jwa4378

You are an engineering student, right? It has to do with the "quench factor" of the OEM pistons. They were specifically designed for the OEM deck height on the head. Change that deck height, change the quench factor area on the piston. It effectively makes pre-detonation come on sooner compared to an OEM headgasket (dynamic compression... not static).

I am no engineering major, but this is what I gathered from a brief conversation with Mase, who is a Mechanical Engineer (and a badass tuner). He HATES 3mm HG. He says they really limit how aggressive the tune can be. Bad gas would lead to a bit of pre-detonation, which would blow the 3mm HG faster/easier than an OEM one due to the quench factor being off.

Badass fans = Flex-a-lite. The Integra models plug right in, and require little modification (if you have a dremel, you are set). They move a TON of air compared to OEM (and are louder too...).

John

Spec_Ops2087

Then, as you said, don't tune the engine as aggressivly with a 3mm headgasket?

The problem here is that a few people believe the HG failed just because it's a weak POS that fails randomly. Truth is, something caused it to fail...it's no different then a stock motor failing.

A standard HG wouldn't save your motor from overheating nor would "qunech" area. Bad gas? A stock motor with bad gas and an aggressive tune is no different then a 3mm HG motor with an aggressive tune. Both run a high risk of failing. I don't see what the arguement is?

Spec_Ops2087

Lets also not forget the OP has the highest HP s2000 in our area with a GT30R, obviously he is running an agressive tune to support that. I guarentee anyone of the, so called, godly stock motor s2000s with 500+hp running around here would have the same ordeal if they ran some bad gas or if cooling fans died, or any other problem for that matter.

The engines are still exactly the same only that one puts more stress on the motor (stock HG) and the other has a higher chance of detonation (3mm HG). Again I don't see how people can't see past this?

jwa4378

Gotcha.

I am of the opinion that if the HG was stock, the quench factor on the pistons might have been able to control the pre-detonation (caused by bad gas) better. With a 3m HG (w/ tunes equally aggressive) pre-detonation comes on sooner due to the reduced quench factor.

3mm HG will not fail "randomly", but the messing with the ability of the motor/piston to control pre-detonation may cause pre-detonation to come on sooner (tunes being equally aggressive). And, IMO, they both will fail just as quicky in an overheating situation... That is aside from pre-detonation failure.

That is where I am coming from...

I think I really shoulda been an engineer. This stuff is fun to me! All this is hypothetical, though. Its kind of like "what came first, the chicken or the egg" in terms of his issue. Overheating can be the cause, or a side effect, of the blown HG.

John