so yeah, i finally joined the club. the "i blew a piston ring landing" club. i wasn't running lean, my egt's were well below 1600, and i wasn't really pushing the car much at all. yesterday, i finally got to stage 2 and today my engine tweaked. i was at about 5500 rpm's at WOT boosting about 8 psi onto a highway in 3rd gear, i heard a weird noize, the rpm's weren't climbing anymore, so i hit the clutch and let the throttle back to 0%. idle was shit, and my check engine light started blinking, while the car was on. i pulled into a parking lot, pulled out my oil dipstick, and little puffs of white smoke were coming out. i tried to drive back home, but didn't get too far. called AAA and got towed all the way from belmont down rt. 2 to my house in stow. i thought of taking a picture of the white smoke coming out of the dipstick tube it and labeling it "OWN3D!!!" but i didn't have a camera on me. anyways, i guess it's a good excuse to finally get forged pistons and rods. i'm gonna do a compression check later today to find out which piston ring landing is gone. maybe i'll do a leakdown test too. anyways, i'm pretty pissed, my car definately hates me, and i barely have enough cash for new pistons and rods. most people get the bottom end rebuild kit from howell, but what i need to know is:

-i recently got a new factory rebuilt engine, in may. do i still need to take my block to a machine shop to get it bored over to ensure that the cylinder walls are completely round?

-where is the best place to order a low compression rebuild kit? howell?

anyways, sorry for the long post. i'm done now.

damn, sorry to hear. you have no idea of the cause? are you sure there was no boost spike? what was your compression before turbo? how many miles?

it's been a little less than 10,000 miles on the factory rebuilt engine, but the rest of the car has about 132k miles. my compression was pretty normal before it died, it was something like 150 psi on all 4 cylinders, but i don't know if i was doing the compression test right or not.

>i wasn't running lean, my egt's were
>well below 1600, and i wasn't really pushing the car much at
>all. i was at about 5500 rpm's at WOT boosting about 8
>psi onto a highway in 3rd gear

^^^ Further evidence that HRC kits don't have sufficient fuel delivery for 8psi. Yet one more reason to upgrade to at least 30# injectors, Walbro intank, and SFMU if you want to run Stage 2.

>compression check later today to find out which piston ring
>landing is gone.

$10 on #4. Its the farthest from the fuel input and the first to blow when HRC's fuel system runs out of volume. Sounds like you may have gotten #2 and #3 too.

> maybe i'll do a leakdown test too.

Don't bother, rebuild. Your signs are 100% dead piston.

>still need to take my block to a machine shop to get it
>bored over?

Never hurts, unless you don't have the money. ;) Tommyboy and others have replaced with stock bore JE pistons, and/or stock pistons all together. Just hone the cylinder walls and you'll be ok. Still, you should bore .020 over if there's any way to come up with the cash.

>-where is the best place to order a low compression rebuild
>kit? howell?

Yes, but you're stuck with Totalseals (many people prefer JE's rings) and Howell occasionally backorders and mis-ships things. They've been pretty good lately. The bottom end kit is very complete.

Good luck with the rebuild, congrats on winning a Stage 3 upgrade! We feel your pain man :)

hehehehehe welcome to the club. I'm still getting over the fact that my motor let go about a month ago. Chasing down parts has been a 2 week nightmare.

If I have time, I might put together a parts list for engine rebuild.

It is highly recommended to have an overbore done, especially of buying the Howell kit. They do not make 8.6:1 in standard but only 0.020over. Other manufactures may do so such as Arias, ans Wiseco. Check around and ask.

Of course when the block is in pieces, you will want to upgrade little shit here and there.

All in all i think it will be worth it. hardest part is coming up with the money. Once you are commited, it gets easy.

I've grown fond of biking and made a few friends on the public transit system in the process. :P

>>compression check later today to find out which piston ring
>>landing is gone.
>
>$10 on #4. Its the farthest from the fuel input and the
>first to blow when HRC's fuel system runs out of volume.
>Sounds like you may have gotten #2 and #3 too.

heh, yeah. i did a compression check just for shits and giggles and the only good cylinder was #1. lol, i'm so screwed. anyways, thanks for the replies guys, maybe i'll be stage "2.5" by january.

what happens if the walls are not totally round just a little bit off, it cant make that much of a difference? maybe burn some oil- only thing i could think of and may lower compression a little bit

I think the idea is getting rid of the ridges and scratches that build up over time. The ones at the ring gap opening, and the ones at the top and bottom of the piston travel. New pistons/rings will have a different seat and travel. You want a round smooth surface so they don't break on a ridge somewhere, or bleed oil through a scratch. Also something about how oil sticks more evenly to a honed, crosshatched surface.

Now all you have to do is melt a few JE pistons and you can join my club...lol...good luck on the rebuild. Nows when things start to get really expensive. CLutch, engine internals, injectors, S-afc, MSD etc. etc. are needed for high boost levels. But in the end its all worth it.

hahaha, no thaks dave - i'd like to stay out of the "i blew 2 sets of pistons" club. i'm alreay on my 2nd engine... already got an AFC, but i need to get a ITC sometime before i really push it much beyond 10-12 psi. don't want my AFC to start screwing with things. need to get a s-fmu, 42lb injectors, and i need to do some research on what disc and spring to use for the s-fmu to get the 42lb injectors working with minimal compensation from the AFC. anyways, i think i'm done now. thanks for all the replies guys.

Your compression checked out to 150's? Really? Cause if they did, your engine was on its way out anyway. 170 would be borderline, ideal would be in the 190+ range.