I'm sorry but the age old addage, "There's no replacement for displacement" rings so true. I had a very worked on turbo (330 to the wheels), and the thing scattered itself into a lump of garbage due to a broken rocker. IMO, the rockers in this engine are not good for that much more hp. I know many will say Chevy says 500, but I have a pile of junk to prove otherwise! As for the purists, I say do what you like, screw what the purists think.
I cannot speak for yamatd3's experience, but as a rule, we've not seen any issues with these rockers on ours or our customers' cars, and we've been running Ecotec's at hi HP for years. As such, I'd like to imagine that his catastrophe was an isolated incident.
__________________
Bill Hahn Jr., Hahn RaceCraft, Inc. Home of the World's Quickest and Most Powerful Solstices
First to the 14's, 13's, and 12's in the 1/4 Mile
12.00 @ 117 MPH Street Solstice World Record
Hahn RaceCraft, Inc.
Turbocharging GM's since 1988 http://www.turbosystem.com
Bill/EcoBoost:
Just so you know what was done to this engine that had this mishap.
Fully built 2.4l .020 over race engine featuring forged rods, forged 8.8/1 compression pistons, race head gasket and head studs. Balanced and professionally assembled. Engine has only 1,500 miles on it.
__________________ Aggressive GXP at $25,995.00 shipping of $600, Manual Transmission.
Options:
Air, $960; Chrome Wheels, $545; PCQ, Premium Package (Leather), $525; Radio, 6-Disc with MP3, $495; Monsoon, $395; Premium Acoustic Headliner, $150; and Sport Metallic Pedals, $115; all totals $29,180.00. No XM/OnStar and NO Spoiler. MODS (RKSport/Magnaflow dual exit exhaust system, K&N filter, Ventureshield.
First 1000. Aggressive with everything, NO XM/OnStar. SOLD
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Bill/EcoBoost:
Just so you know what was done to this engine that had this mishap.
Fully built 2.4l .020 over race engine featuring forged rods, forged 8.8/1 compression pistons, race head gasket and head studs. Balanced and professionally assembled. Engine has only 1,500 miles on it.
How sad I always hate when someone puts a lot of effort into their ride and this type of thing happens. It tends to drive people away from the sport. Sorry to hear.
__________________
Bill Hahn Jr., Hahn RaceCraft, Inc. Home of the World's Quickest and Most Powerful Solstices
First to the 14's, 13's, and 12's in the 1/4 Mile
12.00 @ 117 MPH Street Solstice World Record
Hahn RaceCraft, Inc.
Turbocharging GM's since 1988 http://www.turbosystem.com
At least the engine is EMENSELY cheeper than an LS x engine. slightly used for what 1200-1800?
If you shop right, even less...we've seen customers pick them up from wrecked HHR's for $800-ish.
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Bill Hahn Jr., Hahn RaceCraft, Inc. Home of the World's Quickest and Most Powerful Solstices
First to the 14's, 13's, and 12's in the 1/4 Mile
12.00 @ 117 MPH Street Solstice World Record
Hahn RaceCraft, Inc.
Turbocharging GM's since 1988 http://www.turbosystem.com
Yes, I did buy BoostedSol's car and the description LatinVenom gave was correct as for the build of the motor. The reason I decided to go with the LS2 motor was simpy due to the $$ to rebuild the 2.4 to a little better standard than it was. Just to set the record straight though, there was approx 4000 miles on the motor when it let go. IMO, the motor needed better liners, upgraded rockers and lower compression pistons than the 8.8's that were in the car. To do all of these upgrades, plus replace all the damaged parts, it was going to run me way more than the cost of a LS2 motor. So, I decided to go with the V-8 and its reliability vs another turbo'd engine.
How sad I always hate when someone puts a lot of effort into their ride and this type of thing happens. It tends to drive people away from the sport. Sorry to hear.
Well, it's not keeping me away, just decided to use different power though LOL!
Round these parts anywho, when a rocker breaks its from 1 of 2 things. Too much RPM (and usually the springs fault not the rocker)or too much timing.
Exhaust side?
Im late to the party but Ill give my opinion. I would work the stock motor for all its worth. Engine swaps are cool and all but this little 4 banger can take a lot more than youll be willing to throw at it. If Im correct it uses the same block as the racing motors so in theory you could make it into a 1000+ hp beast (Waaay more than $10k). We have a great opertunity with these motors and we should use it. Im personally aiming for around 400 on the stock block. I think that will be pretty commonplace once the GXP computer is fully broken down by tuners. Once that happens we can start adding all sorts of stuff.
Adam Im in complete agreement.
It wont be long until the same CNC porting program is applied to our head casting and availible over the counter. In even shorter order I will have turbo upgrades availible to everyone that will allow 400whp in your same rpm envelope and alot more when the tach needle starts a swingin' to the fun side of the dial.
The only block in the road is the ECM. All we need is for all of us to get a screename on the Hptuners forum and squeek for some grease. If our voice is louder than the ford folk's maybe we'll get some more lovin'.
Down the road some years I bet they will have custom OS's allowing 3 or 4 bar mapsensors. 6-700whp reliably from a well built Ecotech is VERY much a reality, albeit with a little Octane enhancement.
But if you must hear more than 4 bangs/720 then my vote is to go Odd and whack a 3.4 DI v-6 er in there. a TT version of that motor would be unique and easily rock 600+hp under an additonal atmo (14.7psi boost).
Last edited by BaldTurboFreak : 11-20-2007 at 10:18 AM.
I have already committed and bought all the necessary stuff to do the v8 conversion. My shop is actually working on it right now.
You guys might be right in your thinking about the performance of the EcoTec motor. However, I am not willing to take the chance of another motor taking a dump and costing me more $$. I simply have not heard about stock LS2 motors blowing upand I will have even more hp than before.
In order to build my old ecotec motor to the new spec I was comfortable with, it was going to be $10K. The upgraded rockers were $3500 alone, plus new liners, $1000, crank, new pistons, redone head, professionally built etc. etc. etc.
Also, I would not do 400hp on the stock liners, all 4 of mine were trashed worse than I have ever seen before, and it wasn't from the rocker going either.
I always hate when someone puts a lot of effort into their ride and this type of thing happens. It tends to drive people away from the sport. 
Sorry to hear.