On Fri, 13 Sep 2002, Michael Lupynec wrote:
> Has anybody mentioned boring and going to the next oversize
> pistons? If you are rebuilding an engine you will rarely find the
> current pistons within factory new spec.
I will not disagree that worn pistons should be replaced. But once again,
don't assume that you need to replace them as a matter of course. I have a
set in my street car now with about 130K miles on them and the bores are
still round and the pistons have negligible "scuffing" on them. I
re-ringed the motor last winter and honed the cylinders. Next time, for
sure, I'll have to go oversize, but at the current rate of usage, I could
get 300,000+ miles from the block by doing reborees in .010 increments.
> And if it's typically within wear limits why do up a rebuild with
> a half life on reliability and good tune?
What's half the life? 20k miles? 50k miles?
Most folks with these cars put maybe 3000 miles a years on them. Do the
math. A rebuild with new pistons has a return on investment of practically
ZERO. We're talking $300 for pistons and then another $300 for a bore/hone
and then (theorectically a balance job - maybe another $250 or more). So
you spend $1k when you could have merely re-ringed the pistons ($50).
I took the initial message to indicate that the person wanted to know
_what must I absolutely do?_, not how many things can I replace on my
motor.
It turns out that this topic is a hot-button for me. Too many folks go out
and do _everything_ to thier motor when in fact they don't really need
to. But heck - it's your money... spend it as you wish.
> Mike L
> 60A,67E,59Bug,74TR6
regards,
rml
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