allwhitehonda

I was looking at buying a civic si with a t3/t4 turbo w/ race ss manifold with cracked welds on the 2 center ports. Has full fuel management intercooler all the goodies.

So obviously before I buy it I run a compression test.

From left to right I got good plug ~210lbs, oil on plug ~175lbs, good plug ~210lbs, and good plug ~210lbs.

I figure it would be bad rings... I figured I could just get some total seal piston rings and re-ring it. But a friend who claims he has had tons of experience building race motors says it is the RING LANDS on the actually pistons that are probably destroyed.

I dont see how that could be it but I have never torn down the internals of a motor.

The car runs and idles fine but I dont want the guy to put n e load on it or move it at all since the manifold is cracked.

I still want to buy the car so long as he dumps the price. I am planning on just throwing a stock mani stock injectors and I have a stock p28 at my parents basement.

I figured I could drive it with bad rings until I had the cash to build it but now im not sure since someone is telling me it is the piston itself...

Also just wondering but if I do CTR pistons do I have to re-hone the block?

I dont want to do rods because I am afraid of someone putting the wrong size bearings in it I heard you have to be very carefull when you gage them to make sure you get the right one for each rod.

I have been out of the honda game for over 3 years and just am looking for some insight on this issue.

Sound Streamin'

Does it smoke at all? My stock motor cracked a ring land on one cylinder and it still ran beautifully. The only reason I knew something was wrong was a little bit of smoke under boost. Compression test revealed a weak cylinder and sure enough upon tear down the lands cracked.

You always want to at least hone the cylinder walls whenever you replace pistons. You will also want to check for the bad cylinder being out of round. My bad cylinder was out enough that a .5 over bore was needed, so keep that in mind.

You might as well do rods while you are in there. Get new ACL or OEM bearings and take it to a reputable engine builder and you will be fine.

allwhitehonda

what am i looking at in labor for rods, pistons, rings, and honing. How much more to just get it sleeved on top of it while im in there?

2hotkustomz

definitely ring landings. I had the exact same thing happen just on friday, and when I tore my engine apart, I only had 1 good piston the other 3 had the landings broken bad.