25th September 2007. Blown Pistons again...
I had a rather nice day out in Maryland and on the way home couldn't resist giving the car a blast through the local "valley" which is a great place to drive a Mini. Got to some lights after the run and the idling seemed lumpy.
When I pulled off on the green there was a great cloud of smoke from the exhaust, yes the damn pistons have gone, the lands have snapped off, I didnt hear a thing and no sign of detonation on the piston tops. It seems that although these Mega Pistons have been fine for years and plenty of people
use them with no problems, myself and one or two other people have blown lands this year. It seems there may be something going on in production but thats hard to impossible to prove, though I have made contact with someone interested in looking at the failed pistons, we'll see.
All I can say is that when I search Turbominis.co.uk I find plenty of snapped lands on cast pistons, none on forged. This is getting annoying-- and expensive. This time I am not pissing about and will
be going for forged pistons, Avonbar sells a nice line of Accralite pistons and I have ordered a set of them -- 6 weeks delivery but theres no rush yet.
Meanwhile all has stopped awaiting the forged pistons, I will also get the head redone with new valveguides and I have a 2.9 diff to install. I should be back on the road for the Spring. I am also working on a better electric fan and wing cowling to help improve cooling, Once the engine is in I have some suspension improvements (see bodywork section).
Finally I am designing and building a "SPLOD" (SU Piston Lift Optical Display) to show piston lift in the SU carb whilst driving, more on that later!
