SO you think the pistons will be ok like that to put the motor back together? I am sending the heads of to be cleaned (and comp tested and resurfaced).

I was going to leave the pistons in and try and clean them but that sounds like a bad idea? I just don't really know and this is the first motor I have had apart like this by myself. I just don't want to have to pull the motor again because I didn't do something right while I have it out now.

 

DId you do a compression test prior to disassembly? WHy did you take it apart again. Did the plugs have any varnish on them? Were they white or peppered? Honestly IMO the piston tops look a bit dirty but, this could be a good thing. Your cylinder temps never got really hot. Were you burning oil? Lean motors tend to have faily clean tops with uneven patterns sort of orange/black. It probably wouldn't hurt to raise each piston to the top of the bore and wire brush a bit of that off. Either way I don't think it will hurt anything to leave it.

 

Well GST changed my plugs about @ 45k so 8k ago. The were spent but nothing abnormal about them.

I pulled the motor because I kept pushing coolant out the over flow. Every time I would get tuned it pissed all over Mike's dyno on the drivers side. Did it only under boost or heavy load (going up a hill) Without pulling it we didn't know but we thought it was streched head studs and a lifted head gasket. I did comp test the motor around 40k and it was mid 140's on all cylinders.

 

+1 for the thread.

Here is the rally site I was telling you about:

http://www.rallytorrents.com/

Checked it out when I got home, and there is a killer video on the mail page.

 

Redline RACE oil or normal redline oil? Redline race oils do not have detergents in them that you need in a street car to keep it clean.

"To reduce the chance of detonation, our race oils contain very few detergents and are not recommended for street use. "

 

It was the race stuff since I am such a mad tyt3 str33t r@ceR

 

From the look of the inside of your head, I would recommend not using that anymore. hahah

 

I was using it because it kept the consumption down, so you are saying move to that same vescosity but the non race Redline?

 

I am stuck, I don't know whether or not to clean the piston tops or not? All cyl walls are smooth as a babies butt.

Any one that has ever done this before that can help?

 

Like I said it's not going to hurt anything if you leave it. If your that concerned about it; raise the piston to the top of the bore; tilt the block so the piston you are cleaning faces the floor and brush it lightly with a brass brush. Don't use steel or stainless it'll mar the top of the piston.

 

Ok so just move the flywheel so the piston is at the top of the stroke and face it to the ground and clean?

 

I am kinda curious to take them out and see the cond of the ringlands. Maybe my oil is going there.

 

If you were having oil consumption issues, and have that much oil on the piston tops it could only be coming from a few places. First would be the turbo, if you lost a seal on the turbo compressor youd have oil all up inside the IC. If there isn't much oil to speak of there, next would be the intake valve guides and seals, if those checked out ok, I would suspect the the rings. Personally if I had the motor torn down that far, I'd pull the pistons, install new rings and have a new pattern ground into the cylinder walls and start over. Go though another break'in with a fresh motor. It's not wise idea to pull the pistons and change the rings without prepping the cylinder walls. The rings and cylinder walls need to wear together to form a good seal. I'd imagine you'd end up with some *hitty compression numbers otherwise. DO you recall if you had a lot of blow by? Was there excessive crank case pressure? Puffing out of the oil fill tube?

 

lots of oil in the IC That's why I got a catch can to help with it.

I thought it was gas on top of my pistons and not oil, you know from running pig rich. My oil is in my heads sludging

 

If you had lots of oil in the IC, you had some big problems. That build up could only come from oil being burnt. Did you notice excessive accumulation in the catch can? I assume you installed the can inline with the breathers. If you had a ton of oil accumulation in the catch can, your rings are shot. You end up with excessive crankcase pressure and the usual oil mist turns into and oil stream. WHen everything was running right with my car I got very little accumulation in my cans. I had two of them one for the PCV, which had next to nothing in it, and one for the breathers, which would catch a little oil, but not much. When I blew the ring lands the beather can filled in no time at all. Sounds to me like your going to end up pulling those pistons. Talk to Mike about setting you up with a 100mil JE pistons and rings. Sorry bro.