Popcorn ready! :food-smiley-007:

I will say hawks407 has done a great job describing what happened without an attitude.

I thought the 525 kit was supposed to be safe for the hyperatic pistons but if you went to 600 kit it was recommended to change the pistons. If I remember right this issue was with a 525 kit. Pistons being 1 issue if the guy checked his rockers and they were all loose that would be a engine builder issue which was Ray. It would be interesting to hear the other side.

Just a little experience for you hyper haters. I built 2 engines identical, 9.5:1 static compression, 5psi boost hyper pistons. Due to an unrelated issue first time out for the season I filled one engine with bearing material and had to rebuild it including new pistons because of metal in the skirts. This time because of reading all the negative hyp about hypers, I used forged pistons. Both engines ran great all summer with regular hard beatings on both in long poker runs and fun runs. Last run of the year I decided to go for 95mph and got two 6.2psi blower pulleys. Boat ran like a raped ape all day and did deliver 94mph. Unfortunately after a long final wot blast back to the ramp one engine got hurt. Yep, forged engine piston failure. Hyper engine is still running strong today. Forged engine rebuilt yet again. Moral- don't believe everything you read. If you know how to build and setup an engine with hypers they are as good or better than forged.

Also, I agree with bondo10. The reason you got a new ecu was for a different fuel curve and timing curve. Running with a stock ecu was certainly a poor move and I am suprise ray would sanction that.

Correct, there is nothing wrong with hyper eutectic pistons, the only draw back I have heard from them is they tend to have a little piston slap in the 8.1's until the warm up. I'm not 100% certain but I also heard they will swell a little, hence the slap until they warm up.

I too think hawks has done a good job and hopefully he and Ray can come to a good conclusion that everyone can benefit from...

Actually it is the opposite. They swell little and can be fit tighter in the hole hence making more power. The real drawback is they are brittle due to the higher silicone content. So if you do have a setup issue or fuel issue and get into detonation they explode and wreck the block. That is why it was such a bad idea for hawk to run a stock tune and why it's hard for me to believe ray would say that is ok.

gotcha, thanks, it has been so long since I even messed with them...I knew about the brittleness but forgot why.

Not picking sides, but Hawks has been very fluid in his description and I give him credit for building TWO motors with Ray. After his first one I am not sure I would have spent more money.

As an interesting side note, Ray @ Raylar had been a regular poster, usually a few posts a week. Nothing posted by him in over a month........Hmmmmmm

Guys I have run my Raylar 525 HO hard for many a miles and have had no issues with the kit.....60 + hours now.

I had a professional shop pull the motor and install the kit for me. They work and service 1075s and bigger. This same shop is now where I tow my boat 3 1/2 hours one way to get all my servicing done, as well they advertise here.

The ECM that must be reprogrammed is the 496 Mag ECM, and in the instructions there is a nice sheet included that reminds all 496 owners of this.

In talking with Ray it was/is my understanding that the 496 MAG HO ECM does not need to be reprogrammed but is recommended to bump up the rev limiter and take out the negative timing at idle and low rpm.

I have a buddy running a 525 Raylar in a 27 Fountain and he hurt a piston as well, I will give him a call and get the real details, but I do know he put over 100 hours on it before hurting it.

If there really is an issue spinning these new Raylar equipped motors to 5350 rpm as suggested and the pistons are known to be weak or the weak link I would want to know!!

Rumors
 

Look guys,

We're all grown men or at least we should be by now. I think Hawk's story is not a good one and I do feel for him based on what he's said. Loosing any engine or expensive part sux.

However, before you go closing down the shop for the guys @ Raylar, why don't we be a little patient and see what the OTHER side has to say before we enter a default judgment.

Also, the comment regarding how "long" it's been since Raylar posted implies that they are running or "hiding". How do you know someone in the family isn't sick? How do you know someone didn't take an actual vacation after who knows how much time without one? And don't forget that Raylar has managed to do a pretty decent job of holding on to a viable reputation. Now we have a bad thread about them. Okay, so they're not virgins anymore.

I'm not defending Raylar although I have had some very good service. I've had some problems but we worked through it (very well mind you...).

There has to be more to this story and the quick-to-assume types are not doing the situation any good.

Whadua say we wait a day or two before the final keyboard Blitzkrieg???

And hey, if it gets a lot worse than I have to stand corrected...

is the ECM being reprogrammed on the 525 kits now?

I purchased one of the first kits to leave the Raylar shop and Ray insisted to run it on stock ECM and no reprogram necessary which I found hard to believe. Ended up buying a stand alone system but never got around to installing it.