912E passes 100K miles in less than 4 years!

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

It happened a couple of weeks ago on the way home, this is the first chance I have had to make the post.

Here is a timeline of the engines life span to date. You will note that I have not taken very good care of this engine and thats for a good reason- if a neglected engine will go 100K for me, it certainly should for a customer thattakes good care of it!


September 13 2002- 2056cc engine built from primarily used parts springs into like and makes 125ish HP and 130 lb/ft of torque on the RAT Dyno. engine was designed for 100% daily driving reliability in the only primary vehicle I owned at the time that was commfortable enough for long distance drives.

February 2003- completed a 6000 mile service where valves were adjusted and head retorqued. Oil was swapped from 20/50 castrol to Royal Purple 20/50.Entered the car in it's first driver's Ed event at Roebling Road raceway and logged 220 miles on the car in a full weekend at race speeds.

For the next 45,000 miles the engine was driven, abused and neglected with 6 different synthetic oils being ran with results in MPG, power and etc noted and logged. At 51,000 miles a thorough inspection of the engine was made after I missed a shift and redlined the engine to the point of serious valve float. Nothing was found to be out of the ordinary so I just changed the oil to 20/50 Royal Purple and decided to keep running that permenantly due to the results I saw time after time with it. At 51K the valves were not redjusted- only checked!! 45,000 miles with the same valve adjustment was unheard of and truly showed the benefits of our cryogenics processes!

July 2004- At 59,000 miles I decided to rip the carbs off the engine and do some test work for Dave Carlson, the creator of the "Kit Carlson EMS". I would run the EMS for 10K miles and note cooler head temps, cooler oil temps and increased MPG from it's use. The EMS proved to be worth its cost, but then dave decided to discontinue its development due to a serious illness in his family, he asked me for the test unit back and I removed it and mailed it back.

At this time I did not do ANY further maintenance to the engine that now has 70K miles on it and had not had a single valve adjusted since February of 2003! The current Royal Purple in the engine had been running for 11,000 miles and wasn't even dirty yet- so I simply changed the filter and went from there.

I had been spoiled by the EMS unit, so i decided to use the 912E and this engine as a test bed for the DSD EFI set up that we had been working with and logging good results with. I installed the unit and after tuning had the same results as with the EMS unit. The SDS system has remained untouched since it's install!

I drove the car another 7K miles on the Royal Purple oil and didn't even change the filter once after the 70K mile point (11K more on the oil) making a total mileage of 18,000 on one oil change and bringing the car to 77K miles with still no valve adjustment since 2/2003 and some 62,000 miles! In 18,000 miles the engine consumed 4 quarts of oil, a great testament to the KB pistons and their Hastings ring pack coupled to our OEM bored cylinders!

The oil started to leak pretty badly after 18K miles of use and it was starting to puff blue smoke between gear changes, so I decided to change it. I popped off the valve covers to reseal them and checked the valve clearances and also inspected the guides for wear. Everything was spot on and only one valve had moved at all (was loose by about a thou over the last adjutment) so I buttoned it back up and started to brag about a solid lifter engine not having a single valve adjusted for 77K miles!

So I filled the engine with another 4 quarts of Royal Purple just before Len and I drove 2,000 miles round trip to the SCCA Runoffs last year. I ran that oil for TWENTY ONE THOUSAND miles and DID NOT EVEN CHANGE THE FILTER!!! A few eeeks ago the oil strted leaking again and it burned a quart in one week so I knew the oil had lost most of it's properties and must be changed. This brought the mileage to 98K miles and I didn't even bother checking the valves as the goal was to get 100K miles from the engine and then tear it down for inspection. At 98K miles the worst cylinder had 4% leakdown!!!

I have since changed my mind- the engine continues to run so strong and still gets good mileage so I have decided not to tear it down now that it has passed 100K! I have decided that I will continue to run the engine and will not change the oil again until it dies- I will also not adjust the valves! The power is only slightly off what it was originally so I don't ee it dyine anytime soon!

keep in mind this engine was not outfitted with exotic parts and the crank and rods were the original units from 1976 and already had 100K miles on them when I built the engine in 2002! All that was done to the rods were better bolts and a big end rehone- the crank needed nothing, not even a polish!

So there ya have it... I am now working on a replacement for the 912Es engine so when it does die I will have a replacement. This replacement will be a Super 2 Liter and it might get installed before the current engine dies if gas gets any more expensive. If this happens I'll convert the 912E engine to upright and install it into a 71 super that I have out back.

This engine has amazed me and so has the Royal Purple. I really wonder what the internals of the engine look like after an 18K mile stent on one oil change and then a 21K mile stent on the next!!!

Type 4s rock!

[TedzBug]

Truly awesome jake.........i would love an engine i could drive and enjoy and really use for my daily driver. Someday before long. and i would agree on the royal purple, i have been running it for a couple years now. love it.

[Ephry73]

Jake,

Just a question, what parts were cryo'ed and which parts were balanced? This post is an amazing testament to the robustness of the type 4, as well as the things that can be accomplished with one.


E

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

I treated everything to a good dose of balance, even the camshaft. I took the entire rotating mass to .2 Oz In. spec and it was certainly evident at any RPM.

The entire engine was cryoed, even the crankcase was "aged" with cryogenics.

[Ephry73]

This treatment will certainly be good insurance, even for a stocker. WOW. Such a simple concept, and such incredible results.


E

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

It didn't come easy. It too us 2 years+ to get the process down and to create the 31 profiles for different TIV engine parts.

[TedzBug]

31 Wow, thats a lot of R&D...............

[sinistervw]

WOW!!!! THats just nuts!!! what did the oil feel like when it died...Feel any different?

[MASSIVE TYPE IV]

Like water....didn't smell bad though and it still had a purple tint to it!

[TedzBug]

awesome stuff, that royal purple.............

[silverwad]

We dont screw around with any PURPLE SHI! here in da islands......We's got da-kine coconut oil-recyclable-purrfect for our weather here in da pacific, get 3000 miles per coconut, .......TAKE THAT royal purple BOLOGNA...surf's up guys,,,break out the oil---er WAX !!!!

ALOHA, LEO

[sinistervw]

So when it does die....What part do you think will give up the ghost first?

[huw'sspeedster]

This was the 71mm crank and 96mm barreled engine that i thought you had based the super 2 litre on because this had given you almost 40mpg!
Would this be the best base for a budget econo engine in kit form or are you going for the 78.4x90.5 as in the supers?What heads does this have on it?Getting close to a car for Jules but a long way off a proper engine she wants to keep it stock!

[914fan]

Jake,
where did it leak from when the oil was bad? Also you said that you are not going to change the oil until the engine dies. Do you think it will die before the oil, or are you gona let it self destruct due to bad oil?