My Motor Blew Up!!!!!

[maraudernkc]

Lord, forgive me for I have sinned!!!!!!!

The truth shall set you free!!!

I Blew my engine during testing.
I Blew my engine during testing.
I Blew my engine during testing.
I Blew my engine during testing.
I Blew my engine during testing.

I blew my engine with a Procharger.

There has been alot of talk about my engine. I want to let everyone know what happened that wants to know.

First off, this happened over a Year ago during our R&D phase of the kit

We had been testing for several Months with a tune from SCT. We had been to several SCT dealers in Kansas City and could not get our car tuned properly.We called SCT and they gave us the name of a third dealer and we took our Marauder that was running good, besides a few minor bugs to work out, to this new dealer. Looking back, it was appeart that this guy was new at this and did not know what he was doing.

That was my mistake for staying.

Well we had her on the Dyno making some good numbers but he wanted to add some more fuel and timing. Well what he had done was leaned out the car and added 22 degrees of timing and spun the engine to God knows what RPM.

The result was a hole in each side of the block. Very nice table conversation piece.

I was there along with my partner and one of the members on this forum who did not have a F.I.T. kit at the time.

The blower did not blow the car up, the tuner blew the car up. We called up SCT and told then what had happened and they told us that they would tune one of our cars. Well SCT themselves could not tune the car properly and that is another can of worms story.

We than had Procharger call Diablo and Scott Beer at Diablo had the car running like a champ in no time.

You can have the greatest kit in the world but if you aint got the tune you aint got squat.

We have a great tune and we and we have a great kit at an affordable price.

Peace, Greg

[MarauderMark]

Old thread resurrected?:dunno:

[MikesMerc]

Greg, You have a PM.

[Hotrauder]

Again?? Dennis

[jstevens]

Exactly why a responsible tuner is necessary. Either blown or NA.

[maraudernkc]

Yes it is very old but some people wanted a public announcement. So here it is.


Old thread resurrected?:dunno:

[Zack]

Big deal, it happens

[MikesMerc]

I think Greg was just clearing up any previous misconceptions about what happened during development of the FIT kit. **** happens during testing. That's the way it goes.

[SergntMac]

Yes it is very old but some people wanted a public announcement. So here it is. Who is this?

[O's Fan Rich]

As Nancy Kerrigan would say... "Why? Why?"
Gregg, you must be getting some private requests for info and clarification.

If I were you ( and I am not) I'd edit the post to reflect that this was an old post resurrected to clarify the clarification.

Besides many of us are still trying to decide on a kit, we (me) want current info, not stuff from the R&D program.

[tmac1337]

Greg stepped up to the plate when very very few people have and introduced a product for our car at a lower price point so more people could afford a S/Cer. It is very questionable on re-sale how much money for mods is recouped, so this is not necessarily a bad thing. And along the way Greg and his product have been trashed through and through.

Greg, I wonder why you still sell this kit at all. Give it up pal, having to resort to threads like this under constant pounding is not worth it.

[HwyCruiser]

This is going to be a long post, so skip it if you only want to read the one-liners.

I am the mm.net member Greg referred to. I was there to witness several of his tuning sessions at two different speed shops, both SCT houses. This took place last winter when Greg was trying to get professional help to develop a production tune for the FIT ProCharger kit.

At the time, Greg didn't know me from Jack. He welcomed my inquiry into being present during on of his initial tuning sessions because for the most part I think he enjoyed the moral support from a fellow Marauder owner. His business partner was initially a little less enthusiast about it. Think about it... a mm.net member having full access into the prototype kit and knowledge of the trials and tribulations that go on during R&D. What would this guy start posting? I was glad to swing him around and being allowed to continue to have full access to the action. It was a lot of fun and very informative for me.

When Greg went to the second SCT tuner on the recommendation of others, it seemed to me that this shop was more willing to put the effort into developing a new tune than the first was. The owner had also just gotten back from SCT "school" and sported a brand new Mustang dyno. Things looked good and Greg started getting excited and start putting the word out that a production kit was soon on the way.

I was also at the extremely unfortunate tuning session that cost Greg his motor. Trying to piece the sequence of events together from memory, I recall the tuner finally getting frustrated with the tune Greg had been progressing with and called HQ to help build an s/c tune from scratch. Open the base file, add in 39 lb injectors, add in s/c base timing and fuel tables, 90mm MAF table, etc., etc. This is where human error and cryptic software comes in. Did everything get put together just right? Was the tuner that familiar with what he was doing not to skip a step? Did the software glitch out and not properly transpose numbers correctly? Who knows.

