i just picked up a set of je pistons off someone for a decent price and i was just wondering if i can still use them. they are a little scratched from the side.

thanks

 

eh, normally you don't use a piston with visable skirt wear. are they rough at all on the sides? if you already have them it would be temping to do a budget build. almost looks like PWC was set too tight and the pistons got too hot crowding out the oil

 

yes the other side is scratched too but the side i took pics on is the bad part..

 

Its hard to tell without actually seeing them in front of me. Can you take them to what ever machine shop normally does your engine work and ask them ?

 

Run em. I got a set of used CPs with rough sides. Rough enough to catch a fingernail. I put 60k on them and they are still usable. I changed the headgasket and one of my ARP studs stretched and it screwed my block up. I went with Vitaras in a new block (because my original machinist ****ed up my P2W).. still have the CPs which I may use down the road (now with more skirt wear!). Yeah, I had approximately 1/16" P2W when I disassembled the block and I would not be afraid to use the CPs in another block if I had to. I just wanted a whole fresh setup because I commute daily.

 

find out what alloy they are so the pwc gets set right this time. most je are 2014 which i wouldn't set any tighter than .0035.

actually just going off their own specs is the smart move

 

you can have them smoothed but do so before setting your wall clearance, They should be usable.

 

thanks for all the comments and advise! any other things i should keep in mind?

i just wanted to make sure i can use them because i dont want to find out the hard way. im also going to see what the machine shop has to say. its going to be a b16 with these pistons, eagle rods and eagle crank. the head is a gsr with skunk 2 springs and retainers and ctr cams. what do you guys think of the motor setup?

thanks

 

probably fine, just make sure your compression, hp goal and tune are all in line

 

yea all of that is in line..i just hope i can get 400whp out of a .50 trim. do you think it would be ok to run a hi compression head gasket just so i can bump up the compression a bit?

 

scotch brite the skirts to smooth them out / take off any burrs, and run em. Also clean the **** out the tops

 

gringoteg did, well a 57trim and ramhorn but depending on the 50 you have the lbs/min flow might not be much different. he was able to hit 444whp with a stock gsr, itr cams and a blox single runner.

what are you looking for with compression? his engine was obviously 10:1

i THINK that was an e85 number as well but you would have to ask him.

 

alright ill give that a shot Garage 808 Hatch....thanks

 

thats pretty impressive..sounds like e85 to me,lol. i want my compression to be im the mid 9s to low 10s....id be happy if i have compression of a stock motor.

 

Sounds good but why run a eagle crank ? I'd rather a OEM crank over a eagle crank any day of the week.

 

Do NOT smooth them out. When you polish you remove material. When you remove material you make them less round and worse. Remove burrs but do not rub anything on the skirts. Just pick off the random burrs.

 

eagle crank because it came with my block so i just decided to use it if its still in spec...thanks for the advise^

 

The Hippo talks !

Yeah cool, use it if its in your block already. I said that because i know of people that have brough them and had to have a **** load of work done to them before they could run them.

 

Its scotch brite man, it doesnt remove **** for material, just buffs offs burs and shines it up

 

Usually when there is oil starvation you have black death LOL. the scratchin on teh skirts will be black and severe. that to me looks like semi normal semi abused wear on the skirts. they should clean up fine. As for the tops of the pistons have them cleaned up too, my only concern is that piston that looks like someone tried to scratch the carbon/oil build up off, if there deep might create abnormal hotspots on the tops of the pistons

 

But do you know how it "shines it up?" It does that by removing material. What you end up with is uneven p2w and you'll get the scuffs back sooner and they will be worse than if you just ran them as is.

F it, polish them up so they look new and slightly oblong.

 

I used the same set of pistons in 3 different builds with no issues. My pistons had similar ware on the skirts, might actually have been slightly worse than yours. I ended up getting the skirts swaintech coated and let her eat. Ended up cracking a sleeve before the pistons went...haha I would use em man.