upgrade or not frustrating

[coolrider2112]

I just pulled my head of, 90 gst talon. It has stock pistons, motor has about 90k miles and the pistons look really good, no dings or any bad wear. But i do have bad rings so the question is should i switch to the 2g piston 1g rod combo or stay with my stock pistons since they are in very good shape and just change the rings...? Just letting you know to is im only shooting for no more then like 400 horsepower if i can do this with stock pistons let me know or not. Thank you, im just trying to figure this out because its either get the 2g piston combo only or stay with stock pistons and buy rings and buy a 16g turbo, thats kinda where my budget stands right now.

 

[Tfitch90]

Have you seen the price on the 16g turbo lately ? I have heard of people reusing pistons that are in good shape, I have heard of people buying used pistons, and I have heard of people pushing 400hp on stock internals. Me personaly would not do any of this. I believe that once a piston comes out it shouldnt go back in, and to me a piston is like a finger print. My finger prints belong to me and my 4g63 pistons go to my 4g63 block and no other. Thats just me I like to play it safe. Im aiming for 400hp as well but I went forged. O and as far as the 2g 1g combo some people like it some people say its pointless. Its not to costly and you do up the compression a bit. Where did you plan on getting them from ?

 

[LandoAWD]

Im aiming for 400hp as well but I went forged. O and as far as the 2g 1g combo some people like it some people say its pointless. Its not to costly and you do up the compression a bit.

It's proven and MORE than enough for a modest 400hp. You nailed the cost effectiveness, though.

 

[ramsack]

I really don't get why people sell or even buy used pistons. No thanks. I'd go with the 8.5:1 2G pistons, but the hole in the rods for the wrist pins will need to be opened up by 1 mm. It all depends on your goals for a certain type of fuel you want to run. As for the analogy of the piston and finger prints...I have to slightly disagree. The rings are what wear into the walls, not the piston.

 

[92PandaTalonTSI]

Have you seen the price on the 16g turbo lately ? I have heard of people reusing pistons that are in good shape, I have heard of people buying used pistons, and I have heard of people pushing 400hp on stock internals. Me personaly would not do any of this. I believe that once a piston comes out it shouldnt go back in, and to me a piston is like a finger print. My finger prints belong to me and my 4g63 pistons go to my 4g63 block and no other. Thats just me I like to play it safe. Im aiming for 400hp as well but I went forged. O and as far as the 2g 1g combo some people like it some people say its pointless. Its not to costly and you do up the compression a bit. Where did you plan on getting them from ?

I second this. If your gonna pull it out do it the right way. They even have some evo/1g combos as well. They are on thedsmgraveyard.com. They have a full video on it. Yea I've heard of people running up to 450hp on stock internals, but don't recommend it. Plus, you never know when your going to want to upgrade again.

 

[Tfitch90]

I really don't get why people sell or even buy used pistons. No thanks. I'd go with the 8.5:1 2G pistons, but the hole in the rods for the wrist pins will need to be opened up by 1 mm. It all depends on your goals for a certain type of fuel you want to run. As for the analogy of the piston and finger prints...I have to slightly disagree. The rings are what wear into the walls, not the piston.

I understand its the rings but something about it just doesnt feel right to me reusing a piston thats been used for over 40k miles. Same with honing cylinder walls just bore that shit haha. Read all reviews from vendors you plan on using as well.

 

[ramsack]

I wouldn't even buy a piston that's been used for 500 miles. You just don't know what you could be getting. You don't need to bore if there is no damage to the walls and they haven't worn enough to exceed the allowable specs. A simple hone would suffice if everything checks out, and is needed when new rings are put in.

 

[LandoAWD]

Read all reviews from vendors you plan on using as well.

Indeed. Also note particular absences from the vendor list.

 

[coolrider2112]

Ok, so looking on thedsmgraveyard.com the passed few days I seen some NPR piston set w/rings I know its the stock compression ratio 7.8 to 1, but like people said new pistons are better then used ones right? Like I said also, im just looking around the 400HP range and no more, so stock pistons would do fine right? Sounds like everyone here agrees not to reuse my pistons that are currently in that have 87k miles on them (I'll try to post pictures of them on here in little bit). But if I can just get those NPR piston set with the rings you think that will be fine for my 400 hp build. My current upgrades are full 3 inch, AFPR, 2nd Gen MAF, 255 WALBRO FP, CHIPPED ECU, 750 CC injectors (yes I know these injectors are big but I got a good deal on them, and chip was tuned for the injectors and 2g MAF), and I still have stock turbo, so yah I really do want to get a 16G turbo, and If I can use stock pistons that would probably be great for this 400 HP build, just in the future I'm going to slowly get another block and start building a motor from scratch. Basically I guess I'm just trying to see what everyone thinks about stock pistons period for this build, I heard people saying stock pistons can go up to 450 horsepower but wouldnt recommend but like I said I only want "up to" 400, just enough so I can beat around my friend little 3000gt vr4 (almost stock). And a couple wrx's that think they are fast. Thanks guys.

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Probably cleanest pictures I can get right now.

These are the pistons that are already in it that I am going to take out, dont know if I should re-use them and put rings on or just buy new stock pistons for this build.

