guess its time for a "whats needed to rebuild 3.0 thread"

[RoadWarrior222]

Oh well, nothing for it now then, custom 80 over forged slugs, rebore, stroker crank... ...

[Sundance 6g72]

yeah this motor is TOAST time to drop 4k on a Panorama block!

[Sundance 6g72]

so bobby is sending me some factory 8.9:1 pistons W/ rods. cool

i cant express how happy i am

[Sundance 6g72]

kinda got a problem here. Cyl bore is bad and needs to be bored out. Cant remember how bad it was but he said it was pretty scuffed and he didnt feel comfortable honing it and telling me that it would "work"

it has about twice as much wear as the other cyl is what im getting.. he woke me up when i got the call so i dont remember the exact numbers.

i dont like the idea of replacement pistons that arnt oem because they might not be as strong? am i right to think this way?

There is a block at the junkyard that gives me deals.. its in a van with a crushed oil pan. Im thinking i can score that motor for cheep.. maybe even just the block for even cheaper.

what do you guys think?

[Sundance 6g72]

yeah i called the junkyard.. they want 125 still for the motor. and says they wont give me a deal on the one with the screed up oil pan

and i cant just get the block. so $125 gets me a second motor still... non of the motors there i really liked but they can prolly use oem pistons... i think oem pistons cost more than the block still.


called another yard who is usually --- holes but they sounded nice on the phone. asked him to get me a price on a 3.0 block, "just the block!". He said he would get back to me and was real polite about it.. we'll see how that goes.

[c2xejk]

I would get the oversized pistons and have your existing block bored...

If you are having the shop assemble your engine (or just the bottom end) make sure they are aware that you are running the engine boosted so that they can gap the rings correctly.

[Sundance 6g72]

im doing alll the assembly work, screw paying someone to do the easy stuff. hell, id machine it if i knew how and had the ability.

i got a new block for $50. Ill use the pistons and rods bobby gave me along with my crank.

new pistons cost way more than a new block did.

ooo and its a 99 block.. it had some sensor on the backside that looked to go into some freeze plug? its a 3 wire sensor.. not sure what its for?

ill be able to compare the pistons to my 8.9:1 pistons. Brent dosnt think they are higher compression (9.3:1 ?) and i think he checked a new block, ill double check with my block and confirm that.

i guess now i have a second block that can go into a future forged 3.1L build. maybe with a 3.5 forged crank if thats ever possible but im not worried about that right now. If this block is bad too then im going to be a sad panda and by then prolly give up and buy oversize pistons, i just worry about aftermarket cast pistons from some company building OE type pistons that were never meant to see boost and might be weaker than stock. Id get the 24valve pistons that i can get for $200 and say screw it.

[RoadWarrior222]

Sure it's a sensor? Might be a block heater. does it look like you could plug a cord that goes to a laptop power pack in it? sort of o*o shape?

[Sundance 6g72]

YES it does. i didnt look at it much but it kinda had that shape.

dosnt look like the block heater we put in my friends TDI though..

[RoadWarrior222]

They're probably bigger for a diesel.

[Sundance 6g72]

so what do i do with it? it just plugged into the block

ill get a picture later, i have to head to work

[RoadWarrior222]

Well, back in the day, I had one cause sudden and potentially catastrophic loss of coolant, due to the bracket clamp on the back of it, that holds it in, rusted through, and let it pop out. It's clamped on by a bolt/screw through it. So if I were you I'd at least take it out and inspect it. Could put it back if it's good, and buy a cord for it for next winter, or get the machine shop to put a plug in if it's bad or you don't want it. Rust through in future, if solid now, would only be a problem if you're putting straight tap water in the coolant, instead of de-ionized or distilled, especially with no inhibitors as found in antifreeze or water wetter etc.

Mine went shortly after I got the van, so it was previous owner's fault.

[Sundance 6g72]

i take a better look at it tomorrw. i have a pigtail harness for it but doubt ill use it. I let the car sit for 10min in the cold anyways and half the time i dont even use my heat

i saw some nice grean fluid in the block and heads so im sure the motor was taken care of. its a 99, kinda wish i bought the whole thing but i dont need 99 heads.

[Sundance 6g72]

so the 99 block deff has different pistons with bigger ring gaps and a smaller oil ring (smaller hight)

all the gaps looked bigger to the naked eye compared to my 93 pistons. Both pistons seem to have the same height to them, makes me assume they are still 8.9:1

The 99 pistons have mitsubishi simbols on them and i think they have less material on them.. the bottom of them is kinda shaped differently. I dont think id feel comfortable using these pistons with boost.. BUT the ring gaps were bigger.

[RoadWarrior222]

That sounds right for a '99, but by then they were also saying the compression ratio was a little higher, forget teh figure, no-one has ever confirmed it though.

[Ondonti]

What year is your original motor? The newer EEK 3.0's are all mitsu symbol pistons with smaller ring gaps. (1994-1995 motors for example).
Your previous motor sounds like the older pistons have have a fuller skirt AND a larger top ringland (meaning with a big ring gap, it should be stronger then the newer pistons). My Holset has a 1995 motor with over 160k miles (except my Chrome rings). Mitsu pistons. My built motor used a 1994 block from the Spirit that had the same pistons. My 1997 junkyard motor had the same mitsu pistons. The only motor I had with the big ringlands and skirts came with the 1992 Duster but it was not an original motor (slider cams, old). I don't know what year the switchover was.

While aftermarket cast pistons can't be confirmed as being stronger/weaker then OEM cast pistons, oversize pistons will have more meat between the intake valve guide relief and the back of the Top ring groove. +40 would thus be stronger then +20 which is stronger then +0 in the same brand of piston.

[Sundance 6g72]

origonal motor is a 93. I remember pulling them out and just taking a mental note of the ring gap. Then Bobby sent me an entire set of what he says are 8.9:1 pistons and rods. While cleaning them, the gaps on the rings looked the same as my origonal pistons so i didnt think anything of it.

I got the 2nd block (99 block) and i was like "wow these have bigger gaps". i didnt have to think about it, i just knew they were bigger. pulled a 93 piston from the origonal block out of its box and sure enough the gap on the 93 piston is smaller than the 99 piston.

the 93 piston looks to have more meat on it when looking at the bottom of them but the space between the top and middle ring is the same and so is the space between the top of the piston and the top ring. I can get pictures. One thing to note, the pistons bobby sent me and the pistons my 93 had do not have the mitsubishi symbol. from what i understand, bobbys and my 93 should be 8.9:1 comp.

the pistons bobby sent me looked identical to my 93 pistons in every way. if im not mistaken, his block was a 93 but i never asked him.


and yea, sadly we cant assume that aftermarket +40s are stronger than our oem.... which sucks because i dont wnat to assume they will handle power they wernt desined for. you couldnt blame them if they broke at 220wtq or hp or whatever. They are meant for 141crank hp. If i go aftermarket in the future, it would just be custom forged with like 11:1 compression and e90 and cams and all sorts of things i can dream about :{