doing a set of striker heads while were in there I want to do forged pistons to prep for tt later & to refresh the motor. whats the best way to go about buying the complete set of internals? I want the crank, rods, pistons balanced. who should I buy from? what brand? should i talk to arrow? how can i guarantee the setup sent to me is correctly balanced? was planning to only do a light cylinder hone to the block, anything else i 'must' do to the block? thanks
need some motor rebuild advice
- Thread starter KepRght
- Start date
1TONY1
Enthusiast
Roe sells replacement pistons for your rods and bore. That's your "refresh" with pistons. How close the replacement pistons are to stock weight I don't know but if all the pistons weigh the same you should be good/safe to go.
I'm not sure if you are getting rods, if so you will have to balance the rotating assembly.
A light hone with the correct grit should be fine.
For the balance to be done: You will need to pull the crank and have it, along with the pistons and rods balanced.
There is a machine shop in Atlanta with tons of Viper experience I can hook you up with. Any good race machine shop should be able to do the balance....will I risk any machine shop...NO.
Beware, if you pull the crank to stroke it then you need to have that done THEN order pistons for the correct stroke/rod combination. If you get rods you may not be able to use a standard replacement piston.
Bottom line, anything more than just replacing the piston and you need someone involved that works with these engines daily.
The "replacement piston" scenario can be just a small step...careful or those small steps keep on going
I was going to freshen my rings back in November. Well, I needed a few pistons because some of the skirts on my stockers had hairline cracks. No big deal get a set of pistons.
Hey....what about rods....if I'm doing pistons I might as well throw in a set of rods. Oh yea....got to pull the crank to balance the rotating assembly. If I'm doing that, I might as well pull/bore the block for a perfect piston fit since I have 70,000 miles. The cranks out for balance....how much more was it to stroke the crank...and about those expensive billet main caps
Ah...the proverbial "snow ball"
I'm not sure if you are getting rods, if so you will have to balance the rotating assembly.
A light hone with the correct grit should be fine.
For the balance to be done: You will need to pull the crank and have it, along with the pistons and rods balanced.
There is a machine shop in Atlanta with tons of Viper experience I can hook you up with. Any good race machine shop should be able to do the balance....will I risk any machine shop...NO.
Beware, if you pull the crank to stroke it then you need to have that done THEN order pistons for the correct stroke/rod combination. If you get rods you may not be able to use a standard replacement piston.
Bottom line, anything more than just replacing the piston and you need someone involved that works with these engines daily.
The "replacement piston" scenario can be just a small step...careful or those small steps keep on going
I was going to freshen my rings back in November. Well, I needed a few pistons because some of the skirts on my stockers had hairline cracks. No big deal get a set of pistons.
Hey....what about rods....if I'm doing pistons I might as well throw in a set of rods. Oh yea....got to pull the crank to balance the rotating assembly. If I'm doing that, I might as well pull/bore the block for a perfect piston fit since I have 70,000 miles. The cranks out for balance....how much more was it to stroke the crank...and about those expensive billet main caps
Ah...the proverbial "snow ball"
tony thanks for taking the time to post your insight. i was thinking minor refresh. now im thinking of pulling the crank and going pistons, rods, balance, and end caps. ill be checking prices on parts in the am to see what the budget will allow. do you think head studs matter on tt? do it later with tt? anthony
Oldwilsonian
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2004
- Posts
- 36
- Reaction score
- 0
Completely echo what 1TONY1 said. It definately snowballs.
I'm on the last lap of my TT set-up now - building the motor. At every point there seems to be "something extra" that you may as well do since "you're in there" but in all honesty it is just that, do everything, that way you'll never have to remove the motor and tear it down again, and once it's back together and completely built you will be relieved that you didn't leave any "weak links" .
My internals, JE/CP Pistons, Oliver Rods, Pro-Gram Main Caps, ARP studs.
We're offset grinding the crank - stroked to a 520. Looking to put down 1200 RWHP.
I don't know what your HP aspirations are for the future with your TT set-up, but IMHO install the best parts you can afford that way you don't necessarily limit yourself if you want to up the HP in the future.
The manufacturers I've listed above all make quality components - they don't come cheap but they are tried & tested, take a look at some of the current TT's out there and you'll see these manufacturers components in most of them - for good reason, yes you could save several hundred dollars on cheaper components from alternative manufacturers, but it might come back to haunt you one day. Just my 0.2 cents.
Good luck.
OW.
I'm on the last lap of my TT set-up now - building the motor. At every point there seems to be "something extra" that you may as well do since "you're in there" but in all honesty it is just that, do everything, that way you'll never have to remove the motor and tear it down again, and once it's back together and completely built you will be relieved that you didn't leave any "weak links" .
My internals, JE/CP Pistons, Oliver Rods, Pro-Gram Main Caps, ARP studs.
We're offset grinding the crank - stroked to a 520. Looking to put down 1200 RWHP.
I don't know what your HP aspirations are for the future with your TT set-up, but IMHO install the best parts you can afford that way you don't necessarily limit yourself if you want to up the HP in the future.
The manufacturers I've listed above all make quality components - they don't come cheap but they are tried & tested, take a look at some of the current TT's out there and you'll see these manufacturers components in most of them - for good reason, yes you could save several hundred dollars on cheaper components from alternative manufacturers, but it might come back to haunt you one day. Just my 0.2 cents.
Good luck.
