Damn!! Unbelievable that a racing team would expose their problems and explain them to the public. I have even more respect for you and your team, and thanks for doing these videos! Cheers!
That's because it's just drifting where engines/tunes/turbo's aren't controlled/parity and they aren't looking for tenths of a second in engine performance.
I've seen multiple Russian drifting teams showing their problems, quite common there. But so far I haven't seen a racing team to film the teardown of their engine in a tutorial-like format. Evil Empire drifting team films their blown JZs teardown in a life-blog way. Btw, in drifting the control and handling is more important than power if you have the skill to use it. Gocha became world champion with just an SR20 and 500hp, and he can keep up with his friend's 1200hp gtr. But still the more power the better if it doesn't mess up throttle response and weight distribution of the car.
sasja de vries oh, for sure. I’m just impressed because they are a big-time Toyota team; they’re not exactly in the gamma delta iota fraternity (G*d Damned Independents) running an sr20 or a 2j, etc...they’re producing 250HP per cylinder! I think that has to be the exact definition of high-strung in mechanical terms.
it is a privilege to watch this man work and hear him teach! Thank you again for letting us stand over your shoulder and learn. Best of luck next round! Can not wait to see it
Three things I love about this channel!. 1. You tell it how it is, you're honest and upfront. 2. you make it very easy for non-savvy car people to understand and 3. The videos flow very nicely and don't feel rushed even tho they are short and to the point. Keep up the great work team!
I really don't think you cracked the porcelain. Is it more probable someone down the parts supply chain dropped it. That being said, I respect that you took yourself out of the equation for future plugs, with the gapping tool. Awesome vid
Obviously we can not say for certain who caused the porcelain to be damaged on the spark plug. However I have scene plugs damaged by the tap down method of gapping spark plugs. As a result of that I log ago stopped closing the gap on plugs that way and depending on the plug gap I either use a old style plug squeezer or an electrode bending tool additionally I have found that on conventional plugs a little careful work with a Dremel tool and a sanding drum cleaning up the profile of the ground strap can make a difference with help controlling detonation. After re-profiling the ground strap I make sure to throughly clean the plug before installing them in a engine.
So you are saying the box, and cardboard sleeve didn't do their job? Actually the plugs he buys may even use a plastic sleeve. Dropping spark plugs usually cracks the nickel alloy electrodes inside the plug, sometimes I have even pulled the entire electrode out after this happens. The ceramic insulator is aluminum oxyde, but both if cracked instantly let you know at startup. And once they are cracked they are cracked, there is no in between. So he would immediately know at startup after he installed cracked plugs. And also there is obviously more than one there cracked. This indicates some other issue. Like excessive combustion chamber heat. Indicated by melted underside of the pistons.
Can't say that I've caused an issue by tapping plugs down for the last like 15 years. But I also have never installed plugs on something pushed quite as hard as that engine. A few 1000 hp plus drag cars but not running that high of boost or for prolonged runs like drift
I don't think the porcelain broke before the failure. Detonation and excessive heat causes the electrode to expand and break the porcelain insulator. I think the tune was a bit aggressive and that cylinder was a cunt-hair hotter than the rest and/or the design of piston itself had a sharp edge that didn't get sanded down. Look where the detonation happened , right where there's an edge.
First off I want to say I have mad respect for this video and you. You didn’t hide anything you were open and clean about it and that’s honorable in today’s world. Also you create some of that absolute best engine build and tear down videos ever. This channel will blow up! No music no nonsense just educational stuff with a high quality camera. Thank you
This is the second one of your videos I have watched, and I just want to say, I have huge respect for your talent, and your integrity. It is obvious why you are so successful. Thanks for the view into your work.
Done the same to my subaru when i was younger. Melted straight through the piston. The little end of the conrod had melted piston material sprayed on it like melted candle wax. Absolutely nuts.
much respect. im currently going to school for heavy duty mechanics and just finished up the section on engines. this was extremely useful andi was able to connect a lot of the dots on some things i was wondering about.
The fact that you put so much effort into these videos to teach us and show us even your failures is a breathe of fresh air there’s a reason I like you so much Much love man
It takes a humble man to admit his possible mistake in his profession and share it with the world. We could all learn a lesson from this and I'm not just talking about cars
What a run on 3 cylinders. Fantastic team effort and these videos are so important to the motorsports communities. The knowledge that is in these videos is amazing, and such an awesome thing to see. Papadakis is the MAN.
