[mllrsti]

Once again Flycaster you amaze me with pure knowledge. Take note everybody, he knows what he's talking about. Not any hear-say noted.

[Flycaster]

Whoa - most of the knowledge I have is the result of some very expensive and dumb errors. No "S" on my t-shirt, amigo, but if I can help others to avoid making the same bonehead mistakes, I'm glad to help...

[pj21086]

thanks man. lots of good info.

[Interior Flaire]

Originally Posted by pj21086

thanks man. lots of good info.

I agree. I have been able to sleep much better and enjoy life more since starting this thread. Good stuff.

CB

[elnene67]

Great stuff on the thread; I wanted to ask u guys for an opinion (you guys know what youre talking about) I wanted to upgrade; but im thinking of
just droping in pistons and rods and upping the boost with a diff. turbo and
keeping everthing else stock. My dealership down here is charging me nice for dropping the pistons and rods in and warranting the work too. You guys think is worth it too just drop in the pistons and rods with another turbo or will I be wasting my time If I dont go all out. Im not looking for too much hp probably around 380 or so at the wheels. sorry about the long thread. thanks for the feed back

[520]

I would go with CP/Arias

I have mahles in my car and have no problem with them at all. Some people are just more used to using one or the other and swear by them, so that is probably why your shop is reccomending mahles. I went with what my tuner reccomended.

[Black-STi]

Any comments on Wiseco pistons?

[Interior Flaire]

Originally Posted by elnene67

Great stuff on the thread; I wanted to ask u guys for an opinion (you guys know what youre talking about) I wanted to upgrade; but im thinking of
just droping in pistons and rods and upping the boost with a diff. turbo and
keeping everthing else stock. My dealership down here is charging me nice for dropping the pistons and rods in and warranting the work too. You guys think is worth it too just drop in the pistons and rods with another turbo or will I be wasting my time If I dont go all out. Im not looking for too much hp probably around 380 or so at the wheels. sorry about the long thread. thanks for the feed back

I am just dropping in new pistons, balancing the crank, new bearings, same rods, and a new Exedy stage I w/lightened flywheel for good measure. IMHO, you won't need new rods. The OEM are as strong as anything else, I have heard.

The only week link in the entire OEM setup is the pistons. Cast and weak lands. Replace and your GTG!

CB

[elnene67]

really? so what exactly are u doing to it just pistons nothing to the head? no
steel head gasket, port and polish, are u running a bigger turbo, bigger inj. or fuel pump or just upping the boost. All I want is around 380 to 400 to the wheels but seems everyone I read about has this lenghty list and the math just doesnt get slimmer than at least 6 gs.

[caballero_sti]

I end up with CP pistions (over size). But if you worry about low oil just get Crawford or Element tuning catch can.

[Flycaster]

Originally Posted by fastcb

...The OEM are as strong as anything else, I have heard...

Arguably not as strong, but certainly strong enough for most applications. You're right in that not many stock rods have bent/broken, even at big power levels. In fact, I haven't read of one yet that wasn't caused by severe detonation (and a lot of other stuff went as well!)

[jaxscuby]

get swain tech piston side skirt coating, a moly,
good for side skirt wear during start up and helps
quiet the piston noise.

mahles already have a side skirt coating.

i have both sets waiting in my tool box for
my ej22t to ej25 build up.

the cp appear beefier.

[crystal_Imprezav]

One must be careful when deciding whether or not to coat the piston skirts. Coating the tops, I have never heard of any problems however depending on the compression ratio, piston, and design, the piston can actually briefly exit the combustion chamber during operation. With that said, I would not want the chance of the coating rubbing off and getting into the motor and possibly detonating a new engine. We all know what that did with some older coated headers.

[Flycaster]

Originally Posted by jaxscuby

get swain tech piston side skirt coating, a moly,
good for side skirt wear during start up and helps
quiet the piston noise...

As far as I'm concerned, the jury's out on skirt coating. I know the crown coating stays on because I scoped my motor at 7.5k and it was still there, intact. OTOH, we've torn down 3 engines with skirt coated pistons (OEM, and two with Mahles) and the coating was, for the most part, sloughed off - in one case, with a set of Mahle's, it was almost 100% gone after 400 miles. (Don't ask...it was a big "tuition check.")

You can see this stuff in your oil the first few break-in changes - it's glitter, and at first we thought "oh crap - we've got a bearing issue" but a UOA confirmed it was just the skirt coating, no metal. So, while it sounds great in theory, I'm not convinced you really accomplish anything that good old assembly lube and oil doesn't already take care of.

I dunno...ymmv. And if anyone has any hard evidence to the contrary, I'm willing to listen.

[Ozer]

I have CP pistons and Eagle rods in my set-up, which has 450+whp, and which I have been driving hard for the last 15,000 miles (I have 23K total), and I had no issues; it's running as good as it did the first day. I am burning oil, however, and it's pissing me off. I started thinking that unless you keep pushing these pistons (read keeping the engine on boost), they get cold! The funny thing is, at the track day, where I pushed it the whole day, it didn't burn tiny bit of oil (which suggests it is burning only when it's cold).

If it ever grenades, I'm thinking about getting a short block with changable iron sleeves. There are also nice shortblocks capable of turning 9500+RPMs, which are also appealing, since if you keep the torque below 450lb.ft and just keep it revving, you can get a 800whp car which doesn't break a shaft