5 replies to this topic

[rosco 123]

Hello clever folk, I’ve stripped my metro turbo engine apart and was surprised at how little wear I found, head looks good and bores are in excellent condition. My question (for now) is just how far can I take the standard pistons? I’ve read on this excellent site that they are quite robust. Assuming I use total seal rings of course. I’m aiming for 150 hp roughly, am I asking too much of them?  Thanks in advance 

[Steve220]

If you fit new rings, you will have to hone the bore. Depending on your machinist, it'll put them out of spec. This is of course if your bores are parallel and dont have wear at the bottom. Always worth taking it to a machinist to measure it prior to buying anything. Mine seemed ok, but they were wider at the bottom.

[Ethel]

Should easily cope with 150 horses, but it's how you get there. Without an intercooler, but with standard compression that'd be hard on any piston. More to the point, as Steve says, doesn't matter how good the pistons are when you also need a block within tolerances to put them in.

[rosco 123]

All good advice, thank you. An intercooler was always on the cards as is a fusion fabs manifold. My head of choice coming from Turbo Phil. I’ll take advice further with regards to a turbo upgrade of course and anything else too! Xpin diff I guess , anyway, thanks for continuing to contribute on this site, I’m on it a lot just now! 

[Icey]

150bhp is over the usual limit for the standard gearset (general consensus is 120-130 is a where things break), so it’s not just the diff you need to think about.

[mini13]

Iirc rings are not available for the turbo pistons, I've heard of people using total seal rings on them though.