Quote:
Originally Posted by Wally
Thanks Jason!
But I must comment on the "relative reliability" part 
If you referring to the broken rockers, they were just a tuning fault of mine running the engine into overboost and getting hard fuel cut-outs and associated backfires.. The funny part is just that a lot of ancillaries have gotten damage (bend throttle plates, burst boost lines, two broken rockers) due to the boost-cut-outs but the long block is still solid as a rock.
The basic concept of this type of engine has proven itself beyond doubt.
Furthermore, I ran the 350 hp tune over half an hour mostly WOT, full-on at a race track (Zandvoort). I did the same doing 8 laps of 10 minutes per lap (21 km's each lap) on the Nurbürgring last month and your calling this 'relative reliability'? Come on man, just admit I totally detroyed your reason for running a watercooled engine alltogether 
But I love you too and truely appreciate your craftsmanship on your car 
Its totally amazing that the 103 cast-alu bored Mahle-Oettinger cylinders held up as much as they did, while we all know that a smaller bore would have been much better.
Stock case, stock heads, stock crank and stock rods. "relative reliability'...pfft please! Aircooled FTW! |
By "relative" I only mean that 100k Km from now if you've continued to have no major issues I'll be flying over to have a pint with you! It's super reliable, just not sure it's super reliable compared to modern engines. I'm not worried at all about running 350hp for 60k miles on a modern h20 cooled car, it's reliability over time that garnishes the "relative" comment. When that myth is busted (notice I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt!) I really think you need to write down all the things you've don, settings you use, and parts you've used because to me it seems like the perfect combination. Wish I had the skill and knowledge to be able to pull off what you did. Especially when it ends up sounding so awesome on the track!
Jason