rpg51

I'm in the "buy a good used engine" camp. Don't throw good money after bad.

janders111

How much was the inlinepro rebuild?

janders111

And I am just wondering why rebuilds usually do not last? Why can we not just follow the same procedures used when building the engine and make a rebuild that lasts?

Car Analogy

Because when these engines are worn to the point of needing a rebuild, the frm coating is typically too far gone to save. Either cylinder is ovaled out, or scoring, etc, that would require boring beyond the frm limit to address.

In that case, the only solution is to sleeve the cylinders. The only sleeves currently made are cast iron. Originally intended for high cylinder pressure builds like supercharging or turbo, with high psi. The cast iron is stronger, but doesn't last nearly as long.

Now, if someone made aluminum liners with frm coating, that would be a whole different story. I feel there is a market opportunity here. The only question is if there is enough cheddar to cover the r&d development costs and make a profit.

rpg51

I'd say that is very unlikely.

janders111

Thank you guys! Here is what I have learned since posting this:
-never let a normal machine shop work on the s2000 block.
-The guy did bore the pistons incorrectly. The boring left scratches that catch my fingernail. The FRM coating is hard like glass and has a special boring and honing procedure.
-The guy also did the piston wrist pins wrong. He left them floating on both the piston and rods, which led to premature wear which led to wrist pin slap.
-The pistons with a .25 stamped on top are over-sized ones made by honda for the s2000.

Say Chi Sin Lo

I've got to say, your attitude is simply outstanding through this ordeal. Had it been me, I would have lost my shit.

Any chance you bleed money?

janders111

No, I am actually a college student trying to drive my dream car. Yea it sucks. After all of this, I also noticed scratches in the FRM, and also that the piston rings were corroded to the pistons.
I am looking into either:
1. getting a jdm engine (about 4600)
3. getting an inline pro rebuild (3000 - 5000)

geras003

What did you end up doing?

janders111

I ended up getting a new motor from H Motors online. It took way longer than they said, but their price was pretty good and the engine works. This was the easiest way to go, but the other option I've could recommend to someone in my situation is sending it to inlinepro. They have a daily driver program where they send you back an engine that is refurbished but not modified. To summarize everything in one sentence, the head in our engines are rebuildable, but it is very difficult to rebuild anything having to do with the piston bore.