Opinions on best replacement stock pistons

[Marty van den Bosch]

I have decided to take the advice of members and just plain old repair my engine - nothing fancy.

What I will be replacing is;
Pistons and rings
Guides
Cylinder walls
ARP fasteners
Timing belt/b belt

Is there any point to getting better than the OEM 1G pistons?
Remember - I am not going to do any real build-up, just hone, not bore much if possible (Depends on how she looks inside.

Anything else you guys would recommend I take care of "while in there" that is not costly?

[Mike Schmid]

When you bore and hone it use a torque plate with either studs or bolts, whichever you will be using in the final buildup.  Basically with the torque plate you want to come as close as you can to replicating the cylinder head as you can get, torque specs, fastener type, etc.  

Are you doing the head?  Or bearings?  

1G pistons are pretty good, there's always the 2G ones but they're a fair bit of expense by the time you get them in there.  Nothing wrong with OEM 1G as far as I'm concered.  

Just make sure you machine work is good and done right and keep everything clean with generous start up lube where needed.

[Jeremy Clarke]

2G pistons have higher compression ratio but require some machining to fit 1G rods. I know a very good Ebayer who sells Nippon Racing pistons for both 1G and 2G for VERY cheap. He also sells King Racing bearings. This is where i got my parts for my recent rebuild. Unbeleivable deals. PM me if interested and I'll give you the hook-up.

One other thing I learned from my mechanic friend who helped with the tricky parts was that to get a good cross-hatching on the cylinders you need to use pretty violent up and down and not let the hone complete a spin in any one spot. If you want any other tips during the rebuild like how to replace main bearings without pulling the tranny just holla.

[Trevor Robinson]

I am with mike on this one.  Keep most of it OEM.

Marty if you plan on replacing the cylinder walls and have some sleeves put in you will not need any pistons. You can still use your originals just add rings.  When they bore the sleeves out they can do it to stock size.

Bearings; you might as well do them since you are down that far anyway. IMHO.  

Valve stem seals & All gaskets. (you could just get a master gasket kit) Since most if not all the engine will be out for this.  You don't really want to go back in there to replace any really minor stuff.

I know i don't want to go back in there just to replace a crank seal when then engine was just out. (been there done that!)

[Graeme Shaw]

In my talks with herr Meron about building an engine--unless you can get 2G pistons for nigh-on free, it is NOT worth it to get them adapted to stock 1G bigrods.  For only a small amount more, you can get forged pistons that actually fit.  If you don't want that, though, I'd say just go with stock replacements.

[Ryan Lore]

The best is to wait...

Tear down your motor first and see what you have to work with.

Then based on budget/needs decide what to do.

Until the motor is apart you really won't know what is necessary and what is optional.

As far as piston choices go, I agree with Graeme a few years ago when I did the big rod 2g piston combo  eagle rods weren't available.

Now for almost the exact same price you can buy forged rods and pistons (no brainer)

Guaranteed you'll spend 5k+ by the time you get it all done.
It's the little things that'll nickel and dime you.

"While it's apart, I might as well..........$$$$$$$$$$$$"

[Ryan Coft]

My $0.02 worth...

Bottom End:
re-do all the stock pieces (this means everything)... replace the hardware bolts with ARP (main and head) to seal everything down properly.

Head:
Take it to BJ and get it pulled, resurfaced, (possibly ported if you want) make sure no bent valves, if so, replace.

*** Splurge and get a set of 3rd gen lifters *** (Eagle automotive warehouse, it's in texas, great guys, cheap prices, use google)

Throw it back together. And it will nickel and dime you if you let it....

[Andrew Steele]

Well, here's my advice (jumbled in with everyone else's) based on my recent rebuild experiences.

First, drop the bottom end.  Drop the crank and pull the pistons.  How do they look? How's your walls? Any excessive ringwear?  How do the bearings look (rod & main)?

If you have little to no ringwear, just hone the walls.  If you have a big ring-ridge, you're lookin at boring. .20 first, see how the ridge is.

I found that stock 1G pistons compared to 2G pistons on 1G bigrods, suck.  I ended up spending close to $300 for the 2G pistons and the machine work on the 1G rods.  But for that 800 km that I had the 2G pistons in, I loved it.  I want to go back to that.

Mandatories:
New water pump (absolute must)
New oil pump (highly adviseable - if the pump seizes, you're pooched)
New valve seals/sleeves
New rings/bearings (main & rod & balance shaft bearings (if you're keeping them))
New HG
New seals/gaskets/etc (bottom end rebuild kit)


Optionals:
-Either buy a bal-shaft elim kit, or find a factory elim kit from a 4G61T (if you do this, you'll need a new oil pump for the 4G61T, not the 4G63)
-3rd Gen lifters - like Ryan said, they're pretty cheap and worth the upgrade.
-If you have the money/desire, 1mm o/s SS valves.
-ARP Head studs & Rod bolts (I consider this mandatory, but you may not)


Tis all i can think of right now for a respectable rebuild.  

Oh, and most of all - take your time.  Enjoy the experience!

[Leon Hui]

Hey I'm trying to understand what everyone here is saying but when someone mention that you can accomplish this without dropping the tranny, does that mean you are trying to rebuild the engine while the short block is still in the car in some way?

[Jeremy Clarke]

Yes. I didn't pull my block. Not highly recommended, in fact some consider it downright barbaric, but it seems to have worked for me.

See here for details:
http://www.labattz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7230
http://www.labattz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8091

[Chris Andrews]

Having been through the rebuild process a couple of times,  I offer the following words of wisdom:

1.  Take your time.  
2.  Don't take shortcuts.

The more you spend, the better the engine will be.  The best way to save money on an engine rebuild is to only do it once.   The other best way is to not run the engine so close to its limits............. (I speak from experience here)  :wink:

[Leon Hui]

Yes. I didn't pull my block. Not highly recommended, in fact some consider it downright barbaric, but it seems to have worked for me.

See here for details:
http://www.labattz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7230
http://www.labattz.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8091

At least you didn't have to get an engine hoist and go through the process of labelling/unpluggin all harnesses and stuff?  And possibly ending up with fluid spill everywhere..

You also make it look easy