Just curious as to what you all thought about putting forged pistons in and leaving the bottom end stock untill sometime way down the road. I realize that having the bottom end your weak point is not sound like a good idea, but what psi could you run safely? i think it was ~10psi if i'm not mistaken... (just a thought)

Pistons are part of the bottom end. I think that one crazy guy on here ;) started bending stock rods at 15 psi.

Yeah... tommy was breaking rods w/ wiesco pistons at 15psi. I think I remember him saying that he believes the stock rods are ok up to 12-13psi. Are the stock rods really ok when boosting like 10psi?

He was bending stock rods at 16psi, and yea he said they were ok to 13psi.
i was thinking of running 10-12psi with just JE pistons. how safe is it?

I plan on using Wiesco pistons on stock rods at 10psi for a while... what is everyone's opinion on this. (I know, I know... might as well get the rods at the same time, but I don't want to right now!) :P

Yeah I bent 2 stcok rods at 16psi the funny thing is that I'm boosting 14psi right now on the street no problems, I think the track has to do with alota stress on our drive train at 15 to 16psi, yeah If I were you get the 8:5 compression pistons it gives you way more room for error when dealing with your fuel system. I'm just running 30lb injectors and the S-FMU and a wallbro intank. I have no S-AFC. I keep an eye on my EGT I don't even bother looking at my A/F gauge. I live up here in lancaster CA near palmdale the alttitude up here doesn't help much either. So yeah our stock rods are real strong with forged pistons. My EGT never sees more than 1500 and my EGT probe is placed right in the middle of my exhaust manifold where the collector meets() I wouldn't recommend running past 13lbs on stock rods if you wanna play it safe. Right now I'm boosting 15lbs again on the street, But if I go to the track I'm gonna stay at 13lbs because of the added stress of the track.I'v been boosting 15 for about a month now on stock rods no problems and my compression# are normal 150 all the way accross.

hey guys quick questions howm uch will rods and piston cost seperate and 15 pounds if its safe how much hp could u get out to the wheels

thanks

Lights

849.00 http://www.cnnpracing.com/



this what i got with 8:5.1!!

hey Tommyboy are you running overbore or stock size? is your crank balanced and polished and all that shit? or are you running basicly stock?

Yea I'm running stock bore my bottom end is stock other than the weisco pistons

damn that's what I was planning to do I want to run 14psi eventually so would getting some stronger rods help? Or maybe just strengthening the stock rods? Cuz I wanna run my car destructively without any worries of breaking the engine maybe getting rods would give me peace of mind in that. Just wondering but what's a good compression ratio to have if you wanna run high octane pump gas (91 here) and wanna run oh 12 pounds of boost b4 you start knockin? I was thinkin of 8.9:1 would be good. My compression is like 150 135 135 150 right now and I get mega lag is that how it'll feel when I low comp pistons or is it because my engine is worn out?

Tommyboy are you running 8.5:1? also i assume you have the hahn kit.

HadesOmega - for what it'll cost you to strengthen the stockers, you can have new rods. I checked into shot peening and treating... my father is in the biz and it'll cost a lot.

I think this post is confusing people. Its doesnt make sense. Forge pistons wouldnt be stock bottom end. This post needs to be corrected but I dont have the power :rolleyes . I have had a couple IM's about this topic so that is why I am mentioning this.

i always thought that pistons were considered topend. at least that's the way it is on motorcycles/fourwheelers. oh well doesn't matter

I am not trying to make fun here I am just trying to get the information corrected so it doesnt confuse anyone else further. There was a point in time when I didnt even know what a CAI was. We all have to start some where. And this is a great place to learn.

afaik, top end is everything above the head gasket. Bottom end, below it.

and tommy, don't you have to machine the rods some to get aftermarket pistons to bolt onto the stock rods?

yes, the stock pistons are probably the "weakest link", those ringlands break really easy. but keep in mind that the next weakest thing to break isn't far off.

Just to clarify things... the head and up (valves, lifters, head, etc.) is all "top end" of the engine... it's the TOP part. ;) Below the head (block, crank, pistons, rods, etc.) is the "bottom end" of the engine... it's the BOTTOM part.

This thread is about the ability to keep the bottom end stock except for replacing the pistons with forged ones. From the replys, it seems that our rods are good at ~14psi and below. This is mostly based on Tommy's observations, as he has rebuilt his engine often and is currently using the stock rods at 14psi street. He broke two rods at 16psi track.

