Damaged Wiseco Pistons (Not Pretty)

[daren_p]

Kelton.. think of it this way, yes the engine will make 500 hp at XXXX RPM.... Cool! GREAT!!

But how often will the engine see that when it is a DD/ street driven, yes it is nice to have that amount of power on tap when you go to pass someone.

But out of 1000 miles on the engine, how many of them are at full load? I would guess with weekend warrior car, say 5-10 of hard abusive miles a couple times of month.

So the guy JAM talked about having 80k miles on his engine, may have about 800 hard miles on it...

as big as you are into it, how many hard miles and dyno runs have you put on your car in the past 5000 miles?

With this being the case, you have a 500hp engine doing the work of a 200hp engine, it will have a long life as long as proper mantiance is kept on it, that gose for the any engine tho.

Another thing to add to all that good info, it also depends what "type" of motor you have built. You ask them to build a loose race motor, guess what, you'll get a motor that makes great power but will require a rebuild much sooner. Ask your machinest to keep to OEM spec's & guess what, you have a motor that should last the same as an OEM motor

 

[keltalon]

it's funny how some people can't keep a piston together and others never have an issue.. I had ONE major failure that was the pistons fault from a wiseco piston in a 2-stroke during my motorcross racing days from age 8 to 18, ONE failure and it was one out of countless wiseco pistons i used in those years. I would put a new top end in my engine only when it needed it as i didn't hve the money of someof my fellow racers to do a fresh top end every weekend or month, so i put them through a service life from new to"well worn" and never had an issue.

Wiseco wouldnt be in business if they really just made that many junk pistons with all the failures falling in their lap, and my machinist wouldn't have let me use them if they were anything less than adequate as you should see the amount of cranks and parts he made me bring him refusing to give me an engine that was anything less than perfect in every aspect of fit, form and proper parts installation.

I've got maybe 30K on my Wiseco/Eagle combo and although I Haven't pulled it apart to inspect, i'm assuming all is well as there's many things i check frequently to ewnsure the engine is healthy and lal still checks out fine. I've had 1 HG failure and 2 t-belt failureson this bottom end build and at least the tops of the pistons have been in perfect shape on every tear down

I think as with any part some people are going to swear against them and some will swear by them, no need to get in a pissing match with others just because their opinions of a product aredifferent from yours, and thats' to everyone in this thread.

As with any part, some failures are probably PTW and other things the machinist may have gotten wrong as well as mis-haps and improper installation and use by the end user/owner. I was enjoying this thread when it was accounts of failures and posts of usefulinformation that if for no other reason was good statistics, now it's just turned into a private argument, please folks just drop the hostility and wak off if ya need, but nothing is being accomplished by bickering.

Advertisement Glenn on how we have made a better piston its the hd version if the current was good no need for an hd right. It's political trust me! I have been doing this too long. I keep saying it and will say it again it you happy with wiseco keep using them I personally choose to use different I am getting backlash from that and its hilarious if you ask me. I am happy with my setup and have nothing to prove. If you want my input pm me and I will give it if not then go and be happy elsewhere. I get many pm's each day for my suggestions and the good feeling is when latter a pm come in that says thanks mission accomplished.

 

[VTEC_THIS]

A little late but I can tell you how many times I've destroyed a bottom end in a kx250 from a wiseco skirt failure. Three. Back in the early 2000s racing seasons the standard was a hot rods crank and a wiseco piston. First time the skirt popped I thought it was my fault. All those times I let my bike warm up for 30 seconds before a race that had to be it, I was pissed it only lasted 3 weeks. New bottomend and cylinder bored 20 over, reassembled by me by the books and exactly in the middle of any tolerance zone, 1 week goes by and in the middle of a race the bike bogs and pops. Later disassembly showed one skirt cracked, other skirt said hello to my crank. Took a fresh bottom end and my used cylinder to the machine shop, gave me a run around about piston to wall clearance, how important warmup is etc. Replaced with last wiseco any engine of mine has ever seen and what do you know last local amateur circuits for 2003, as I pulled back up to my trailer after practice I had 5 hours till the first race, my motor is pinging pretty bad and sounds like metal rattling inside. Tear the hoe of a motor down and find the piston skirts have the stress cracks seen in the previously posted pictures. I walked over to the manley rep. Purchased a manley piston and reassembled with no gaging, no assembly oil just klotts, new case/headgaskets and I beat the shit out of the motor like this for 4-5 months straight before the piston rings gave up. It only takes one bad experience to save you from a life time of them I guess.

Not too late, this is more on topic than the posts I've seen on the last page or so.

turboglenn - I would quote you as well but your post was pretty long! I completely agree with what you said. It would be nice if we could get back on topic, wouldn't it?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

Whatever dude. There's a big difference in arrogance and confidence trust me. I am on these boards to help the little guy like me if you don't want my help no problem. Wiseco is not a piston of
Choice plain and simple!!!!! You just keep kissing okay and just maybe you will get that 10%

And this, ladies and gentlemen, just so we're clear, is why keltalon is here.

 

[turboglenn]

Keltalon, i wasn't attacking you man, i was just stating my experiences with them and just saying somepeople have bad luck some have good luck, believe me i wasn't trying to work my way into the pissing match, just came to read the updates and was just trying to point out that we dont' have to turn our experiences with a part be it good or bad into a personal fight with anyone else

 

[keltalon]

Keltalon, i wasn't attacking you man, i was just stating my experiences with them and just saying somepeople have bad luck some have good luck, believe me i wasn't trying to work my way into the pissing match, just came to read the updates and was just trying to point out that we dont' have to turn our experiences with a part be it good or bad into a personal fight with anyone else

Thanks you like bogus I respect greatly. Can we build some race cars now? Lol

 

[keltalon]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, just so we're clear, is why keltalon is here.

Let me

 

[ZenkaiRacerDsM]

Does anyone else see how this arguement could also be applied to certain ebay parts?

 

[bjones18]

I cannot say the reason for the failure so early: use/abuse/build/manufacture.

However, I can say this: Look at the piston skirt thickness change as it moves to the pin area. In a very short distance the wall thickness goes from ~4mm to ~25mm.

Now do a search on ANY OEM piston and tell me if you see that kind of wall thickness change in that short of a distance. The answer is no. Skirt to pin-region and skirt-to-crown will transition gradually.

Have you ever wondered why plastic parts are so much better today than 40 years ago? They always used to crack. Today's injection mold designs that maintain a continuous wall thickness. Good casting/forging designs also follow this principal.

Drastic changes in wall thickness will "focus" the material deformation at the base of the "extremely-stiff" portion. And you will notice that ALL of these cracks are forming at almost the precise location where the wall goes from a "block" to the skirt wall thickness. If that skirt touches the wall, elastic and/or plastic deformation WILL NOT occur in the thick section, The center of the skirt will bend toward piston center, hinging at the crack location. EVERY mechanical component under load WILL deform. A good design will evenly manage/distribute the deformation; hence constant wall thickness.

IMO the following design is much better:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mahle-Acura...2-5-1-/360361365850?item=360361365850&vxp=mtr

Most piston manufacturers have this type design available. I don't have Mahle pistons, and I don't care about Ebay haters, it's the first image I found on a google search. (see bottom view pic)