Adrian NB Germany

Hi, I have a 1999 NB1 1.6 turbo. It's turbocharged for almost 2 years now but needed several engines already because something is definetely wrong. Let me explain: I started on a S13 T25 turbo and some mild boost on an MS2 Extra until I increased the horsepower (according to virtual dyno) to about 200whp at 13-14psi and the turbo wouldn't do any more. Then I switched to a S1BG Borg Warner turbo which is the biggest available size but with the 0.61 a/r turbine housing (very similar to a GT2560R). Also I installed tfsi COPs because the stock coils weren't able to support the boost. After about 14k km on that setup I blew my first engine. Car was running about 15psi of boost and 220-230whp and quite conservative timing on UK98 octane. But I was hearing knock for quite a while before that. I never really found out why it was knocking but the engine death at least wasn't unexpected. That was my first engine and I didn't really care since I learned a lot about tuning with that engine. It was definetely knock as you can see and it even bent a rod but only the 3rd cylinder seemed to be affected.

A 1.6NB engine is about 150€ here, so it's not too bad. Then I put everything back to stock spec (new used 1.6 engine, stock ECU,...) drove the car through autumn and did an exhintake on it. Then in February I installed the turbo kit again and replaced some parts so it wouldn't blow up again. New injectors (Bofi Racing 640cc Bosch), MS3Mini, new coils, spark plugs (NGK BKR7E, same as before) and a new Walbro 255lph were installed and when spring came I upped the boost again with my same timing map and it ran about 15-16psi of boost and not much timing. It again made about 220-230whp and drove great... for about 10k km when I heard it dying again. The engine made a weird noise under boost at high rpm which probably came from exhaust gases passing through the piston ( ). I was taking logs for virtual dyno as it happened (verrecken 1 and 2, the last 2 pulls of the engine which also destroyed it finally) and you can see the MS3 knock detection detecting knock from cylinder number 4. And this time the engine looked great from the inside again except for cylinder number 4... But this time it didn't have the visible knock spots like the last engine, it looked quite smooth, but when pulling the piston I recognized there is a big hole in there... It looks more like melting to me than knock, but not sure.

So I know I'm running quite a lot of boost on that engine and also that opinions about that are very different but let me explain what I think: The peak pressure should be a lot lower in an engine running high boost and low timing than in an engine running low boost and a lot of spark advance. So I don't think that is a problem and I hate to say it but I know A LOT of people running 15-17 psi on stock 1.6 NA/NB engines and they last. But whatever

Then, quite frustrated I swapped another 1.6 in there, installed my old small S13 turbo and planned on running just a little bit of boost so it would finally last... Did that, car runs good at about 7-8 psi of boost and ~170whp with the exhintake and about 18 degrees of timing. Felt okay, took me a while to be happy on that power level but it's alright. But now the MS3 again detects knock, on cylinder 1 this time. I'm always, since my first engine failed, getting shell vpower 100UK octane fuel so I really don't think it's regular knock. Also I don't think I'm an idiot (as a lot of idiots do), I'm running not a lot of timing, quite rich under boost (mostly 11.5afr) and always have an eye on my AEM o2 wideband controller. So I think something is off with my car.

What I recognized is, that the knock only appears above ~6k rpm which is quite unusual I think as it would mostly happen at max VE at about 4500rpm. If you're wondering: I didn't change cam timing with the exhintake swap, it's just the regular 197,5 degrees offset. What I'm thinking is that there might be something wrong with the trigger signal as it happens at high rpm for no apparent reason. Also I tried retarding the ignition several times with no effect but having less power. Also I really checked the timing is set correctly when installing the engine so MS3 timing and the actual timing is the same. I checked that several times also with a different timing light, so that should definetely be right. If I would have killed a rod because of too much torque down low or something I just wouldn't mind but this weird knock without running a lot of power or torque just at high rpm really annoys me because I just can't understand it.

I think I will try to do a trigger log in tuner studio and look at that. But it must be a car specific problem because there are just so many turbocharged NBs running as they should. The car is still running but I won't push it anymore except for doing tests so I finally know what's wrong... I wanna have a reliable turbocharged NB with decent power at some point
I'm running an oil cooler, big aluminium radiator, a big intercooler, 5W40 synthetic oil, 7400rpm redline, quite a refined tune on the MS3 and always good fuel.

Please tell me if I forgot to mention something important so I can add that. Sorry, english is not my native language.
Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.


1st engine rodney replica

1st engine the piston and rod

1st engine cylinder 2 and 3

1st engine cylinder 3

2nd engine

2nd engine cylinder 4

2nd engine rod


timing table

13 3rd.msl is a log of my current setup at 7-8psi and knock on cylinder 1
current tune is the tune file from that setup but the timing didn't change
verrecken 1 & 2 are the last 2 pulls of my 2nd engine