1G First engine rebuild- Looking for input

[Smilinjay]

Let me start off by saying that I'm putting this in the newbie forum because i'm sure similar topics have been covered before. And, well, im a newbie when it comes to building shortblocks.

So I pulled the oil pan off of my 90' tsi awd the other day and discovered about 20 large pieces of bearing material. After pulling the rod and main caps, I found the center main bearing was trashed. So I guess its time for a rebuild.. The car only has just over 100k on it but by the looks of it, the previous owner(s) weren't too kind to it. Perhaps letting it run too low on oil. My power goals are relatively modest as this is predominately a street car, so I would prefer to not buy aftermarket rods and pistons.
Anyway, I want to do this once and do it right. So im going to post a list of what machine work and parts I am going to purchase. Please speak up if you see things missing from my list or if you see parts that are not entirely necessary!

New oem evo 9 pistons and rings (I found a very reasonable deal on a set, and would prefer them over running 2g pistons)
ACL main and rod bearings
ARP rod bolts
ARP main studs
oem composite head gasket
oem timing belt auto tensioner
Felpro shortblock gasket set
Balance shaft eliminator kit

I already have a water pump, gates timing belt, and arp head studs with with only 500 miles on them.

Machine work:
Crank polished
bores honed
pistons machined for 22mm wrist pin
Hot tank the block

The machine work comes to $375 all together, which seems very fair to me. Anyway, pleas lmk if I my list is missing anything.

 

[mitsubishikid]

Glad to hear you got this all together man, but even though you got the awesome pre-built bottom end for your car, you could still rebuild your original motor, and use it as a spare in case something happens, you can make a reconditioned stock motor, or if you want you can make a custom backup stroker setup etc.

 

[Smilinjay]

Glad to hear you got this all together man, but even though you got the awesome pre-built bottom end for your car, you could still rebuild your original motor, and use it as a spare in case something happens, you can make a reconditioned stock motor, or if you want you can make a custom backup stroker setup etc.

Actually i didnt get that motor. Just bought everything i'll need to build mine. That motor was 9:1 compression and more than i was willing to pay for a block with no reciepts.

 

[mitsubishikid]

My bad, just the way you worded it sounded like you bought it already

 

[Smilinjay]

Hey guys, thought i'd give an update on this thread. I decided the most cost effective build for my goals would be wiseco 8.3:1 pistons and eagle rods with standard size acl race bearings. I sent the block and crank off for a .020 overbore, hone, crank polish, and hot tank everything. Soon after i sent the rotating assembly to the machine shop for balancing.
Im part way through assembly and have been plastigaging and mic'ing everything. So far everything is looking pretty good.
The mains oil clearances were dead on .002

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The rods oil clearances were also dead on .002 with the exception of #1, which was slightly larger. I'd say .0022.
#1

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The rest looked like this

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The difference is negligible but i wanted to double check that this is fine. Also does anyone know where specifically the machine shop takes material off the pistons to balance them? Call me paranoid but i couldnt see anywhere on the pistons where material had been removed and i dont have an accurate scale to verify that they weigh exactly the same. Unlike the pistons, it is very obvious to see where the big and small ends of the rods have been balanced. Lastly, ive been looking at piston ring gaps and it looks like .02 for the top ring and .024 for the bottom is the general concesus for higher boost street applications. Im running a tdo6 20g right now but would like to leave myself some room to go bigger. Does this gap sound suitable for my setup?
Thanks in advance guys!

 

[BogusSVO]

Thats the common run gap, you will be fine with that.

Some shops do not balance the pistons, but adjust the small end weight of the rod to balance out the pistons

 

[Smilinjay]

Thats the common run gap, you will be fine with that.

Some shops do not balance the pistons, but adjust the small end weight of the rod to balance out the pistons

Ok thanks man. Only thing is the machine shop didnt label specific rods to pistons. They just gave them back to me in the boxes. On the inside of the box for the rods they wrote the weights for the big and small ends. They didnt write anything in the box for the pistons. Is it possible they were within spec from the factory? I might just have to give them a call

 

[BogusSVO]

That all depends on how tight of a spec they use.

Some shops are good with a 1g +/- of mean weight (up to 2g from highest to lowest) Most pistons fall in this.
Others use a a .5g, So 1g high to low, Most the time forged pistons will fall into this.

Few go as tight as .1g or .2g from high to low....

 

[Smilinjay]

That all depends on how tight of a spec they use.

Some shops are good with a 1g +/- of mean weight (up to 2g from highest to lowest) Most pistons fall in this.
Others use a a .5g, So 1g high to low, Most the time forged pistons will fall into this.

Few go as tight as .1g or .2g from high to low....

Gotcha. All of my wisecos were labeled 338 grams when I got them so I take it they fall into the .5g category. Should I even worry? I already hung the rods and they're ready to install once I set the ring gap. Do i need to know the piston to wall clearance to do this? (the machine shop set my ptw clearance when they bored/honed the block). Also do the pics I posted of my oil clearances look good? From what I've read .002 is ideal but I just wanted to verify this from people with experience. Sorry for the game of 20-questions haha im just trying to do this right.