It's cool to see you be transparent about failure. Whatever the cause the engine failed and you own it and rebuild. Awesome to see how logical and methodical you approach such an issue!
Dear PapadakisRacing, I am not sure if you will ever see this comment, but I hope the energy goes your way regardless. Thank you for being so forthcoming with your knowledge. As a young engine builder and fabricator, it is difficult to find people in the industry who are willing to share information if you don't work there and that can be discouraging. Thank you for the constant updates and full documents of teardowns and builds. I appreciate that you show when things don't go according to plan. I think few fans on RU-vid realize the balls it takes to not edit out things that look "bad" (ex. When the cam didn't come out of the Supra motor and you had to lean on it). I appreciate these things as it helps eliminate the illusion that when you become pro, or a pro team that life still doesn't throw you curve balls. I respect your honesty, as well as creativity. Keep up the good work, as you are one of the few people to "look up to" in the drift industry. Blessed and Safe Season for you and the Team at Papadakis, Adam. P.S. Thank you for not running LS 😊
Really strong bottom end with excellent lube system design, no bearing damage even after putting a hole in the piston and the crankcase overpressure blowing out the seals and losing a bunch of oil. Great engineering, great video, thanks guys.
Another great video Sir. To any aspiring technicians watching this... Notice how he calls himself out on his mistake? That's how he became the tech he is. Stay humble, there's always more to learn.
Great job to you Papadakis racing team and Stephan for making this video it takes a mature and special team to show it's failures. It's hard to blow an engine but it's part of the sport and you guy's are brave enough to show it to us. I hope you guy's can fix it or replace it soon and keep fighting this season.💪💪💪
Thank you for opening up your Your shop and your race team to show us the real life world of racing... We love to get inside of what really goes on these race teams... Everyone else keeps it a secret for some reason... It just makes you guys look Really down-to-earth and all about your fans... Think you again and keep posting awesome videos like this...
Great video, respect that you exposed the problems and explained the process throughout.. I've followed your car in formula D, and saw your teardown, and now I need to change my spark plug gapping techniques too, thanks Stephan!
Im a mechanical engineering major and want to get into motorsports after college. This is some of the best and informative content Ive ever come across
Dude. This is by far the best channel for REALLY learning about cars. I've been involved with a formula racing team as a mechanic and they could learn some things from you. Deep knoledge here. Thank you very much for the effort of sharing it.
My favorite race team since reading about you guys in Tuner and other magazines back in the early 2000's. I love the simple explanation during break down and reassembly that you cover. Major respect for how you guys show what other race teams are either too afraid or ashamed to with failure parts, engines, transmissions,etc. Great videos👍👍👍👍👍👍.
Hey Stephan; amazing content man. Keep the great work up. BTW I’ve got major respect for you dude due to this video. You’re showing the world that motor sports does involve hiccups and shit does go wrong but showing it publicly on you RU-vid for the world to see takes some balls. Major respect..
If you don't break stuff in motorsport, you are not pushing the limits. It's part of the game, the dance on the fine line between genius and madness, the line between greatness and destruction.
You are a perfect example of how to do it right my dude. Keep doing what you're doing! I love these videos, I share them all with my piston head mates.
Its crazy how hard that engine drove even audibly very low on power. I've had engine failure due to pre detonation..it sucks!. They die off so gracefully.
I appreciate how educational these videos are, also it's nice seeing these fantastic pieces of engineering being broken down and analysed for R&D purposes.
Very interesting to see what goes wrong in a real racing car and thank you for sharing the problem with everyone. The world would be a better place if everyone shared more :)
That video is just perfection! First up he explains what went wrong with the engine in a nice and easy way and after that he blesses us with a nice clip of Formula DRIFT and his teams car. Well balanced vid, keep up the work!
The only reason he would absolutely expose himself like this is because he knows he’ll learn from this mistake, and improve, and his clients know that. He’s great.
I had no idea that plugs could be that sensitive when gapping by tapping, will look into a tool as well👍 great info here... plugs always tell the story
With every video I see I have more respect for You and Your team but also I'm more and more invested into technical aspect of this sport. I hope You'll continue with videos like this one. It's very educational and yet entertaining. Thanks Steph!
Thank you for sharing the not-so-good sides of racing as well as the good ones! You have my respect for owning it and even suggesting the theory of the dinged sparkplug. I'm a fan following Fredric into your team. Stayed because of quality content with no bs and hype. Keep doing that. Please and thank you 😉
When I saw the issues happen I was honestly kind of glad it happened to Aasbo because I knew there would be amazing content to come with the engine getting such issues, great content and amazing professionalism, here's to more amazing events next!
