Aftermarket Forged Engine Parts

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

Mind sharing your thoughts on this? We’ve had reports of head gasket failure without any super- or turbocharging.

Not something I'd be terribly concerned with. A good tune, no overheating and potentially some sort of ARP head stud (if HG failure does become a problem). There is a good chance that head gasket failures in the Mirage were a symptom of a larger problem like overheating or detonation, or the cylinder bores on the open deck block shifting (Focus RS has that issue big time).

I've built 14-15 turbo neons and never had an issue, and I'm sure many people know they were supposed to be prone to head gasket failures. Not counting the ones I've built for customers, my own 6 were daily driven for a total of 12 years without any issues.

When it comes to my Ranger, the old school small block Windsor has headgasket issues with boost. This is mainly an issue with the deck thickness of the cylinder head being thin. In this case swapping to an MLS gasket and adding ARP hardware helps with the issue. I'm currently running a graphite gasket and TTY head bolts with no issues at 10psi. Avoiding detonation helps keep it together in this case.

[Eggman]

Not something I'd be terribly concerned with. A good tune, no overheating and potentially some sort of ARP head stud (if HG failure does become a problem). There is a good chance that head gasket failures in the Mirage were a symptom of a larger problem like overheating or detonation, or the cylinder bores on the open deck block shifting (Focus RS has that issue big time).

I've built 14-15 turbo neons and never had an issue, and I'm sure many people know they were supposed to be prone to head gasket failures. Not counting the ones I've built for customers, my own 6 were daily driven for a total of 12 years without any issues.

When it comes to my Ranger, the old school small block Windsor has headgasket issues with boost. This is mainly an issue with the deck thickness of the cylinder head being thin. In this case swapping to an MLS gasket and adding ARP hardware helps with the issue. I'm currently running a graphite gasket and TTY head bolts with no issues at 10psi. Avoiding detonation helps keep it together in this case.

Sounds like fun. But what do you mean by:
MLS gasket
ARP hardware
TTY bolts?

I'm not good with abbreviations. Sorry.

[klroger]

Also I believe the engines you claim to have built in the past are iron blocks. I understand our mirage does not even have steel sleeves. I'm not an engine builder, but I think if you start to put boost pressure force onto the rings & pistons, it will quickly remove the coating in the cylinders & you have the "Chevy Vega" issues with the rings tearing the bore of the cylinders apart because you now have the steel rings running against the aluminum bore without the protective coating as that has been worn away... I could be wrong tho, as I was once before... Just thoughts...

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

Sounds like fun. But what do you mean by:
MLS gasket
ARP hardware
TTY bolts?

I'm not good with abbreviations. Sorry.

Fair enough.
MLS headgasket is Multi Layer Steel, pretty much the standard in reliable headgaskets.
ARP produces fasteners that are used in high performance engines, pretty much the best you can get.
TTY head bolts are torque to yield. You basically induce a stretch in the bolts resulting in better clamping between two parts

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

Also I believe the engines you claim to have built in the past are iron blocks. I understand our mirage does not even have steel sleeves. I'm not an engine builder, but I think if you start to put boost pressure force onto the rings & pistons, it will quickly remove the coating in the cylinders & you have the "Chevy Vega" issues with the rings tearing the bore of the cylinders apart because you now have the steel rings running against the aluminum bore without the protective coating as that has been worn away... I could be wrong tho, as I was once before... Just thoughts...

That's a fair concern, and you have a good point that an iron block or sleeved aluminum block is stronger. However, if you look into the 2011 Shelby GT500, you will see that it uses a 5.4 sleeveless aluminum block similar to our own. This is a supercharged engine making 550+ HP and it's built with the expectation that people will turn the boost up. At much higher levels, people will machine their blocks for press in sleeves made of billet.

The iron coating is weaker than a proper sleeve, however most OEMs use cast iron sleeves. My understanding is that cast iron (and most cast metals) is actually quite brittle and the molecular structure isn't as uniform or as strong as the equivalent billet or forged material. Basically the ARC transfer coating is still quite strong for it's thickness. It's also approx. .050-0.100" thick and very wear resistant, so if a piston ring wore through it, you would lose compression long before you got into the aluminum in the cylinder bores.

We do know that there were at least a few supercharged and turbocharged 3a92 out there, and no word of catastrophic failure. I guess time will tell. I'm working on my own turbo kit for my Mirage, however I'm potentially closing my shop at the end of this year, so I don't know if I'll have anywhere to complete that project.

[klroger]

Basically the ARC transfer coating is still quite strong for it's thickness. It's also approx. .050-0.100" thick and very wear resistant, so if a piston ring wore through it, you would lose compression long before you got into the aluminum in the cylinder bores.

OK... Thanks... I'm with Eggman, I'm not good with abbreviations... I don't know what "ARC Transfer Coating" is... Is it the Silicone compound that Chev used??? Or something like it??? I've heard of stuff called "Nickisil" used on small engine cylinders... Is this the same???

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

OK... Thanks... I'm with Eggman, I'm not good with abbreviations... I don't know what "ARC Transfer Coating" is... Is it the Silicone compound that Chev used??? Or something like it??? I've heard of stuff called "Nickisil" used on small engine cylinders... Is this the same???

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plas...ermal_spraying

[Cam]

Also I believe the engines you claim to have built in the past are iron blocks. I understand our mirage does not even have steel sleeves. I'm not an engine builder, but I think if you start to put boost pressure force onto the rings & pistons, it will quickly remove the coating in the cylinders & you have the "Chevy Vega" issues with the rings tearing the bore of the cylinders apart because you now have the steel rings running against the aluminum bore without the protective coating as that has been worn away... I could be wrong tho, as I was once before... Just thoughts...

I’ve been looking around for to see if anyone has built a 3a92 and have seen no one has made the parts.. I’d would be interested into looking into this however I don’t think I’m mechanically minded enough yet to be able to take on that kind of task.. although I did see that Carrillo makes custom rods and pistons so perhaps I could send them the stock ones and they could make me a set? I had saw on another thread that a guy had make 181hp on the stock internals so my thought is with billets rod/pistons and maybe some new valves and springs this little engine could possibly makes 220-250hp.. any thoughts?

[Pimp_Daddy_Patty]

I’ve been looking around for to see if anyone has built a 3a92 and have seen no one has made the parts.. I’d would be interested into looking into this however I don’t think I’m mechanically minded enough yet to be able to take on that kind of task.. although I did see that Carrillo makes custom rods and pistons so perhaps I could send them the stock ones and they could make me a set? I had saw on another thread that a guy had make 181hp on the stock internals so my thought is with billets rod/pistons and maybe some new valves and springs this little engine could possibly makes 220-250hp.. any thoughts?

My only concern at 250+ HP would be the 2 bolt mains that may or may not cause problems at that power level. Also the open deck block might cause issues at high power levels. Not saying huge power is not possible, but compared to other similar designed engines, these are the issues that could show themselves at some point.

Another thing to consider is that even 150hp would be a lot of power for a little car like ours. It's literally double the power. 225 hp would be triple. That's the equivalent of me pushing my 2.4L Neon engine to 450+ HP, which also reached it's limits of the engine block in the 550hp range.

Some thoughts about potential benefits of our engine: I hope this makes sense and I hope I'm properly explaining these thoughts. Our engine displacement per cylinder is only 400CC. It is my belief that each individual connecting rod and piston combo could handle a larger increase in power (from boost) compared to an engine that has a larger displacement. My thought is that a 33% smaller displacement (per cylinder) may not equal a 33% weaker piston and rod. I hope that makes sense.

Also a shorter 3 cylinder block and crankshaft may be more rigid than something longer.

I'm just throwing out some thoughts here. But by the looks of what DirtGearTV is making on his turbo 3a92, some of it might apply.

[Cam]

My only concern at 250+ HP would be the 2 bolt mains that may or may not cause problems at that power level. Also the open deck block might cause issues at high power levels. Not saying huge power is not possible, but compared to other similar designed engines, these are the issues that could show themselves at some point.

Another thing to consider is that even 150hp would be a lot of power for a little car like ours. It's literally double the power. 225 hp would be triple. That's the equivalent of me pushing my 2.4L Neon engine to 450+ HP, which also reached it's limits of the engine block in the 550hp range.

Some thoughts about potential benefits of our engine: I hope this makes sense and I hope I'm properly explaining these thoughts. Our engine displacement per cylinder is only 400CC. It is my belief that each individual connecting rod and piston combo could handle a larger increase in power (from boost) compared to an engine that has a larger displacement. My thought is that a 33% smaller displacement (per cylinder) may not equal a 33% weaker piston and rod. I hope that makes sense.

Also a shorter 3 cylinder block and crankshaft may be more rigid than something longer.

I'm just throwing out some thoughts here. But by the looks of what DirtGearTV is making on his turbo 3a92, some of it might apply.

Could you drill out the caps and block to make them 4 bolt mains? Or possible make some sort of griddle