 

[Tfitch90]

They do look good. If you got time since its only 87k I would hone the cyl. walls and clean up the pistons and add new rings. Do what you need to do with the head and get a oem composite headgasket. You will be fine with 400 on stock internals for how long I dont know. Get it together and check your compression if its good then move on. I am to using the evo 3 16g but from my understanding due to the earthquake I hear prices are rising. Six months ago I paid 600 for mine.

 

[DSMTyson]

The stock bottom end can handle anything any 16g can throw at it with ease. Theres people running 500-600whp on stock 1G bottom ends with no issues. But your tune must be flawless. Just get new pistons and rings, and have the block checked by the machine shop and honed.

 

[turboglenn]

I see nothing wrong with re-using pistons from the engine they came from and going back in original holes with hone job and re-ring'ing. I don't agre with buying used STOCK bore stuff, but if used parts are in good shape and the machine shop bores the block for the pistons (correct clearances are what i have in mind) then i also see nothing wrong with that. Some people don't have a budget to allow much more than that and it is totally acceptable in terms of reliability.

that said..leave the pistons you have in there. fresh rings and do the bearings in rods and mains if they show any wear at all (i mean any) upgrade them to ACL tri-metal for same price as other replacements (i would only use OEM mitsu or ACL and possibly clevite77 but not most of other off brand bearings)

as for 16g's, don't buy at these prices, boycott that crap untill they're forced to go back to original pricing, hell i can't raise my prices if a storm destroys or ome one steals my equipment to make the parts, neither should anyone else or any company IMO (i'll leave that alone)

BUy a used 16g or something bigger if you want 400HP start with a 20g and make it a lot easier than trying to make 400 on a 16g

 

[Tfitch90]

I see nothing wrong with re-using pistons from the engine they came from and going back in original holes with hone job and re-ring'ing. I don't agre with buying used STOCK bore stuff, but if used parts are in good shape and the machine shop bores the block for the pistons (correct clearances are what i have in mind) then i also see nothing wrong with that. Some people don't have a budget to allow much more than that and it is totally acceptable in terms of reliability.

that said..leave the pistons you have in there. fresh rings and do the bearings in rods and mains if they show any wear at all (i mean any) upgrade them to ACL tri-metal for same price as other replacements (i would only use OEM mitsu or ACL and possibly clevite77 but not most of other off brand bearings)

as for 16g's, don't buy at these prices, boycott that crap untill they're forced to go back to original pricing, hell i can't raise my prices if a storm destroys or ome one steals my equipment to make the parts, neither should anyone else or any company IMO (i'll leave that alone)

BUy a used 16g or something bigger if you want 400HP start with a 20g and make it a lot easier than trying to make 400 on a 16g

HaHa good point on going with the 20g. Im stuck with the 16g now.

 

[ramsack]

Did 16Gs go up just like hard drives because of some BS flooding?

 

[coolrider2112]

Thx for the feedback, did you know any places that sell some pretty good rings? I seen some really expensive rings, and whats funny is thedsmgraveyard sells those stock NPR pistons and rings for only like 179.99, italmost seems worth buying that piston and ring set then just getting rings, but if you know any places that have rings for a really good price please let me know.

 

[ramsack]

I'm sure the dealers still sell rings. Parts store rings might even be decent, although I have no experience with them. Maybe someone could chime in on their quality.

 

[LandoAWD]

Did 16Gs go up just like hard drives because of some BS flooding?

Your lack of research is trumped only by your overwhelming compassion...

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tur...-raising-prices-16g-turbo-price-increase.html

 

[ramsack]

So you want to start something now? I have no need for a 16G turbo, so why would I research or follow their prices? I was referring to the floods in Thailand which rose hard drive prices, BTW. They basically tripled to quadrupled, which was a huge overreaction in the market, and very artificial. It was not supply and demand acting. I don't need to have compassion for people dying by an act of nature. Human-caused deaths are the only true tragedy.

Back on topic...

Here's a good example of some cheap rings: Mitsubishi Eagle Turbo 2.0L DOHC Piston Ring Set 4G63T | eBay

 

[LandoAWD]

So you want to start something now? I have no need for a 16G turbo, so why would I research or follow their prices?

For starters, so you can comment intelligently. Thanks

 

[ramsack]

I had a question, not a comment... I was simply asking if it was because of the same situation as the hard drives, not even thinking of ###ushima. It's you who feels the need to extrapolate and add some extra commentary to try to look better than everyone instead of simply answering a question. Maybe you should simply go to every new thread, see if it was previously answered, and just leave a snarky reply that it's been answered before.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

First you need to take your engine to a reputable machinist to have the cylinder walls and pistons inspected, they have the tools and the experience to properly inspect them. If you can reuse the bore, just have the machinist hone the walls and re-use the pistons (if possible). If not determine whether your budget can handle 2g or 1g pistons. I suggest going with OEM if you are going to get new pistons.

Like mentioned before 2g pistons require that the wrist pin hole in the 1g pistons be bored out an additional millimeter.

To be honest, like Lando said, the 1g piston/rods can handle 400 hp. I would just go with that.