[serialk11r]

Another way to think about lean burn and piston damage is that the momentary high temperature in the cylinder is higher in a turbocharged engine and MUCH higher in engines running N2O, but they take a long time to melt at WOT. If you're just running at part throttle lean, the peak temperature could be a touch higher, but the cylinder walls/head/piston will quickly bring the temperature down since the lower density gas has less absolute heat capacity.

If the tiny variation in peak combustion temperature mattered so much, then running hydrogen or straight gasoline instead of E10 would melt pistons too. It doesn't. The peak temperature of the flame is always much higher than the melting point of any of the materials in the engine, but the engine is spinning quickly and any part of the engine is only momentarily exposed to the high temperatures, so the average temperature matters more. Lean burn reduces the average temperature since there's less heat in the first place.

People also like to mention oil consumption, but again, IIRC engines running stoich already have ~2% unburned fraction, so there's already some free hot oxygen available to burn oil, you're just making that reaction go a little faster. I don't think combustion of oil is the primary way that engines lose oil anyhow.

Yea S2000 prices are silly, but I really should not be spending time dealing with modified cars, so I just want to find a bone stock car. Last year there were several cars with minor damage going for below 8k, I'm hoping I can snag one like that. With the economic downturn coming, I figure some dents and minor rust would help me blend into the proletariat :P