefully digested by 80tq's 10v motor.

Javad