TRUTH ! IL be your biggest fan! Things not told. By a brain surgen.,by a cardiologist., tattoo artist., (mis spelling) BUT A MECHANIC to say.i beleive i done this. Just knocked me dwn. In MO.last 100yrs. No human made a mistake ! PROUD OF YOU !
Well done for putting this video up Stephanos, it is a credit to you. Most tuning houses, at least the known ones, would absolutely avoid doing that, as it does happen all the time. In general I like your work as it is a quality one. As I've seen comments on pre-ignition, pre-ignition does not happen because of the spark plug, it happens because of hot spots, and the mixture pre-ignites before the spark plug fires. The dings due to the porcelain part falling off can cause pre-ignition, but Stephanos theory of cracking the porcelain while gaping them it is not the case. The plug having the porcelain already lightly cracked, tiny hair crack, by dropping the case of the plugs i.e on the ground while shipping it from the manufacturer/merchant to the end user is more of the case, as it does happen. The porcelain, white part, of a spark plug can also crack and brake off if the spark plug is faulty by the manufacturer during normal operation without any detonation present, very high egts etc. Also pistons do not get burnt, they crank, chip and break. A piston is constantly into combustion with very high temps and cylinder pressures, what people see on the crown of a damaged piston/rings is burnt oil.
now who owns their problems in motorsports! A lot of respect to you guys, and those measures u took to make sure the engine live longer sure does help out a lot! =) much love from 2JZ fan
I've been following your company since your were piloting one of the only AP2 drift cars in the world ive always admired what you do with 4 cylinders but this new youtube channel you got going on....is primo my friend! I have been learning so much from these not only from your success but youre mistake (or potential mistake). Congratulations on being the coolest car builder on the planet lol
Great video. One thing to mention is that pre ignition and detonation are often confused as the same thing, but that is incorrect. To fully understand these terms, one has to understand the combustion process. Combustion is not an explosion but a controlled burn beginning at the spark from the spark plug. With the spark plug in the center of the head, a flame front is created from the center burning concentrically to the edges of the cylinder, much like a forest fire. As this flame front moves, the combustion gas pressure and temperature increase, causing the piston to move down. This downward movement increases the chamber volume, acting to relieve cylinder pressure and temperature. While the fuel is still burning, if the piston is not moving fast enough to control the pressure and temperature, the cylinder pressure and temperature can rise enough to cause the remaining fuel to spontaneously combust. This creates a high pressure shock wave, (much like hitting the top of the piston with a hammer) causing severe damage to the piston. This spontaneous combustion is called detonation. Detonation can be caused by a variety of things, one being pre ignition. Pre ignition is caused by hot spots in the combustion chamber. These can be carbon deposits or as in this case, raised points of aluminum caused by porcelain chunks bouncing against and denting the top of the piston. These raised points of aluminum cannot dissipate the heat as fast as the smooth flat surface and begin to get hot enough to act as a second ignition source. Now you have two flame fronts burning simultaneously, causing the fuel charge to burn in half the time. Since the piston is not moving twice as fast to relieve the quickly rising pressure, the pressure and temperature rise to the point of detonation. So, the bottom line is that pre ignition leads to detonation. Detonation is usually caused by other reasons such as too much timing advance, which causes the fuel charge to reach the critical detonation temperature before the piston reaches top dead center. It can also be caused by using fuel with a low octane level. Low octane fuel burns faster than higher octane fuel, therefore reaching the critical detonation temperature much earlier in the combustion cycle.
Excellent video.. thank you. Too many spectators think you can make mega power reliably. But at this level of racing, the engines are maxed out leaving little to no room for error. Even if nothing goes wrong, these engines wear out quickly, requiring a rebuild on a regular basis.
Rad video. Thank you. Living at 10,000 at 250 whp per cylinder coupled with flipping back and forth sideways at high g is gotta be rough. I think it's amazing racers have figured out how to do it at all.
I've been building turbo engines for 40 years with a lot of road race ones in there 20 years ago. Pre-ignition is what took out the piston, ground electrode and ceramic. You likely didn't crack the ceramic by gently tapping on a socket. Many people confuse detonation and pre-ignition and their effects on components. Yes, the data log shows you had knock activity and knock often leads shortly to pre-ignition which is far more destructive and quick acting than detonation. Great video on the teardown.
