Hey guys, i got a 97 GSR and its got a good 170,000 miles on it. I was thinking of rebuilding the head by getting ITR Pistons, ITR Rods, and titanium valve springs. My first questions is 1) what kind of things do i need to buy to get the re-build. I mean i know that i need a head gasket kit, head studs, and rod bolts. (are they really that neccessary?) Anyways questions 2) ITR pistons would have a higher compression ratio but would i get lots of power gains from the stuff above? and do yall think its worth it? I mean the engine runs fine, its just got a leak on the cam gear seals. since im opening the valve cover, i was just thinking. Wat is yalls imput.

Thanks for reading this far.

 

I had a similar plan until i talked to my shop guy. After talking with him if you are on a budget the best thing you can do is rebuild the head. Forget the ITR bottom end, it's really not worth the money. I was actually told that you could just get a ITR cam and that's it, no need to replace the springs or retainers. I think I would replace them just for insurance but your stock springs should handle an ITR cam. If you have all the money in the world your mods will make power but when it's all said and done with you could have probably gotten a turbo for the money you will spend and have been making more.

 

Do a compression test and see what your numbers are. If they are good then just do some work with the head. If some or one of the numbers are low for the compression test then just clean up your cyl walls and have new rings installed. Then go from there for what you can do and afford

 

PM'ed

 

these guys ^ know what they're talking about...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spidy3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a compression test and see what your numbers are. If they are good then just do some work with the head. If some or one of the numbers are low for the compression test then just clean up your cyl walls and have new rings installed. Then go from there for what you can do and afford</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SleeperGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I had a similar plan until i talked to my shop guy. After talking with him if you are on a budget the best thing you can do is rebuild the head. Forget the ITR bottom end, it's really not worth the money. I was actually told that you could just get a ITR cam and that's it, no need to replace the springs or retainers. I think I would replace them just for insurance but your stock springs should handle an ITR cam. If you have all the money in the world your mods will make power but when it's all said and done with you could have probably gotten a turbo for the money you will spend and have been making more.</TD></TR></TABLE>

if you're on a major budget: since you said it's just a cam seal leak, just replace the cam seal... (cam plug, right) and valve cover gasket. from there, you can go on forever.

one step up would be to (as long as your compression's fine and you don't want to touch the bottom end): change your gsr cams to ITR/CTR cams and do a valve adjustment

a step up from that would be to change the cams, do a valve adjustment, and clean up the head and then work on the bottom end like spidy3 said... if you go this route, you might as well use p30 or p73 pistons (i'd just stick with p72 rods and crank)

personally, i'd just stick with a minimal solution like changing your cam gear seal/plug, throwing in some ITR/CTR cams, and doing a valve adjustment. or go the more "extreme" end of doing a pretty thorough rebuild. if you had the budget for it (about 750-1.5k, depending on the parts/labor you use now) and can deal with the downtime, i'd just do a rebuild by changing your pistons, honing the walls, replacing all the rings, not messing with decking/planing, sticking with the gsr head and going with ITR/CTR cams, upgrading the IM and TB... and getting some tuning done... more or less, you'll end up with a version of a poor man's b18c5. go with all oem gaskets, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, water pump, oil pump, REAR CAM SEAL (that bi*ch will leak sooner or later) etc. might as well check your motor mounts and throw in polyurethane motor mount inserts. you'll keep costs down if you use non-oem parts and do your own labor... but with the money saved by doing your own labor, i'd splurge on the OEM parts

pm me if you have any questions. all-mtr-teg was helpful when i did mine.

 

perfect. thanks everyone. yea i dont have the money right now to get cams but my shop guy also told me that it wouldnt be worth the money.

 

I'm almost at 200k and I will be doing a rebuild. For the head I will just be getting the cam seal and valve stem seals.

For the block I'm getting piston rings, acl main, and rod bearings with the thrust washers, arp rod bolts and head studs, oem gsr water and oil pump, new tensioner and timing belt, and an oem headgasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rickdrizzle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm almost at 200k and I will be doing a rebuild. For the head I will just be getting the cam seal and valve stem seals.

For the block I'm getting piston rings, acl main, and rod bearings with the thrust washers, arp rod bolts and head studs, oem gsr water and oil pump, new tensioner and timing belt, and an oem headgasket. </TD></TR></TABLE>

not to threadjack, but personally, i'd just reuse your oem head studs/bolts and put money torwards getting OEM bearings as these will be specific to your crank/rods rather than getting "generic" green ACL bearings. if you're generating a lot of power or you've already resused your bolts, that's one thing, but if you're just doing a mild rebuild and you haven't reused your bolts yet, than i think upgraded bolts are a waste... put the money towards tuning, at least. GL

 

I'm going to turbocharge my gsr and will be aiming to push 270whp.