OW.
WCKDVPR
Viper Owner
Get a hold of Kevin Singleton at Exotic Engine Development in Temecula, CA. He did the GTS-R motors in the glory years (Le Mans victories)and still builds most of the FIA motors for the European Teams.
A lot of the road race guys use him for motor work. He really knows his stuff.
Contact info:
http://www.exoticengine.net/
DO NOT use Arrow!!!!!
Best regards,
Mike
A lot of the road race guys use him for motor work. He really knows his stuff.
Contact info:
http://www.exoticengine.net/
DO NOT use Arrow!!!!!
Best regards,
Mike
WCKDVPR
Viper Owner
Treesnake,
I had read all the stuff on the boards about Arrow being good and when I needed a shortblock done I went to Arrow.
They selected the pistons and recommended their own rods (modified 340 hi-po rods). They polished and balanced everything and then assembled the entire motor (with my heads). $13,000. After 7 hours of track time - short shifting, just breaking things in, the motor disinigrates driving down a front straight at around 5000 rpm. A rod split in half and did a chain saw like thing through the motor. It took out everything except the intake manifold. I have it all on video!
I had the motor taken apart and the bearings wereperfect and the the rod just split in half. Pull the other rods and their are machine marks / stress risers inside the rod where Arrow did their "mods". Another rod is cracked right along the stress riser.
Arrow gets all this and says, yes our rods failed. However, this is a race motor and there is no warranty. We feel bad because our rods caused this, so we will give you two new rods and pistons! What the hell? They think giving me two more crappy rods is fair given the parts that they made and recommended I use failed due to their mistake and cost me an entire motor. Out the $13,000 I paid them and now I need a block, crank, rods, pistons, cam, heads......plus assembly.
I went all the way up the chain of management there and that was their response: too bad, no warranty.
That was my experience. Hence, I would say use them at your own risk. I did get Kevin's name from other racers who had similar experiences with Arrow when I was checking around to see if anyone had some pull with Arrow to help me out with this. Others had similar experiences as well.
Kevin just finished my new motor and he is great to work with.
Good luck and enjoy the motor when you get it.
Best regards,
Mike
I had read all the stuff on the boards about Arrow being good and when I needed a shortblock done I went to Arrow.
They selected the pistons and recommended their own rods (modified 340 hi-po rods). They polished and balanced everything and then assembled the entire motor (with my heads). $13,000. After 7 hours of track time - short shifting, just breaking things in, the motor disinigrates driving down a front straight at around 5000 rpm. A rod split in half and did a chain saw like thing through the motor. It took out everything except the intake manifold. I have it all on video!
I had the motor taken apart and the bearings wereperfect and the the rod just split in half. Pull the other rods and their are machine marks / stress risers inside the rod where Arrow did their "mods". Another rod is cracked right along the stress riser.
Arrow gets all this and says, yes our rods failed. However, this is a race motor and there is no warranty. We feel bad because our rods caused this, so we will give you two new rods and pistons! What the hell? They think giving me two more crappy rods is fair given the parts that they made and recommended I use failed due to their mistake and cost me an entire motor. Out the $13,000 I paid them and now I need a block, crank, rods, pistons, cam, heads......plus assembly.
I went all the way up the chain of management there and that was their response: too bad, no warranty.
That was my experience. Hence, I would say use them at your own risk. I did get Kevin's name from other racers who had similar experiences with Arrow when I was checking around to see if anyone had some pull with Arrow to help me out with this. Others had similar experiences as well.
Kevin just finished my new motor and he is great to work with.
Good luck and enjoy the motor when you get it.
Best regards,
Mike
Fast Viper Dan
Enthusiast
Mike at Viper Days next week?
WCKDVPR
Viper Owner
Mike who got the car together last night and just finished signing up for the Angen Event on this Friday, that Mike. Can't stay for the weekend, but I will be getting back to the track...finally.
See you there!
See you there!
Paul Hawker
Enthusiast
Agree with Exotic engines for racing engines. Been to their shop several times and they are the real deal. They build specifically for your own application. Drag race engines put together quite differently than Road Racing or Endurance engines.
Other tuners can also be great to work with, but for all out racing Exotic has their act together.
Other tuners can also be great to work with, but for all out racing Exotic has their act together.
ACPERFORMANCE
Viper Owner
Exotic Engines again. Kevin is meticulous, if you want to get what you pay for, he is a gaurantee.
I know Kevin very well so I am partial, and wouldnt have anybody else build my motors.
You can eat off the floors in his shop, he's reliable, honest, and has a history with Viper motors. Very sharp guy
Todd
I know Kevin very well so I am partial, and wouldnt have anybody else build my motors.
You can eat off the floors in his shop, he's reliable, honest, and has a history with Viper motors. Very sharp guy
Todd
update on progress - to mikes & pallos'CPE' recommendation I have talked to Mitech and Exotic. I am leaning towards exotic. currently waiting on the final price quote. both can build a v10 to suite any application. here is the contact info for both shops.
Exotic Engine Development
Temecula, CA
Phone: 951-545-8223
Mitech Racing Engines
Placentia, CA
Phone: 714-572-3672
Exotic Engine Development
Temecula, CA
Phone: 951-545-8223
Mitech Racing Engines
Placentia, CA
Phone: 714-572-3672
REDSLED
Enthusiast
Yep, Kevin builds my racing motors.
I can recommend him 100%
