I didn't have a set of mics on hand so I didn't verify piston/wall clearance on the motor I just assembled. Stock bore JE Pistons. Block is a practically brand new '96 LS. I used a dial bore gauge and verified that the cylinders were all 3.189" all along the bore on both axes. Jeremy and I installed stock bore JE pistons before and 3.189" bore size was enough to get us in reasonable piston->wall clearance territory.

I lightly honed the sleeves before installing the pistons, maybe 12 quick passes up and down with the hone on each sleeve. Definately removed less than .0005" material.

The motor is loud on startup. Piston slap on all cylinders until the motor is warm where it gets quite a bit better. But I still hear some slap, or whatever it is, at idle when warm. When driving the motor sounds fine, I can hear maybe a little slap under light acceleration and deceleration -- but I can't be sure it is the motor.. I have no sound deadening or anything and a bunch of stuff is rattling everywhere in the car.

So... should I worry? hehe

Dustin

 

is your valve noisy ?

I checked my wall to piston clearance and was at .0004" and I stil lhear piston slap....during startup, originally I though it was a slap too during accel and deccel, but later on it was the damn valves noisy, and I haven;t got time to get my valves adjusted...

 

Hmm, I adjusted the valves when I assembled the motor... but I haven't checked them since. It really sounds like the bottom end though.

 

well, .004" is a little loose. i would expect a decent amount of noise with that much clearance.

 

Well I'm not worried about noise on my motor. I just dont want anything bad to happen. Who cares how loud it is.

But I don't know what my piston/wall clearance is. JE 3.189 pistons are for stock bore, right? Do they expect you to hone out a few thousandths to ensure clearance? Honing only seemed like a good way to resurface the sleeves... not change their physical diameter. And my sleeves are brand new basically, I think they have 6k miles on them. 3.189 exactly... so I'd be thinking I was not running enough clearance ... or how do they expect people to run these pistons in a stock bore motor? Surely JE doesn't expect anyone to dream extra material on the sleeves....

But I digress...

 

you should be alright. I did the same thing on my motor 2 years ago. Im sure it was very loose because it had the symptoms you described. I had good compression and the motor lasted an entire year which is a first for me.

 

No wonder dustin hasnt posted in a while, he is stuck in his garage trying to get his car running.

 

so, what blew up on your gsr?

having your piston to wall clearances loose like that will decrease the life span of the rings,but otherwise you should be ok

 

Hehe my GSR is fine. This is for the CRX.

Any idea about my issue?

 

If you find yourself in that condition again during engine assembly, hold the piston so that the bottom of the skirt is about one inch down the bore. Shove in feeler guages between the cyl wall and piston. If more than about .004, you are gonna get slap but this method will give you a poor man's piston to wall clearance.

 

Hehe...ok.

I'm just going to leave it. It's not that loud. Having a diesel in a crx owns! hehe

If it blows up.. oh well. I know how to fix it

 

hahah forilz.

 

they pretty much just slap no matter what you do.

 

I have found JE pistons to be a little loose for the stock bores. With a Hone you will spend 15 mins before you take out 0.0005. Unless it makes a lot of noise when it is warmed up fully I wouldn't worry about it . I had a motor a machine shop bored too big and it rattled big time, I had Endyn coat the pistons in a ceramic coating he uses for his blowers and it took care of it .He can coat them upto 0.002 and you can then hone the block to match the pistons. That's if it bothers you or it gets worse.. Good Luck!

 

I think it will be OK! Thanks for the informative response