My suggestion, if you want it, is that if you are going to do a moderate rebuild (pistons, cylinder bore, gaskets, rings, etc.) then you should go ahead and get aftermarket rods too! If you just want to do pistons for the time being, then it'll be a lot cheaper than the whole rebuild kit. Treating the rods is not cost efficient at all.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1834371638

No I didn't have to machine any part of the stock rods for the weisco"s to fit.I love my 8:5 compression like I said earlier it gives way and I mean "Way" more room for fuel tunning error. Right now I'm boosting 15lbs on the street with stock rods. I've torn my engine apart more than 7 times because I kept cracking stock pistons when I've boosted 10lbs or more, as for shot peening I'm not even gonna waste my money. I'm gonna get the eagle rods thatz next on my list of toys. If your like me and you don't have that much expierience in tunning the fuel system I suggest getting 8:5 pistons than you will be able to play around and not be scarred of tunning your fuel system yourself.our bottom end I'll tell you this can take a beating.I'm boosting 15 right now and i'll tell you it pulls hard as hell, Imagine spinning 1st and all thru 2nd gear on 17 inch rims on shitty tires, cause thatz what i'm doing.damm it fells like i'm not going any where in 2nd cause the tires are spinning so hard. 3rd gear feels so freaking strong it just pulls. but as temting it is to boost 15 to 16 I won't at the track I'll keep it at 13lbs at the track. No doubt our rods are strong I thought i would of snapped one instead of bending them. my best friend is my compression tester. I think thatz my number 1 tool. Hades Omega you might have a couple of crack pistons if your compression is that low. I remember my stock piston compression being that low and when I took them out some of my stock ones had hairline cracks you can barly see. Not trying to scare you bro but thatz what I think, do you have a lotta oil on your breather tube comming out or more than usual.if your compression is under 150 on stock pistons you either cracked them or have hairline cracks on your pistons. Or you might have a blown head gasket.The heads on our cars are pretty strong I never bent a valve , ever from even boosting crazy high. I might make a video on how to take the 420A motor apart when I buy some eagle rods I think the intimidating factor on taking the motor apart really scares alota guys on this board. I'll tell you guys this the 420A motor is the easiest motor I've taken apart. the most important part is cleaning the head surface and bolting the head back , and timming the engine if can do these 2 things the rest is easy just my 2 cents later fellas
()A guys look at my head lights there both cut out because the got fogged up, check out my drivers side headlight see the hole on the high beam thatz my cold air induction to my turbo I'm gonna get rid of my headlight bulbs and replace them with some Piaa foglights in the headlights. I use GTS clear headlight covers when it rains it works hella good. I'm trying to be like those kamakazze guys in Japan cutting there high or low beam out for cold air induction. man it makes a big ass difference compared too sucking hot air from the engine bay. Off the topic subject have you guys seen my car in the MAACO commercial, look for it thatz my car in that commercial "burt reynolds" is in it too .2young kids rear end his car with my car and at the end they say "Better Get Maaco". I took some pics of all the cameras on my car. I'm gonna update my website soon So I can show you guys my current mods I have a predator hood and a streetfighter front now.

Hey tommy, I can't wait to see that video. I am planning to change my piston and rod too, myself but too scared to do it. If I have some reference to follow, I probably have the confidence to do it my self. I can't wait!

yeah definatily going to rebuild myself. Anyone have a writeup on how to take the head off?

Oh KICKASS... ahahha I was all excited about that commercial cause it's the first time I've ever seen a 2gnt on public TV! Thought it looked familiar! Congrats dood, THATS the way to represent!

>have you guys seen my
>car in the MAACO commercial, look for it thatz my car in
>that commercial "burt reynolds" is in it too .2young kids
>rear end his car with my car and at the end they say "Better
>Get Maaco".

Oh shitz that was your yellow 2gnt? hhahah, thats sweet, I saw that too, and I was like that looked like a 2g, how'd you get the car into the comercial? :thumbsup

ugh lets hope the 420A is easy to work with I just took the engine out of a MR2 and that thing is a bitch to take out connectors and hoses all over the place. Anyway 8.5 is good for pump gas? What about the lag?

Yeah something is worn or cracked or whatever in my engine but it still runs fine, I don't burn oil and I don't get oil in my catchcan a lot unless I'm doing some crazy driving. Hopefully I can get this mr2 to work so I can garage my car and tear that sucka apart!

I was in Sylamr near LA southern Calli at the street races, this chick comes up too me and tells me that she is a scout agent for renting cars for the movie studios, so she took a couple of pics of my car and 7months later they called me i will post up pics soon of the making of thaT COMMERCIAL

so did your car really hit the macco car? hehe movie magic I bet, and did those actors really drive it? I heard un FF that the actors messed up the cars in that movie, the S2000's :rolleyes clutch had to be replaced 3 times :) just curious its sweet to see a 2g wit turbo on the tube,

If anyone needs help taking their engine apart, just hit me up on NoLMTSod12@aol.com. I just finished taking mine completely apart. Buttnekid.