Something Something Tony G's E30 Sedan (we're using a coupe now) - S54 Swap

[spike68]

OE s54 rings are expensive, but if you shop, you can find good deals... https://www.ebay.com/itm/114339700479

We rebuilt an s54 with slight hone few years ago for a local, rings were even more scarce then. Car runs great and is now getting a turbo, we gapped the rings and installed o-rings on the deck to suit.

Nothing wrong with taking a couple tenths (.0001"), the new rings will seat fine.

So I ran into that exact link and was about to pull the trigger on those, but after reading online most are saying that those are chinese Mahle rings. Notice how you only see a partial logo on the box and you don't see the word "Mahle" noted anywhere in the ad title or description below. Kinda shady.

[ForcedFirebird]

OE s54 rings are expensive, but if you shop, you can find good deals... https://www.ebay.com/itm/114339700479

We rebuilt an s54 with slight hone few years ago for a local, rings were even more scarce then. Car runs great and is now getting a turbo, we gapped the rings and installed o-rings on the deck to suit.

Nothing wrong with taking a couple tenths (.0001"), the new rings will seat fine.

[spike68]

The importance of the RA finish will be even more important with thinner cylinder walls.

Have the machine shop do the machine work with pistons in hand, the piston wall to wall clearance, the hone finish will be on the spec sheet with the pistons. Maybe Vac has a tq plate the could loan out. Speak to Hayyan, he is usually the sales guy I deal with.

The used good motor rules out any machine shop errors. That's my biggest lean on that recommendation.

I feel like I'm really putting myself through the ringer on this project. I usually one to think through things pretty thoroughly but definitely didn't think about the torque plate. I'll see if the machine shop has one, but if not I'll call VAC and see if they've got a rental and/or just purchase it. Hopefully the wait times aren't too long either.

[moatilliatta]

The importance of the RA finish will be even more important with thinner cylinder walls.

Have the machine shop do the machine work with pistons in hand, the piston wall to wall clearance, the hone finish will be on the spec sheet with the pistons. Maybe Vac has a tq plate the could loan out. Speak to Hayyan, he is usually the sales guy I deal with.

The used good motor rules out any machine shop errors. That's my biggest lean on that recommendation.

[spike68]

Alright well I'm just gonna send it. Ordered some 87.5mm bore pistons from VAC last night. Calling the machine shop first thing tomorrow morning to have them to bore the cylinders out.

[moatilliatta]

Stock DME works quite well. Epic, Kassel, Rk Tunes.

Prefer Epic Alpha-n. Good for 350whp with supporting mods, good Drivabilty.

[spike68]

Just thinking of something else if I go the forged piston route. moatilliatta do you know if I need to go with a standalone DME if I have to overbore the cylinders? Or is this too small of a change for this application?

Would prefer to avoid having to step up to a standalone for the time being.

[spike68]

Honing out the scoring and throwing OE pistons back in will be just fine. Whenever you change rings you need to deglaze the cylinders anyways. And to be honest, even if a score or two was left behind, it's not the end of the world.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the rebuild! Sure you could just buy another 100k motor for 6 grand, but then you'd still be left with a 100k motor. Rebuild this one and you'll have a fresh start.

Hey thanks! Appreciate that info.

I am still on the fence right now for what I should do. For a second there I thought it wouldn't be bad to re-run the old rings, but it sounds like thats not a good idea. I'm back to either shelling out the money for new rings or just getting the forged pistons for $100 more than the rings. Starting to seem like a no brainer to me. Even if the machine shop already performed the honing work I'd pay the extra to get the boring done.

[Andre3127]

Yeah thats a tough route for me to go. The only reason why I went with this motor was because I got the motor for cheap. Like way cheap.

If the machine shop said they can hone the scoring out while still being within spec is that not appropriate enough?

