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Woah, that's wild. Is a screw-up that universally catastrophic across engines? My very, very naive understanding of cars is pushing me towards thinking that a h

Woah, that's wild. Is a screw-up that universally catastrophic across engines? My very, very naive understanding of cars is pushing me towards thinking that a homologation version of a GT3 car is sort of an extreme outlier, but I know very little about engines, and my intuition is almost certainly way off.

analog31 5y ago
How often do cars get an engine rebuild by a local mechanic these days? When the timing chain failed in my Saturn, a new engine was more than the car was worth.
- MikeBVaughn 5y ago
  That's a good point; my VW GTI got one at a local shop under insurance a few years back. The turbocharger wasn't hooked up quite right the first time. It wasn't a severe issue - the engine was just noticeably less powerful. Luckily it was a quick fix and they were very good about rectifying the issue, but yeah, what you're saying checks out, even in the outlier cases where a fix is covered. (Humorously, in a chain of weird luck, I also had a full rebuild of a regular Golf engine in the same five year span, but that one was done at the dealer.)
- mgarfias 5y ago
  I’ve got an LS6 build in process right now. Lots of us do it on the regular. It’s not that common with shitboxes, but even then it happens. We swapped my kids Honda Civic’s head about a year ago after a blown head gasket.
- King-Aaron 5y ago
  I've just finished rebuilding my BP4W race engine for my mazda. It seems like an annual event for me considering the amount of power I'm pushing through the poor thing.
coryrc 5y ago
Rare. More common in high-performance because they're pushing the limits.
14 5y ago
No it is not universal think of all those beater cars you see on the road they don’t need the precision as a 300+ hp car. Just keep adding oil. Also people do things like valve adjustments because they can be out by a certain factor and still run just with decreased performance. Obviously you can have certain aspects of an engine that will later prove to be fatal but there are lots of engines that run like crap and get people from A to B just fine. I am not saying some precision isn’t needed but for a lot of applications it is somewhat forgiving.

analog31 5y ago

How often do cars get an engine rebuild by a local mechanic these days? When the timing chain failed in my Saturn, a new engine was more than the car was worth.

MikeBVaughn 5y ago
That's a good point; my VW GTI got one at a local shop under insurance a few years back. The turbocharger wasn't hooked up quite right the first time. It wasn't a severe issue - the engine was just noticeably less powerful. Luckily it was a quick fix and they were very good about rectifying the issue, but yeah, what you're saying checks out, even in the outlier cases where a fix is covered. (Humorously, in a chain of weird luck, I also had a full rebuild of a regular Golf engine in the same five year span, but that one was done at the dealer.)
mgarfias 5y ago
I’ve got an LS6 build in process right now. Lots of us do it on the regular. It’s not that common with shitboxes, but even then it happens. We swapped my kids Honda Civic’s head about a year ago after a blown head gasket.
King-Aaron 5y ago
I've just finished rebuilding my BP4W race engine for my mazda. It seems like an annual event for me considering the amount of power I'm pushing through the poor thing.

coryrc 5y ago

Rare. More common in high-performance because they're pushing the limits.

14 5y ago

No it is not universal think of all those beater cars you see on the road they don’t need the precision as a 300+ hp car. Just keep adding oil. Also people do things like valve adjustments because they can be out by a certain factor and still run just with decreased performance. Obviously you can have certain aspects of an engine that will later prove to be fatal but there are lots of engines that run like crap and get people from A to B just fine. I am not saying some precision isn’t needed but for a lot of applications it is somewhat forgiving.