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Piston and ring recommendations?

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tomshobby

tomshobby

Yoda
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Well, it is a good thing I tore my engine apart. At least one ring is broken and maybe more. So it will need to be bored. I was a little surprised because even though the compression was not great it was fairly even. I also found that one of the head bolts was bottomed out and not tightening on the head as it should. I plan to take some pics of the parts and cylinder walls to post. Only 46k miles but I knew something was wrong because of the PO's maintenance receipts and his chronic complaint of "engine missing".

Anybody have recommendations for pistons and rings? I would like to install something reliable for somewhat spirited street use.
 
I've always heard the OEM AE pistons are pretty good. Don't know what rings they come with standard. I'm not a TR6 guy so I don't know much more. I wonder if you can get higher compression pistons easily enough?
 
I understand Ross makes a good forged piston for the TR6 but it's a little expensive and a forged unit is overkill for a stock engine (not to mention a little noisy when cold).

I'd stick with the AE brand..they've been doing parts for these cars forever.
 
Skimming the head and getting new pistons address two different issues. The head skim is just to up your CR. 10:1 is about as high as you want to go, unless you intend to run race fuel.

The stock pistons are going to be fine at that CR. The only time I'd say get better ones are if you intend to go and build a race motor, or if you want to turbo- or super-charge the car. Even then unless you are going to try to get a *ton* of power out or run ultra high boost without knock control, they'll be fine (you'd be upgrading a lot more than just the pistons if you were planning on doing this, trust me).
 
Hi Alana,

I am just building a nice street motor with a little more power than stock. GP2 cam, balance the engine, and a few other small things along with the standard things to freshen it up.

Was not expecting to have to bore it. It will be apart and cleaned early next week so I will have a more complete view of what needs to be done. I am not happy with the extra work but am greatly relieved that I did not try to keep driving and maybe destroy the block. So far everything else looks nearly factory fresh.

I have no desire to go to the extreme and if I wanted that kind of power I would go a little further and possibly less expense and put in a Chevy aluminum LS2 crate motor. But that is a different thing entirely.

Thanks to all of you for your comments,
Tom
 
10 to 1 is really testing the limits of todays premium fuels unless you are running a Hemi which will tolerate poor fuels much better.

While not a big drop, a 9 or 9.5 to 1 is a little more fuel friendly with a wedge-head design like a TR.

I DO like the snap that a high CR engine gives you...and the exhaust note is usually great....
 
And mine are by Wiseco, but I suspect that he doesn't want to drop that sort of $ for a set...

I still reckon stock are fine.
 
Alan, one of mine is running Cosworths, if you want to talk major dollar overkill! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Jeff
 
You got me there, but then the pistons were cheap - the rods were 2x the cost /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif
 
Yep that's what I meant. Total engine porn.
And I don't even get to see it while it's in there.

I wonder if I could get a transparent block made out of some sort of ceramic so I could look at this stuff every now and again. Now that would be cool...
 
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