[JT's06sti]

im getting ready to pull my motor and get it ready for my fp red setup coming...im hoping for 500/500..(93+meth)...i was leaning more towards je pistons(standard bore unless it needs honed)...as i see alot of people running them...what combo are you running??? any imput would be great!

[modaddict]

stock rods. stock pistons?

Seriously, any reason you WANT to replace your rods? IF you're one of those guys who HAS to puchase a 700 set of rods....Pauter makes absolutely one of the best rods for our cars. And then I would go with a JE or CP piston. You choose, they are very equal.

[jasv11]

I will have pretty much the same setup as you have right (green) now and I'm getting CP pistons installed with the stock rods and crank.

[STimo]

good luck with 93+meth n a red.. Maybe c16 or VPimport..

[auto0utcast]

carillo rods, and cp pistons would be ideal...u can get em both at jscspeed.com... decent prices on em too.

[Patricio]

cp pistons, cp rods!

[chibich]

how much power are the stock rods good for (I've heard anywhere below 500whp)?

[modaddict]

^^pretty much...

there's no set point. but lots of builds 450+whp run stock rods.

[JT's06sti]

i ended up going with mahles and manleys..ill see how they hold up, cams and a fp red are on the way also...

[lidrew]

wouldn't it make sense to run it stock and build if it breaks. Could save some money that way.

[rjacobs]

CP's are really nice. A buddy just got some and he got them coated as well from swaintech I think(ill have to ask). Gold coating on the crown and black coating on the skirts(different heat range?????). I think he said it was like 40 bucks a piston. The pistons have a really thick top ringland as well as three compression rings and one oil control where as the stock pistons only have 2 compression and 1 oil control. If you are gonna go to the trouble of doing piston's go ahead and have the block bored and do 100mm pistons. If you dont, you will probably have a very noisy motor i.e. piston slap.

[gabedude]

Originally Posted by rjacobs

CP's are really nice. A buddy just got some and he got them coated as well from swaintech I think(ill have to ask). Gold coating on the crown and black coating on the skirts(different heat range?????). I think he said it was like 40 bucks a piston. The pistons have a really thick top ringland as well as three compression rings and one oil control where as the stock pistons only have 2 compression and 1 oil control. If you are gonna go to the trouble of doing piston's go ahead and have the block bored and do 100mm pistons. If you dont, you will probably have a very noisy motor i.e. piston slap.

Are you Dave's mouthpiece now?

Seriously, just use some plastigauge and check the piston wristpin clearance. If it is out of spec, you can replace the bushings in the stock rod. Or buy the afor-mentioned rods and use stock bearings.

Once you go down the road of boring out your motor and replacing rods, you should get the whole assembly balanced. If you stick with stock parts (besides pistons), piston slap will be about as bad as a 2.0L WRX. They are not that bad.

Difference is 1-1.5K worth of $$$ for 0 performance gain.

[mxpop]

Some good suggestions ^^^

It's often the rpms, not the whp that hurts rods. Poor oiling can kill them too which the stock crank is known for causing at times. Pistons need help starting at about 400whp depending on what dyno the #'s are coming from.

No reason to let it blow and then fix because you will often make the block (and poss the heads) a throw away if it does blow with either a piston or rod failure.

FWIW, I'm a Cosworth man all the way.......

[gabedude]

Originally Posted by mxpop

Some good suggestions ^^^

It's often the rpms, not the whp that hurts rods. Poor oiling can kill them too which the stock crank is known for causing at times. Pistons need help starting at about 400whp depending on what dyno the #'s are coming from.

No reason to let it blow and then fix because you will often make the block (and poss the heads) a throw away if it does blow with either a piston or rod failure.

FWIW, I'm a Cosworth man all the way.......

I know from how well the 06 blocks (pistons only really after I inspected and check my clearances (all in spec)) held up to abuse and the new casts are not as strong. Subaru must have changed the casting machine for the pistons at least. We know the 07 blocks are different and come from a different cast machine. I know wayyy too may 07 motors that could only handle about 108-110 traps before blowing. That is about 320 WHP. Of course I was putting down 360 FT/LBS WTQ and 313 WHP, but I had damaged that piston with the casting bubble in it early in it's life and once at this power level it was only a month or so before the ringland ripped off.

For a 400 WHP setup (why do you need more anyway on a street car?), I'd just do the dropins. You save that much more money, the assembly is balanced and you still have all the thickness of the SS liners. I have seen many pics of high boosted, bored out cylinder walls crack.

IMHO, you either go all the way with ductile iron sleeves or just drop in forged pistons and keep the rest stock, don't go over 400 WHP and 450 WTQ and you should be able to beat on it for a good 80k miles or so on a good tune.

Once you go above those power levels, the price of modding goes up exponentially. Sure I would love a ductile iron sleeved block, B&B'd, etc, etc, to be able to withstand 500+ WHP like the PR guys have, but for 100-150 more hp when you can already have an 11 sec car on a 20G with forged dropins? That extra 5-10K worth of motor work and supporting mods will get you down the 1320 in 10's compared to 11's. I'd rather be running 11.6-12.0's and stay on the track then get thrown off of it.

My father in law worked at a machine shop building hotrods when he was going to school to become a Mechanical Engineer. He has looked at my block. He is also an expert on turbo prop aluminum engines. This is what he has to say about Subaru's design:

All turboprop plane engines use aluminum blocks, but they have ductile iron sleeves and forged pistons even though they are heavy.

Food for thought.

[rjacobs]

Your father in law is an idiot or you mis understood him. A turbo prop is a turbine(jet) engine, it does not have pistons or a block.