Hello everyone,

The set of pistons takes us about 4-6 weeks to get. It takes longer to get the pistons as it is a custom piston with a custom coating for the FRM sleeving.

We charge $900 + shipping for the pistons, AND you must have a machine shop know how to hone the block for the pistons properly. We did this as another option, but we'd rather sleeve a block

Ya

 

Thanks for the info Ya.

 

Well at our shop we charge $3995 for a complete assembled short block ( core block & crank supplied by customer ).

Thats:

CP Pistons
AEBS Sleeves
InlinePRO Rods (for the F series engines)
ACL Race bearing set
Labor for machining
Labor for blue print, balance and assembly.

If you decided to go the pistons with FRM material it would be :
$900 for the pistons (plus shipping costs)
$150 for finish hone
$200 to deck the block if needed
Cost of bearings if we supply it
and $1250 for balance, blue print and assembly (if you wanted us to do it)

 

Thanks for the info; I would prefer to build the motor and sleeve it rather than running the FRM pistons, especially since the difference isn't that substantial.

Would you guys machine a crank and used oversized bearings?

 

Depends on how damaged the crank is. Anytime an oversize bearing is used on a honda motor, I personally feel a little un easy. These cranks are spinning pretty fast compared to old traditional domestic motors that use this machine technique to repair a crank.

Personally I would just get another used crank.

Hope this helps

 

Thanks for the input, I knew there had to be another option.

For the low budget build it may be nice, for those that have a ring grinder, plasti-gauge, hone and an older motor it is another way to look at it. Though if you are dropping the cash on a big turbo what is another $4K.

 

Another $4k that could be spent on engine/chassis tuning, on top of new sets of tires for those track days (don't forget about entrance fees!)..

My point is that I can think of a ton of different ways to spend 4 grand... IF I could find a good set of FRM friendly pistons! Mahle Gold Series were supposed to be available for or engine, so WTH happened to them?!

I would rather resleeve my block than modify engine internals to fit properly, though.. "Machining the crown" of a piston used in an FI application doesn't sound too appealing for me! Hehehe, then again, I'm just too picky with some things..

 

So how many cars are running these pistons? Have you guys torn down the motor they are/were running in?

What shops do you know of that can hone the cylinder walls correctly?

 

Machining the crown is pretty simple. The Mahle FI piston have a depressed (inverted) dome so all you are doing is machining down the outer perimeter of the crown.

I just hold the pistons in a 3 jaw chuck with some alloy shims over the jaws to avoid leaving marks in the pistons. Take light cuts so you don't load up the cutting forces too much. If you cant do it yourself get a machine shop to do it.

Fitting the Mahle pistons involves getting your rod little ends bushed, and a minor material removal from the edge of the pistons crown. The pistons are compatible with FRM bores.

On the other hand, wet sleeving the block involves some pretty heavy duty machining and has to be done right to keep the water an oil apart, and also to make sure the tops of the bores are supported correctly.

 

Hmmm. I wouldn't want to hurt the integrity of the forged piston top by taking material off of it. I just wouldn't have peice of mind knowing that I could have taken away important structural material, especially since I want to run over 15 pounds of boost.

Re-bushing the rods would be fine with me, but I want to run a heavier con rod to begin with, so I would just find some that match the wrist pin size.

Chris, you seem to have a good grasp on this subject, so I'll run this one by you (and anyone else who might have a possible answer):

So far all of the reading I've done to this point states that the "FRM safe" pistons are made from 4032 alloy and have PC9 or Molybdenum coatings on them. I'm pretty sure Mahle uses a better coating that won't wear off as easily as either of the two listed, but that can eventually wear also.

Now, I've been looking at WPC treatments lately for some of my engine internals, and they claim their performance at reducing friction is BETTER than most coatings out there, and the effectiveness will never burn/wear off like the coatings, because it is a treatment for the metal.

Do you think it would be feasible to purchase some aftermarket lower compression 4032 pistons, have them WPC treated, and then run them with some new OEM Honda rings (better for the FRM liners)? All while retaining the stock sleeves?


I'll be looking forward to reading about what thoughts people have on this idea.