Eco Mustang 2.3 Engine Cracking Explained

trippleyelo said:

Map..

They did 600 whp

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5.0yote said:

Mind you they blew up the intake manifold on that build but it was also a fuel related failure.

Keeping your Octane and fueling in check is the biggest thing you can do, if you underfuel/grade your system is usually when you see the worst of it especially during a catastrophic lean condition, followed by just a rod/block failure due to too much power. Safe reliable power is about the 400WHP mark, as you go north of that time will tell how long stock internals will hold out. I think most of the failures were sub 400WHP from what I have read.

Personally I think the motor is pretty reliable, if you keep your eye on your AFRs, knock count, and timing. If you see irregular or erratic timing with knock, get out of it and check your fuel.

Last year on the dyno I had a two part failure one was just plain bad gas was causing tons of knock and ping followed up by timing being retarted like -4 to 7 degrees on all cyls and lost 35% of my power, then my methanol setup was not spraying on top of that due to a minor kink in the hard line where if bent around the inner fender exit to the engine compartment. Saving grace that day was it was pretty cold out. I think had the temps been a nominal 78degrees or higher instead of 55 degrees I think it would have detonated.

If your running over 300whp I also suggest you be using a good race oil with the proper additives.

I could not even imagine doing 450+ on the stock internals for very long let alone 500-600.... Even in short bursts. I am running around 335 right now on the stock turbo, with the basic bolt-ons and I am not sure what its running on the meth tune at the moment but 330-350wheel is a decent amount for this car as a daily.

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