1G New engine time?? Opinions needed.

[buhay6]

Looking for some experienced peoples opinion between doing a stockish rebuild or forged internal's. I'm looking for a good in between'er of long life and durability.
My plan is for a 400-550hp build that's going to last a few years of DD driving (I usually put on 20k miles a year, some times slightly less other times more). I have both a set of forged rods (Eagle H beams) and stock rods but need to buy pistons etc, mainly wanting to know the life expectancy of forged piston's? Whats a sound route to take?

The reason I'm asking is well.....my 7 bolt had a unfortunate thing happen to it today. My rad fan called it quits on me today and my car over heated (not to bad I don't think), I limped her back to work and came back after 4 hours to check things over. Turned he ignition on and the engine was still at peak operating temp......4 hours after it had been shut down!! Found no coolant in my engine oil (at lest on the dip stick) but I did find a little engine oil in the coolant res plus my catch can was full of water.......for some weird reason its been doing that the last while. But that's not the main reason why I'm looking to ditch the 7 bolt........the crank end play is way out of spec max allow-able end play is I believe .023 mine is .027. Yet some how it ran totally silent didn't make a peep when running, only when I pressed the clutch would it make any weird noises and the rpm's would drop a few hundred. I've had nothing but problems with this 7 bolt, everything from an oil pump to multiple rear main and front main seal failures, to oil pressure problems, exhaust mani's that wont stay bolted tight etc....
Hoping it'll make the 30 mile drive home tomorrow .

 

[curt-s]

If you blew it up having fun, I'd say make a table out of it. But it sounds like it's been nothing but issues for whatever reason (assembly, luck, conditions, etc.), so I would throw it in the next vehicle you scrap to increase the scrap weight and leave it at that. Find yourself a later 7bolt or 6.

 

[Chumpaumpalumpa]

I like the table idea. I'm doing this for sure if it blows. Then put one rod and piston on each corner and get a nice piece of glass to put on top. Makes an awesome coffee table Something like this:

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I'd find a nice 6-Bolt and do rods and pistons and maybe .020 over. Depends on what your budget is. You could do a full longblock. A 2.3 would be nice since it's a daily. http://www.strictlyimportmotorsports.com/product_p/sb stgstrokerlb1.htm
Or something less overkill like this would be great as well: http://www.built4g63.com/Stage-II-BUILT-7-Bolt-Race-Block.html
Or Just find a good block and assemble it yourself. Have you thought about doing a 4G64?

 

[buhay6]

Oh i dont plan on putting a cent more into this stupid 7 bolt. I did end up doing the head gasket to get it back up and running tho, only because i had all the parts lying around to fix it.
I have 6 bolt blocks cranks rods and cylinder heads to the 9's just need the funds to build one.
Im looking to stay 2.0l tho, 4g64 blocks are stupid pricey here. How long do forged internals tend to last? The main reason i want forged is im new to tuning so i want something that will take minor f ups