RWD_RCKT

My baseline dyno with a test pipe, exhaust and a Comptech CAI (no fuel management yet) gave me a "lean" spike at VTEC transition of 12.5 but everywhere else was much less (11's IIRC). 12.5 is still a conservative tune for a boosted car. My old VAFC was tuned to 14 at WOT (N/A).

The other factors that will skew your results... people who put test pipes on their car will most likely a) be boosting and b) will tend to be a lot harder on their car.

Ro_Ja Boy

I have noticed that A LOT of people are running testpipes, regardless whether they are NA or Boosting. I just have noticed that a lot of people that spin rod bearings are using testpipes, so I thought that it might have something to do with it since it can cause you to run lean. Notice that 4 out of 5 people that have posted in the thread that they have spun a rod bearing have had a testpipe.

I did not spin a rod bearing on my car, I did on my first AP1 though which is why I am still curious about the topic.

I was FIed when it happened, but only for 100 miles or so.

gerdaland

same here. if i made it to 100 miles.

90crvtec

To me this indicates that there was already a problem developing and the extra stress on the internals thanks to FI just accelerated the failure of your rod bearings. Most of the spun rod bearing stories that I have read are from early model AP1 ('00 and '01) model years.

These are usually higher mileage cars with several different owners and an undocumented maintenance history. '00s and '01s are cheap, so people buy them as a 'mod car' and start strapping stuff on it. I don't think a test pipe has a single thing to do with a spun bearing. I think the age of the car, combined with the 9000 RPM redline, plus added internal stress on components due to FI, and multiple unknown drivers are all contributors to eventual bearing failure.

If anything, a test pipe is a common modification to add to a car that is supercharged/turbocharged. Pointing fingers at a test pipe on an FI'd car that has a rod bearing failure doesn't make sense to me.

duff0000

What are the symptoms of a spun rod bearing?

onfire01

mine were oil pressure light flickering, no vtec, and the car ran like crap

duff0000

Was your oil light flickering at idle, or all thoughout the rpm range?