NA6C-Guy

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone have any "proof" of the tri-coating actually being so grand? I could justify the price if it worked. I've never understood how those coatings stick to the pistons so well and don't wear off in a few thousand miles. It's destiny that I will be pulling my engine back apart, or dropping in a new one since I decided to run stock rods. When the time comes, I might run stock pistons with coating. Or might go Belfab and run forged, I will have to see what money does.

juxt3r

iTrader: (5)

Bwahahahahahah!!
I sent you pictures of my mom. Did you get them?

y8s

iTrader: (8)

the skirt coatings usually diffuse into the outer surface of the aluminum. I imagine swain uses a similar "bonding base" for the other coatings to make them more adherent. call them and ask.

1slowna

iTrader: (1)

i cant remember where i saw it but there was an article about a 2jz motor that they were using for a standing mile car and they were trying out ceramic coatings.they coated the pistons, combustion chamber, faces of the valves, the back of the exhaust valves and the exhaust port in the head. they said the result was less piston slap during warm up, turbo spool 600rpms sooner! and 104fl lbs of tq gain! seems like a lot but i guess the difference of 1200hp and 600 ft lbs and 1200hp and 700ft lbs is not really that intense. either way i would either go with coated stock pistons or forged pistons, i would not consider completely stock pistons an option on a daily driven 300hp 1.6. you might get away with it with a good tune but for 150 bucks its worth getting them coated so they dont break a ring land if your tune isnt dead on.

ThePass

iTrader: (3)

thanks for the replies guys. Can anyone dig up specs on the automatic 1.6 pistons? I'm still not finding anything and I really would rather go with 8.x:1 rather than the stock manual 9:1's. If the auto ones aren't lower (but I keep finding hints that they are) I may have to go with the forged just to get the lower compression.
-Ryan

ThePass

iTrader: (3)

I was under the impression that stock 1.6L pistons were 9.0:1 - from what I've been reading it seems that they are in fact 9.4:1 while the automatic pistons for the 90-93 are the 9.0:1. If this is so, that is a generous drop in compression and they could be a great choice for a budget turbo motor build, no?

I've been looking up tri-coatings and Performance Coatings will do the pistons and pins for $120. Nice price. That is for the thermal top coat for dispersing heat evenly, the friction reducing side coat, and the oil shedding underside coat.

What do you guys think?

On another note, the auto 90-93 also has cams that have less duration, is that a good or bad thing for turbos?
I was considering when I take everything apart getting stronger valve springs (only about $350) so that I could bring the redline to 7800 or 8000, but would I have to get different valves themselves/different retainers or could I use the stock stuff? I just want to avoid valve float while bumping the redline to safely (but affordably) get more top end.. what do you guys think?

Thanks
-Ryan

juxt3r

iTrader: (5)

You are correct on the 1.6 piston ratios. It's great info to have for a budget build!
If you're looking to pick up & coat some used OE pistons, I'm guessing you've already checked the block to assure that it only needs a hone and doesn't need the bores opened up, correct? If so, sure, give those coatings a try.
Another source for coatings that I found on here (forgot who posted the company, sorry) is Synergy Coatings.

I'm no expert in valvetrain bits, so I'll definitely leave that for someone else. My guess, however, would be that you should be able to reuse the valves and retainers for those higher revs if the parts are still in reasonable condition.

hustler

iTrader: (6)

Good luck with finding any real info on cams. It takes big money to get cams done right.

JasonC SBB

$450 to regrind cams at www.elgincams.com - you can provide the spec, or you can tell him what characteristics want.

ThePass

iTrader: (3)

nevermind, forget cams for now that's an area I will need to do a lot more research on before having any idea what I want to do in that regard, and I can do them at any time, no need to add that to the cost of the rebuild.

juxt3r - I have not opened the motor up yet, as I said I am gathering info and developing a plan so that I can begin to accumulate the parts I will use in the build for once I do need to do it. What would make it necessary for me to bore the cylinders if I was just going to go with oem pistons? Excessive wear? I will probably end up opening the motor up for this before it blows (it only has 117k miles right now) so I am hoping it will only need a hone.

I would probably not re-use my old valvetrain bits but would save the $ on the big buck valves, etc. and just go with fresh stock bits with Supertech or similar springs for 8k rpms... Looking at most of the dyno plots of 1.6's with my turbo it does look like HP is still increasing or at least staying strong when they hit redline at 7k so I'm thinking this would give me a nice 1000 more rpms at perhaps not peak hp but a very good amount of hp, which would be pretty nice...