with all the commotion lately, about cracked pistons or holes in the pistons, just thought id chime some of my own questions as im doign a slight build up this winter,

k here it goes, i wanna do it the lazy way and not pull the motor, lol, i know ,retarded, but if i get the motor out itll be a gong show putting back in lol, so what im looking at is, i want to replace my pistons with the diamond pistons, so i can have forged pistons, will i be able to hone, and re install them, while my engine is still in the car, lol, i work near a mechanics shop so the car can be pushed there, lol to be honed, also,

a quick question about the blower, is it okay to powder coat it, and how much heat will it trap in,

i have a nice gt28r bb turbo, numerous chunks of 2.5 inch madrel bent U's, a nice sized intercooler, and a ecotec flange to make my own custom header


i was just gonna do the turbo swap, but i figured ill try the twincharge way 1st, i knwo its a lot of custom fabbing but i got lots of time

 

a well planned single turbo setup i think would be ideal.

 

yah but did u read what i said, im tired of listening to every time twin charged is mentioned, someone opens there big fat mouth about ideal planned turbo systems, did i say i want a single turbo(yes but im tryign something else 1st), im sorry for the rant but ive worked 48 hours in 3.5 days im tired im bitchy aand im full of, heavy oil, grease, glycol and methanol and to boot i still have a another 24 hours of work before i can even think of heading home,

so like i said im twin charging dont give me the crap about a single turbo set-up at this point

 

Wow, ok, ur mean. lol

 

have fun let us know how it goes.........

 

single turbo FTW j/k

 

If you know what you are doing the pistons can be swapped without pulling the engine, it is certainly more difficult, but it is the fastest/cheapest way to do this. You just have to be very careful not to scuff up the crank when dropping the piston/con. rod combo back in, as that wil ruin your day very quickly.

If you have never done a tear down and/or rebuild before this is probably too delicate of a task.

But while your in there rebuild the valvetrain (we only really need new springs, seats and retainers, everything else is solid for a lot more power), then you wont hafta worry about valves floating on you.

If you have the time, a P&P job would also go a long way, and is not incredibly difficult if you know what you're doing and have a dremel with the proper bits. If I went that far, I'd also do the blower too though, lol. Lots of dremel hours, but the gains are there to be had.

 

if you dont pull the engine.... lets just say it'll be a lot of "fun"

 

oh... and I saw a ss/sc with a painted blower... actualy I dont know if it was powderd or painted but It looks f'ing hawt... and realy shiny... it almost looked like automotive paint, but that cant be possible

he had a matching valve cover too

 

if you are just replacing the pistons you can do it without removing the engine. BUT if you want to get the cylenders honed you definately definately want to remove the motor so that you can get it hot tanked and cleaned really really well. the last thing you want is metal shavings in your brand new motor

 

when u replace pistons you should always hone the pistons, and yah i was just thinking of those metal shavings as well,

yah honings makes breaking in the pistons way easier and gives the rings something to seal with

 

so is this just pistons or is it heads and cams and axles and all that good stuff.

 

exactly! and IMO when you are breaking in the motor (this only applies to the modern day full roller motors) whoop on it!the valve train is all roller so there is no friction there and when you get on it, it forces the piston rings outward against the cylinder walls and since the piston rings are perfectly round or fit the cylinders perfect you want to get them worn to the shape of the cylinder as soon as possable (before the criss-cross patern gets warn off the cylinders which is normally within the first 50-100 miles) which will git it a better seal and reduce blow-by

 

honing is to something that needs to creat a perfect match, axles, should never need to be honed, if you do, put down what ever you using to hones you axles and hand me your keys lol, your head is bolted down and is mated via a gasket, and cams, well thats somethings i havent touched btu i will be this winter as well

 

already in the process of ordering new valve springs, valves and retainers, as well as seats iu wann possibly run up to 8000 rpms

 

dude are you running a torque forward brace?

 

The GM build book actually recommends using the stock rings on the 400 hp build. And as others have suggested with tighter tolerance engines being built these days it is important to set that hatch in the first hundred miles or so especially on a new motor.

But if you're set on honing, than you're gonna have to fully pull and tear down so the block can be properly cleaned. You should probably get it decked as well,

If you haven't seen the GMbuild book yet check it out. It's pretty solid, with part numbers and specs for each builld level up to well over 1000hp. From what the stock guys can do for a few extra hp to what the hot rod and pro FWD cars run. They even have the Phase 5 and The Grand Am Cup builds.

There's a pdf version floating around

 

I may have seen what you are talking about. I found a picture of a guy who polished his calipers, supercharger, and his valve cover, then clear'd over them. I searched "carbon eyelids" but do not recall which thread I found the pictures it.

The car was yellow though, and he had his injector cover painted a shade of yellow as well. The car was very nice. I think I'm going to try the powerball mini to polish my valve cover and S/C this winter...

 

can't use a power ball to polish something...it's for buffing something that is already polished

 

if i was building a motor i would never use/reuse (i'm not sure which you are suggesting) the stock rings...even though they are rated to 400 hp i would go aftermarket and a definate upgrade in quality.

P.S. if you are talking about reusing the rings your car came with you should just never and i repeat never open your hood again!!!

 

another dreamin thread grreat,when is some one gunna do somthin about this,i wanna see a low 12 sec cobalt

 

I didn't talk about re-using them. GM did. There's also a huge difference in swapping pistons and doing a complete rebuild. Have you seen the build book?

That aside, I wouldn't do it that way. If I'm doing pistons I'll do it all at the same, decking, honing, valvetrain, studs, and maybe even cams or timing gears at the same time. I'd rather do one thorough build than three half assed ones.

But the question was if you could do pistons without pulling the block.

You also hafta remember, if you plan on actually even tasting a hint of 400hp, you'll need to look into axles and clutch at a minimum, plus lots of suspension work if you haven't knocked that out already.

 

trust me this isnt a dreaming thread


also to note

i have hptuners, 60 lb injectors, spec 2+ clutch, 400 intense axles, and lowered, wiht custom traction bars, so i am pretty much ready to rock on my powerplant i shoudl be able to hold the power


and i think were gonna just pull the block, that or ill find one and start frm there, cuz quite honestly i dont wanna have to reuse old rings

 

dude i found a pretty much complete LSJ long block on ebay for 800 bones

 

yes but do u wanna pay the shipping for me, im canadian anythign opevr the border is retarded