54 replies to this topic

[Rampage]

Question: I would think that I should pull the pistons out and clean up the ring grooves then reinstall the pistons but I'd like to hear it from the guys that have done this sort of thing a few times to affirm that this is necessary- I really don't want to mess with it if I don't have to.

You definately should do that.

After years and years of use the oil rings tend to stick and fill up with carbon, including plugging the six pin holes in the sides of the pistons in the oil control ring groove.

Remove the oil pan and monkey a socket in there and remove the bearing caps. Pop the pistons out through the top and remove the rings and throw them away.

Clean the pistons thoroughly (hot tank recommended) and make sure you scrape out as much carbon from the ring grooves as possible, then, by hand, turn a drill bit into the crud that is almost guaranteed to be in those oil return holes in the oil ring groove.

After that, source out and install factory replacement rings to your pistons. Remember to space the ring gaps as per the service manual, and use the proper piston ring installing tool to have the rings tight to the piston when you tap them back into the holes. Before you install your pistons be sure to run a cylinder bore hone on a 1/2" drill up and down in the bores, about five or six even, rhythmic pumps up and down the bore to create a re-finished surface for the new rings to seat into.

Having done this several times on my old honda motors (with 350K+) I can tell you than replacing the rings and re-honing the bores will basically give you a new motor again. Restored compression, no more oil burning, and clean shiny insides will give the motor a new lease on life, plan to do the bearings and another set of rings after another 250K of service.

As far as relacing bearings is concerned, based on your mileage they probably won't need to be done. When you pull the pistons you will have a chance to inspect them, but as I said, even a motor with 350K has serviceable bearings. Expect to replace them after 500K of service.

Do the rings, you will be glad you did, and now is the time to do it.

Good luck,
Mark

[Sinic]

What no invite to pull the motor? Geez

[Gant]

Here's a picture I found of the engine after the first few hours of cleaning and just removing the head- notice all of the oil residue/buildup on the pistons!!

PAH!!!! increased compression ratios FTW!!!

[zakats]

You definately should do that.

Do the rings, you will be glad you did, and now is the time to do it.

Good luck,
Mark

Thanks for the interest, I will re-ring the bottom end and I will consider rebuilding it entirely- that depends on what the machine shop wants to charge. I'd like to keep the stock pistons and around 9:1 CR just in case I want to boost and I'm not terribly interested in running high octane all of the time with black or brown tops!

What no invite to pull the motor? Geez

Didn't think you really wanted to and you have a lot of work to do on the sti- would your wife approve of such a distraction? haha I'm not sure I'll even be around when it gets pulled.



Looks like I'll need to get back on the horse.

[zakats]

Progress today:

-Picked up head

bead blasted, valve job, new exhaust guides- looks super clean! I love it

-Finally finished removing all of the gasket material from the deck! (no pic, sorry)
-Started pulling the old 1.3
-And then went home to watch SGU, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report because I enjoy drowning in a pool of to-do lists

[kaymo]

lookin good zak i wanna hear dyno numbers on that lil beastie

[zakats]

lookin good zak i wanna hear dyno numbers on that lil beastie

Thanks, I'll have to find a cheap dyno day sometime soon.

I need opinions as I'm undecided as to what I should do with my fuel delivery/cam/distributor setup.
A) I'd love to run the Si cam for power but that makes the mechanical fuel pump impossible. In order to do this the way I'd want to do it- I'd swap my fuel pickup (have), install an electric fuel pump with Si bracketing in a stock configuration (don't have), install a name brand $ fuel pressure regulator (don't have), and replace the tiny fuel return line with another supply line (don't have).

I have the stock 1.3 cam/pump/distributor to reuse and get better fuel economy while driving very slow

[zakats]

Not terribly sure what I'll do on the cam situation but I'm not here to talk about that now- I've made progress!


Old EV2 is out, mounts are soaking in purple power to prep for polyurethane, I tried to clean the engine bay but most of that wasn't happening with the cleaners I tried sooo it's going to stay a bit dirty for a while. There are some surface rust spots to deal with but nothing I'm worried about- this car is a gem!

[J-MAN]

Im not 100% sure but delta cams, web cams, colt cams might be able to regrind your dx camshaft to different specs, that way you can run the dx pump/dizzy. Prices at delta are pretty reasonable as well, it was around 90 bucks including return shipping for my stg2 regrind of an SI cam. Just something to consider, Jon

[zakats]

I suppose I ought to do exactly that, thanks for the reminder! Kind of a pita to have another expense but I'll bite the bullet at some point but that was a revelatory suggestion, thanks.

[MadMax]

ive got acess to a welder, I can make a wild cam for cheap LOL

[zakats]

I'll give that a maybe...
til then, I contacted colt and delta

[Old School REX]

Sell me the oil cap off of the VC in this photo... I have one of these covers; but no cap...

[zakats]

I most likely will as long as I can find the cap for my Si VC.
PM me your info

[zakats]

No significant progress to report... purchased everything that I need to put the motor together, just need to get around to doing it.

CAM- I'm sticking with the DX for now. future plans are in the air afaik, for now I want a solid, reliable car