No BS: why do they blow engines all the time?

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Matt93SE

Ya my car has aero and DOT-Rs and does ~1.5-1.6G in hard turns.
Radium surge/swirl tank resolved the issues with fuel starve, but it also caused me to burn up a fuel pump (yesterday) when I ran the tank dry just idling in the garage while fiddling with soft rev limit tunes.

.....And yes, I'm also boosted (with an oil cooler)... temps hit about 240F last weekend in 95F heat.
Redline 30wt race oil. The oil doesn't break down at those temps, but film strength is definitely reduced so it's more susceptible to spinning bearings and whatnot because it's thin from the temps.

You're demand on the car is a lot higher than mine. Aero, NA, and 200TW tires. Though the TA group I am going to run with next year allows down to 100TW.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by conehead

TLDR sounds like the answer. Does anyone make a plug and play dry sump kit for this car??

I've poked around but never found anything that looked reasonably stout. Just trading one failure mode for another.

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

I've poked around but never found anything that looked reasonably stout. Just trading one failure mode for another.

The only one I found was $5k and required a lot of machining of other covers and stuff, required a custom exhaust, and didn't come with lines or tank.

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by conehead

This is what I would have expected for years, but I do many different levels of racing in many regions and miatas always outnumber 86s. Its probably 3to1 miatas.

I should clarify that I'm not counting autocross which is a different beast in my opinion. But at the track, at least around here, Miata's have been declining since 2019 to the point that the last 3 track days I've attended had exactly 2 Miatas between all of them, both NDs if that matters to you. Not a single older model though.

A few ex-Miata guys I've spoken to about it mentioned they let the cars go because of financial pressure and the cars are getting too difficult to fix. It's my opinion that the pandemic has forced many people into making decisions about which vehicles to keep and 2nd vehicles like Miatas are the first to go while twins are often the owners only car. Factor in supply chain issues and manufacturers are just not producing parts for old cars anymore. My own 2008 Forester is unusable right now because it needs a new alternator tensioner that Subaru doesn't make anymore.

I expected my experience was spreading around because I don't think the situation here is special at all but perhaps not as much as I thought. Anecdotal experiences are hard to quantify like this.

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by Lynxis

I expected my experience was spreading around because I don't think the situation here is special at all but perhaps not as much as I thought. Anecdotal experiences are hard to quantify like this.

As always, anecdotal and all, but I suspect you might be running with more casual track groups. When you start moving towards more competition focused groups the cars start getting old and Miatas, E36 BMWs, 90s Hondas, etc start to outnumber.

I moved from a NB Miata and it was only because I wanted something newer that left you with more room once a cage is in the car. I'm solving the motor issue (warranted or not) though.

[Arthur-A]

What about adding an extra quart of oil?

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Arthur-A

What about adding an extra quart of oil?

IMO more likely to cause problems than solve any. Aerated oil, more oil pooling in cylinder heads, loss of power, etc. other potential issues. I make sure I'm at or near the full line but never overfill.

[Arthur-A]

Originally Posted by ZDan

IMO more likely to cause problems than solve any. Aerated oil, more oil pooling in cylinder heads, loss of power, etc. other potential issues. I make sure I'm at or near the full line but never overfill.

That's what I used to do in my 2008 WRX, it ran fine. I guess there should be a sweet spot where you have extra oil, without it being hit by the crank.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Arthur-A

That's what I used to do in my 2008 WRX, it ran fine. I guess there should be a sweet spot where you have extra oil, without it being hit by the crank.

If I got to the point I needed to do that, I would just run an accusump. The crank is fairly high up since there is the oil pan, then an upper pan assembly, but I don't know how it would fair with that much oil. I'd also be curious how much more oil an AOS would pickup doing that.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Arthur-A

That's what I used to do in my 2008 WRX, it ran fine. I guess there should be a sweet spot where you have extra oil, without it being hit by the crank.

No reason to assume the "sweet spot" isn't somewhere between the "add" line and the "fill" line if you ask me... I just run it at the "full" mark and don't worry about it.

[foshjowler]

Originally Posted by Lynxis

I should clarify that I'm not counting autocross which is a different beast in my opinion. But at the track, at least around here, Miata's have been declining since 2019 to the point that the last 3 track days I've attended had exactly 2 Miatas between all of them, both NDs if that matters to you. Not a single older model though.

A few ex-Miata guys I've spoken to about it mentioned they let the cars go because of financial pressure and the cars are getting too difficult to fix. It's my opinion that the pandemic has forced many people into making decisions about which vehicles to keep and 2nd vehicles like Miatas are the first to go while twins are often the owners only car. Factor in supply chain issues and manufacturers are just not producing parts for old cars anymore. My own 2008 Forester is unusable right now because it needs a new alternator tensioner that Subaru doesn't make anymore.

I expected my experience was spreading around because I don't think the situation here is special at all but perhaps not as much as I thought. Anecdotal experiences are hard to quantify like this.

I wonder if it’s a regional thing with you being in Canada? I can certainly see that having a major effect on numbers. It’s also an effect of the 86 aging, becoming “cheaper”, and Miata’s getting more expensive. All cars have gone up in this bubble, but I don’t see Miata’s really going back down. Some of their major parts have skyrocketed in market value, closing up the gap in cost between the Miata and 86.

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by foshjowler

I wonder if it’s a regional thing with you being in Canada? I can certainly see that having a major effect on numbers. It’s also an effect of the 86 aging, becoming “cheaper”, and Miata’s getting more expensive. All cars have gone up in this bubble, but I don’t see Miata’s really going back down. Some of their major parts have skyrocketed in market value, closing up the gap in cost between the Miata and 86.

Miata has the insane added benefit of Mazda Motorsports part pricing and delivery though.

[Icecreamtruk]

Maintenance is important of course but the difference between 3 and 4 track days is not a blown engine. Synthetic oil is so good that it is very abuse proof. a dozen track days and 270 degree oil will not destroy it. Now if you are using 0w20 that could be a problem.


I'm going to guess that cautious maintainers are also cautious drivers and they aren't hitting the temps and Gs to cause starvation.[/QUOTE]

Yeah you are right, but better be safe than sorry. Yes the difference between 3 and 4 is not. But between 3 and 4 and 4k miles of street driving might be. People double duting usually kind of forget their car also sees a lot of engine running time, even when just stop in traffic (it all adds up).

I maintain my engine well, so I can not worry about it when im at the track. I do not spare my car any misery when im at it. So its rather the other way around. I do good maintenance so I can have my head (conscience) clear when im pounding on it at the track.

[jflogerzi]

A maintained FA20 not boosted will last. MY 2013 (was not in recall) has about 90K miles on it. Honestly its running pretty good. Full bolt-ons with E85. I track my FRS regularly and will now be full time track car. I also have all the correct supporting mods(including oil cooler) and a solid tune by Zach at CSG