Thread: Got Rod Knock at the convention? Post it here...

Who ever said anything about 8k rpm? But since you brought it up; the F20C will do it.
The Evo had no trouble out there.
The Mercedes had no trouble out there.
The Miata had no trouble out there.
The Corvette had no trouble out there.
The Type-R Integra had no trouble out there.
The Maxima had no trouble out there.
The G35 had no trouble out there.
The G37S had no trouble out there.
The fuсking PT Cruiser had no trouble out there.
From the looks of it the S2000 survived with no real issues, just a scare.
The WRX STI had a minor problem that I don't have the details on. Sure wasn't rod knock.

Okay, there weren't 40 of each of them, but my bets would be if there were you wouldn't see 10% of them limping home.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find an engine with as bad of an oiling issue as ours (VE and RWD blocks mostly excluded).

Here is how I see it guys and gals:

Our sr20de motor now has over 5k track miles on it (we put another 200 miles on it just this weekend) which includes several tracks. It is NA (not turbo) NOT modded unless you count removal of A/C and using Water and water wetter in the radiator and 5w30 penzoil synthetic.

Others have been to Roebling Road without incident (do we have a count of how many didn't have problems vs. those who did?)

I just find it difficult to believe that a single track can be the cause of a problem and just had to laugh at the comments of 'sustained G forces' being the issue.

I ask this question since I wasn't there:

How many SR20 powered cars were on the track at Roebling Road that day?

How many of them had rod knock from the track day?

So if MORE didn't have a problem, how do you explain that?

How do you explain all the SER racers who never had these type of issues after just one track day?

How do you explain us having so many track days without issues on an engine that started out with 110k miles before ever seeing track use (and believe me, we sustain higher RPMs and are usually up around 6k sustained RPMs while on the track!)

I don't really agree one way or another, but I'll play devils advocate.

It can be explained that the track gave a higher probability of failure, possibly. That doesn't mean 100% failure, but more risk of failure. That's entirely possible.

Also, I've known for a long time from the mailing list days that the oil pickup is a problem (on track), and also that (even slightly) dented oil pans are a problem. There's 2 long-time documented issues right there...

64 spots were open, correct? All were full. I think maybe 15-20 of those spots were non SR20 cars. That leaves about 40 of them on the track that day. It seems 3(?) of them died on or due to track use.

2(?)

I've been asking myself that all week. I think the VE engines have an obvious advantage due to their oil pumps. The RWD guys don't have the oil pick-up issues with right-hand corners. But there were plenty of FWD, DE guys who survived...

Another question I'd love the answer to. I want to know how I can be sure this won't happen again.

There has to be something that causes some to fail but not others. There's things you can do to avoid the issue like make sure you have enough oil, a non-dented oil pan, etc.

But do you over fill? And by how much?
Do you use heavier oil? How heavy?



There's the flip side to this.
We all know our engines develop rod knock from typical use. That's our engine's thing. How do you explain this when almost every other engine out there avoids the problem?

Water temp 195*
Oil temp. 235* with oil cooler during these conditions.

yes, well, dented oil pans are a no brainer IMHO.. we had to get a brand new one thanks to nice dents making it clear it would fail on the track as an example...

^^I agree with Chris101. There is more data that supports the idea that the Fwd Sr20 is fine during track driving. My own personal experience of three track days post rod knock is more data.

I'd suggest this before a track day.
-Fresh Oil
-Fresh Coolant if its old, add water wetter.
-Fresh Brake Fluid
-Check suspension is not loose
-Check brake lines
-Torque wheel lugs before heading out. Make sure you let the wheels cool down before torquing.
-Check tires are properly inflated
-Make sure you have over a quarter tank of fuel. I've had fuel starvation with low fuel level.
-Make sure you have enough pad material on your brake pads. High Temp brake pads are also a good idea.
-Oil temp, water temp, and oil pressure gauges are very very useful

I've had bad luck with Autozone alternators at the track. Three of them failed before I was able to get a full refund. There is a factory rebuild on there now. Thats about it.

Correct, I did not track my car on a track I tracked it at 85~90mph from Savannah, GA. to the Jersey Coastline. Approx. 720mi. one way. Car was tracked from Hartford, CT. to Savannah, GA. for the convention, approx. 830mi. one way.

A total of 1600miles were driven from Thursday morning to Sunday afternoon. Doesn't look like bearing failure to me though, as I pulled the pans and checked #1 (was getting late so I didn't check all four). #1 looked flawless, with a tad bit of polishing on the furthest outside portion of the race.

I think my issues of low oil pressure were caused by the chain oiler literally popping out of it's seat in the block. When the oil was drained (broken down badly, almost a watery viscosity), the lower pan was pulled and there lay the chain oiler. Very strong smell of fuel in the oil, moreso than should have been.

What's even funnier is we chose the sr20de as an ideal track car (strong engine that could take the abuse, etc.)

I HAD previously tracked my 993 Porsche for 10 years and figured it was only a matter of time before my engine (not cheap) would need a rebuild and decided to retire that car before getting to that point and that car is just a sunday driver again now...

Meanwhile, I can get an sr20 engine CHEAPER than I can get a replacement engine for my miata should I need one...

I do also track my spec miata BUT we will soon have a 94 SER track car as well as this infiniti G20 we are beating around the track..

I love that we can acquire another engine for around $500 should I happen to miss a shift for the 1st time in my life (it can happen) or some other mishap resulting in engine failure..


But hey, I just sold a 1999 Infiniti G20 with 196k miles still going strong on the original stock motor!!!! (not tracked but no problems either!)

my maxima was fine as well, and i put almost 1900 miles on the car in the 5 days. i changed my oil a week before i left and used 5w30. car didnt consume more than 1/2 qt the entire time..