Honing out the scoring and throwing OE pistons back in will be just fine. Whenever you change rings you need to deglaze the cylinders anyways. And to be honest, even if a score or two was left behind, it's not the end of the world.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the rebuild! Sure you could just buy another 100k motor for 6 grand, but then you'd still be left with a 100k motor. Rebuild this one and you'll have a fresh start.

[spike68]

Yeah thats a tough route for me to go. The only reason why I went with this motor was because I got the motor for cheap. Like way cheap.

If the machine shop said they can hone the scoring out while still being within spec is that not appropriate enough?

[moatilliatta]

An easy route and maybe the same cost in the long run is just to find a used good 100K motor with Compression numbers for 6K and sell what you have.

Most Peformance rings are harder so you just have to make sure you go hard at break in right off the bat and have the correct hone job to break them in.

It’s fine for most, but the bore finished size is actually correlated to the pistons size, not rings.

[spike68]

Make sure the machine shop finishes the head and deck on an RA good enough for a MLS, Stock head gasket, Stock head bolts work great. IMO Id go overbore to make sure you get the correct Piston to wall clearance, the ring sets are $200 a hole, makes a new set of pistons seem reasonable.

A torque plate is preferred,

This is the stuff that I really don't know when it comes to machine shops. The finish on the head looks pretty dang good. I'll get some photos, but I did not verify with the machine shop.

To your overbore point it's not a bad idea considering I just found out the cost of rings a few nights ago. Ouch. Since I've already got them proceeding with just honing the cylinders my current plan is to evaluate the rings that I pulled from the motor. I'm also looking into gapless top rings to provide some level of "freshness". Thoughts? Or waste of money?

[moatilliatta]

Make sure the machine shop finishes the head and deck on an RA good enough for a MLS, Stock head gasket, Stock head bolts work great. IMO Id go overbore to make sure you get the correct Piston to wall clearance, the ring sets are $200 a hole, makes a new set of pistons seem reasonable.

A torque plate is preferred,

[spike68]

Alright I'm finally bumping my thread again because I've got some worthy news.

After feeling depressed about the wait times from machine shops in my area I finally got my engine block dropped off to the machine shop on Halloween and this morning they confirmed with me they can perform honing to remove the scoring and still keep the walls within spec. This means I can continue using the set of stock pistons I went to buy.

Next is coming up with a list of parts I need for reassembly. This is all conveniently happening right before I get my yearly bonus as well :D

I mentioned before that I was coming up with a master list of items, but have not completed that yet. For now I need to think of items I need to grab for the immediate re-built, lets say enough to get the motor sealed up. New piston rings, oil seals, upgrade head studs?, upgraded timing chain guides?, vanos components?

Might be looking for some guidance on recommendations.

[spike68]

Another quick update. I suck and still haven't gotten everything to the machine shop, but I did make an attempt!

ForcedFirebird you wern't kidding about machine shops dying. I took everything to a place thats been around since I was in high school. When I walked in they had parts laying around EVERYWHERE. The owner was kind enough to explain the situation and the issues they're having from their trade perspective. Basically they can't find anyone to work so it's just him and one other guy.

They were willing to take the head from me because thats a quick turnaround, but they were unwilling to take the block because they don't have a guy currently to perform the services I'm looking for. They know how to do it, but are struggling for the time. They said earliest appointment to check the block was on Halloween. At this point I think I'm going to take the block elsewhere. Theres a machine shop down the street from me that said they can turn it around sooner so I'm probably going that route.

In the meantime I also tend to let wheels take my money away from me. Picked up a set of TE37 Sonic wheels off FB. I just couldn't help myself. Specs are 16x8 +25 (so I'll need a spacer). These wheels are absolutely perfect. No scratches, no stains, original stickers are very much in tact, and the guy mentioned he mounted them on his civic and only drives it to the gym and back. Sure they were expensive, but I knowing what these go for new this guy wasn't trying to make a bunch of money off them.

This marks wheel set Albums for my e30...............yeah I know it's a problem.

IMG_1135 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr