I know that there are few 420A engines out there that are anywhere near that point, but the limits keep pushing closer so I figured I's share my exciting Mid-week "weekend" with everybody. I don't know exact details of the car, but Alex its owner was a good sport and allowed me to take some pics to post. I'm just glad I was standing to the side of the car watching for the tires to contact the fender when everything up front blew up...



The car:

late 70's toyota corolla, sponsered by a local dyno shop-also friends of mine.

Drivetrain:

6-bolt 4G63, chevy TH-350 tranny, ford 9" rear-end


This is a purpose built track car, it only knows idle and full throttle...


First pull of the day resulted in about 590HP to the wheels, at 48 Psi boost on the GT-42R. It only has 8.0:1 comp, and the timing was only at 12 degrees advance-rather conservative for the fuel, 110 octane i was told.

Second pull resulted in a maximum of 667HP at the wheels, everything the same except for a 75HP wet shot of nitrous(multiport)

They decided to up the boost to 55 PSI and run with no nitrous, and give it +1 degree timing throughout that particular portion of the ignition map (AEM EMS) and also decided to simulate a 1/4 mile run.

He hit the top of 3rd gear and at 9000 RPM shifted to 4th. The dyno registered over 700 at the shift point, but as soon as the turbo started to spool in 4th gear the power climbed rapidly and at exactly 722 everything went up with a huge cloud of smoke.


Top two pics are his engine bay, the rest are the remains...




















I only wish I had vid, everybody agreed that it was the coolest way to go... Because you hit the limit, not because you made a mistake.


I also want to mention that Alex now has a set of Pauter X-Beams on order. And that we proved that the Eagle Reps(Bill)claims of a possible 900 HP on a safe tune with eagle H-Beams, is simply wrong. Sorry Bill, but somebody had to do it...

And as for myself, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my 2 day vacation home from texas :cheers

Are you sure those rods couldn't be fixed?

Damn good carnage :P , but it begs the question of why were they shifting at 9k in 3rd gear on the dyno? Checking out the tranny set-up?

at the point where the engine let loose we where actually just looking to simulate the "top end" of a run down the 1/4 mile, to find out at what MPH the 26" tall slicks had decided to balloon and wreck his fresh paint job. He had lost the lower portion of his rear quarter panels on a previous pull. loooking for one thing but we found another, I found it interesting that those rods held as much as they did

Last i checked Eagle rods were rated for 500 or 600 hp. That was the reason Crower rods were installed in my 2.4L.

That kinda looks like the corolla that was at Buschers (Shootout) 2 years ago. There were working on it, not sure why. I just remember the engine bay, now i need to go back and review my pictures.


Ah they changed their ratings from the original 500HP
http://www.howellautomotive.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=277

Originally posted by Star Turbo Talon
Last i checked Eagle rods were rated for 500 or 600 hp.

I was under the same assumption. But according to our local eagle rep, I only know his first name -Bill- they're good for much more. Thats also the first time I've seen that info up on howell's site.
I made a call this afternoon and the rods that let loose are the "redesigned" ones. I'm still waiting to get a CC of the email back regarding the pics I took that where sent to him, but last I heard, somebody was going to owe somebody a refund on at least the rods. Then again, how exactly does one go about dealing with a company as large as eagle when you can prove that they are making unreasonable claims about the abilities of their product? Especially when it causes potentially thousands of dollars of damage.

Yeah i really dont know how you make a calculated arguement on their claims. Off the top of my head I can hear them telling you it was tuning at fault. That statement is used for more warranty claims than parts are sold.

other factors like rod angularity will affect how much it will hold, especially at 9k rpms. Thats pretty dumb to say the rods will hold 700hp. Four rods holding 700hp, or 8 rods holding 700hp...

they should do more or a shear or tensile test on them in a certain rod ratio range or something, that would be more useful and more accurate.

thats some sick carnage though!