What I do know is I was looking at the data logging computer during the fateful dyno pull. I had only a basic understanding of what I was looking at, but to evaluate if the valves were I hadn’t a clue. At the top of the dyno pull Greg’s engine went. It went more in a sputter and hiss than a bang, but the fluids on the floor didn’t look promising. The room went quite. Then questions started being asked. The data stored in the data logging computer was reviewed but then somehow “lost”. I personally didn’t think the aftermath was handled very professionally, but then again we are dealing with human beings. A wrist pin was laying on the floor, so for everything said and not said the simple fact remains that Greg’s motor blew on the dyno.

Greg stuck around to get his car towed back to his house. I left because of a family commitment, and I still feel bad for not sticking around. What a friend eh? Anyway, Greg was stuck with a kit that had no tune. There’s a whole other story after this one where Tim stepped up to take on the challenge of getting a tune squared away. Tim and I spoke on the phone before he took this on to get my point of view. Other than that conversation, I kept quiet because of my implied confidentiality agreement with Greg. I did not for a second think it was my job to crap all over Greg. He wasn’t putting incomplete kits out, so the only one harmed was him and possibly Tim and Tom who knew what they were getting in to. I continued to keep track of the continued developments and when Tim, Tom and Greg finally came out of the other side with a production kit that included a good tune I bought mine.

Over the past 8 months, I feel the early adopters have continued fine tuning the kit in regards to the tune and additional modifications for those who really wanted to push the envelop. The kit and the tune continue to be proven on the track. Yes, John did blow his on the track. There are a lot of circumstances surrounding this incident that don’t belong in this thread. He’s told his story elsewhere.

Tom and I continue to push the envelope with our FIT Marauders in our own ways. Both are far removed from the base FIT kit, but our personal challenge is to join the elusive 11 second club and finally be able to proclaim that the FIT Marauders have arrived. The past 8 months have been extremely fun and satisfying for me.

I consider Greg a good friend but I am not his keeper. I imagine he put this out here not to atone, but to take away a cherished tidbit his rivals were holding over him. Big deal. I have to get back to work on my Marauder.

[MarauderTJA]

Tom and I continue to push the envelope with our FIT Marauders in our own ways. Both are far removed from the base FIT kit, but our personal challenge is to join the elusive 11 second club and finally be able to proclaim that the FIT Marauders have arrived. The past 8 months have been extremely fun and satisfying for me.

Ditto JD. Anyone playing in the high performance arena takes the chance of losing a motor. Like Zack and BigMerc said, "Big Deal that's what happens." Exactly. It is the risk you take. The importance of a good tuner is where it is at today, not the S/C, injectors or anything else. A good tuner, safer motors, not safe motors. It is all how far you want to push it. I am going to push it a little further in Orlando, but I am working on building a forged motor as we speak. But, either way I don't want to lose my current motor. I couldn't stand being without my Marauder. My choice, my gamble. I will have to live by my choice.

[DEFYANT]

You guys do not need to explain yourselves here. Most of us here understand the risk that comes with DEVELOPING a s/c kit for ANY car.

If anyone blows their engine, it is not because the blower was there. More likely somethng else in the HiPerf. car set up failed, causing failure of the engine.

If the blowers themselves were falling apart and our engines ingesting bits and pieces of metal, then I could see flaming the blower choice.

That is not the case, so why bother with this explaination.

[O's Fan Rich]

You guys do not need to explain yourselves here. Most of us here understand the risk that comes with DEVELOPING a s/c kit for ANY car.

If anyone blows their engine, it is not because the blower was there. More likely somethng else in the HiPerf. car set up failed, causing failure of the engine.

If the blowers themselves were falling apart and our engines ingesting bits and pieces of metal, then I could see flaming the blower choice.

That is not the case, so why bother with this explaination.

I think Greg is just trying to defuse a bomb that some people just keep on dropping. R&D blow ups do not bother me. Is the kit right now? From what I've been reading and from what owners of the FIT system are telling me privately...yes. And it looks like FIT is working on making it better.

My money is waiting to be spent... as soon as the title has my name on it I'll be making the final decison. It ain't easy.....

[stevengerard]

haven't been on much lately so I missed this, sorry about the engine Greg, many of us are a push away from it ourselves.

[maraudernkc]

Steven, this happened a Year ago during our R&D.


haven't been on much lately so I missed this, sorry about the engine Greg, many of us are a push away from it ourselves.

[RoyLPita]

Greg, Did SCT foot the bill for the motor or was it out of your own pocket???

[maraudernkc]

Roy, that was a lot of:beer: beer money out of my pocket.


Greg, Did SCT foot the bill for the motor or was it out of your own pocket???