[actionseeker]

I noticed that the piston had some nasty scratches on it with corresponding scratches on the cylinder walls. I've seen videos and tear downs of other 2ZZ engines and noticed they also have similar scratches, is this normal wear or indicative of a greater issue? I know you can't hone the block, so is this a done deal or can I still get some use of of it?

 

[actionseeker]

Post #67 has pictures of the cylinder walls for reference.

 

[mxaustin]

Post #67 has pictures of the cylinder walls for reference.

U need new pistons. Its not normal wear. When its ran with no oil that builds a ton of heat, more heat means metal expands, metal expands it touches places its not meant too.

2000 GTS Turbo

 

[actionseeker]

U need new pistons. Its not normal wear. When its ran with no oil that builds a ton of heat, more heat means metal expands, metal expands it touches places its not meant too.

2000 GTS Turbo

Wouldn't this also mean the block is done too? The other pistons have similar scratches, but nowhere near as bad as this one, same with the walls.

 

[mxaustin]

Take better pictures of the block bores after u clean the bores with paper towels and soap/water. Pistons r f'd do not re use them.

2000 GTS Turbo

 

[Sheik Ya Bootie]

The vertical scrapes are pretty common for the thrust side. Still if your doing a decent rebuild new ones are the way to go.
A lot of searching has led me to find people using brasso and red scotchbrite around a cylinder hone to clean up the bore .
Even brasso and cardboard (wheelies box) was used. That’s been common with nikasil.

it’s something I might do if the bores are ok as mine is a ‘race’ engine ( but my bore is stuffed needs sleeves) but wouldn’t recommend you doing it.

ha! weeties box.. not wheelies.. lmao

 

[actionseeker]

The vertical scrapes are pretty common for the thrust side. Still if your doing a decent rebuild new ones are the way to go.
A lot of searching has led me to find people using brasso and red scotchbrite around a cylinder hone to clean up the bore .
Even brasso and cardboard (wheelies box) was used. That’s been common with nikasil.

it’s something I might do if the bores are ok as mine is a ‘race’ engine ( but my bore is stuffed needs sleeves) but wouldn’t recommend you doing it.

I'll upload pictures of the block walls and pistons later this week. I assume at this point I should just add all 4 pistons, rods, pins, etc to the list? I'm still trying to keep costs low, but if it has to be done, it has to be done.

 

[actionseeker]

Here are pictures of the cylinder walls, #3 and #4 both have really bad scratches, they seem to be about half a mm deep at worst. Pictures are sorted via cylinder order 1, 2, 3, 4.

Intake Side:

Exhaust Side:

 

[actionseeker]

Here are pictures of the pistons, the scratches are deeper on them than the walls, with the deepest ones being an entire mm. Pictures are sorted via cylinder order 1, 2, 3, 4.

Intake Side:

Exhaust Side:

 

[mxaustin]

Damn man... thats pretty rough, id hate to toss a nice set of pistons in that tbh. But u gota do what u gota do. If a block isnt in ur price range clean it up really well, put new pistons in and cycle it a few times with some atf and send it.

2000 GTS Turbo

 

[actionseeker]

Damn man... thats pretty rough, id hate to toss a nice set of pistons in that tbh. But u gota do what u gota do. If a block isnt in ur price range clean it up really well, put new pistons in and cycle it a few times with some atf and send it.

2000 GTS Turbo

Heck, just needing new pistons is already going to stretch me past thin. I almost want to just clean everything as good as I can, make sure it's all within tolerance, and just reuse the pistons for whatever life they have left. I'd expect excessive oil burning to come from that, but I'm not sure if these scratches were a result of the catastrophic failure, or if they already were there beforehand. The engine did not burn much, if any oil before it's death so if the scratches were already there, it shouldn't burn anything more than it already was. They look bad, but feel very smooth to the touch, so idk how bad they'd really be, especially since I've seen other people rebuild engines with similar scratching.

Otherwise, I'm thinking a sourcing another engine would end up being easier, and possibly cheaper depending on how high this rebuild starts to run. Anything over 4k tho means I'm basically going to have to cut my losses and think about selling the car. Shame too, since I just finished collecting all the TRD parts i wanted for it as well as upgrading small things here and there. Also, I know my transmission will be a problem soon enough due to a bad 3rd gear syncro, so I'd hate for that to go not long after the engine goes. I guess I could always drive it without a 3rd gear for a while lol.

 

[Sheik Ya Bootie]

They say ignorance is bliss. It doesn’t look like it should burn oil unless you cannot bet the rings in.
Clean it up, wrap some scotchbrite around a hone and Carefully run the bore. Buy a big sheet so the stones don’t poke through.

reassemble and run it in with some straight 30 mineral oil. Change it after 600 miles for a10/30 mineral or semi Synth..

What have you got to lose?

 

[Sheik Ya Bootie]

Or maybe buy a bottle of ‘fairy dust’

 

[actionseeker]

Or maybe buy a bottle of ‘fairy dust’

I have some guys for that.

 

[actionseeker]

They say ignorance is bliss. It doesn’t look like it should burn oil unless you cannot bet the rings in.
Clean it up, wrap some scotchbrite around a hone and Carefully run the bore. Buy a big sheet so the stones don’t poke through.

reassemble and run it in with some straight 30 mineral oil. Change it after 600 miles for a10/30 mineral or semi Synth..

What have you got to lose?

I suppose whatever I've sunk into it so far, but oh well, fuck it at this point. I can probably get a decent portion of the money back by selling to body kit alone worst case scenario.

 

[mxaustin]

I suppose whatever I've sunk into it so far, but oh well, fuck it at this point. I can probably get a decent portion of the money back by selling to body kit alone worst case scenario.

Ill second the scotch bright i would just use your hand vs drill but thats just me. Then clean up with soap n water then coat the walls with ATF and cycle the pistons a few times by hand.

Ur already mostly there anyway

My block wasnt exactly blemish free either, not to your extent even still im gona be pushing well north of 400hp

2000 GTS Turbo

 

[actionseeker]

Ill second the scotch bright i would just use your hand vs drill but thats just me. Then clean up with soap n water then coat the walls with ATF and cycle the pistons a few times by hand.

Ur already mostly there anyway

My block wasnt exactly blemish free either, not to your extent even still im gona be pushing well north of 400hp

2000 GTS Turbo

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Blue scotch-brite, some mild solvents, and patience to just make sure everything is deburred and within spec. Then a final cleaning and measuring and it's finally time to bring it all together. My biggest concern is aluminum oxide particles being deposited by the pads and unable to be cleaned out.

 

[2way]

I had DD Performance Research do mine. Short block & a used head. I didn't have the time, facilities, or ability to deal with it. Shipping a dead car to TX was interesting.

 

[Sheik Ya Bootie]

You’re bore looked pretty decent and you are giving it a light scuff, not scratching and removing any material.
I have this in one of my bores so it will get sleeved. No idea on the cause but it deep and I suspect gave us water ingress. Couldn’t spot a failure in head gasket and the pit mark is really deep.

 

[actionseeker]

I had DD Performance Research do mine. Short block & a used head. I didn't have the time, facilities, or ability to deal with it. Shipping a dead car to TX was interesting.

I'm pretty broke, so I can't afford to outsource the labor. Even getting anything machined would've been out of my budget. Luckily, I just barely have the equipment, and skill lol. The parts still are going to put a hole in my pocket though.