Bad Conrod Bearings and Stokers

[WidebodySilvia00]

Bros,

I'm located in Asia and own an S-15 Spec R. I've got what is very likely a bad ConRod bearing and need to remove the engine to fix it.

While the engine is out, do you think I should get a stroker kit put in now? If I get a kit, what kits are good? So far what I've found that are available to me are the JUN, TOMEI kits which will bump displacement up to about 2.2L or so, but they're pretty pricey. Any other suggestions for kits that are easily available in Asia?

If I don't get the stroker, what parts of the top/bottom end of the engine do you suggest I do when the engine is out of the car?

Bearing in mind that my intermediate goal for the car is 450hp by end '08. I might even want to try for 600hp to go racing in a couple of years.

I'm running the stock turbo now and will upgrade in the near future.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Neil]

_A_ bad con-rod bearing? not all of them? I'm surprised an 8 year old motor needs rod bearings already. does the car have nearly 200,000 miles? My S13SR needed rod bearings a year after I imported it but there's no telling actually how many miles are on the thing. I replaced the rod (.07" out of tolerance) and main bearings and it doesnt sound like a rattling can of spraypaint anymore.

You don't NEED to remove the engine to replace conrod bearings, you can replace them from underneath the car but it's about 3/4 the pain as removing the engine to do it, and removing the engine affords you the opportunity to clean the engine and do anything else you'd want to do easier.

I say a stroker kit is too much money for a little extra displacement when you can get near 450 with pistons, GT3071R/header, cams, and good tuning. probably more with a different turbo.

If you pull the motor and want to secure a high hp future, get Crower rods, CP pistons, Clevite journal & crank bearings (bc rods come with clevlites) and ARP hardware to rebuild the bottom end with. that should be about half the cost of a stroker kit.

[WidebodySilvia00]

Well I guess I should have said I have bad conrod bearings, not just one of them probably all of them. I've been down to 3 local reputable tuners and all of them have said that they would recommend pulling the engine to work on it, after all, labor is not that expensive here and its not going to cost an extravagant amount to pull the engine.

Yeah what you've said about the stroker kit is exactly what I've read on all the searches, that a stroker is not really a cost effective opinion for SR20s. Back when I was in the US, I used to own a '99 vette with a 408 stroker, definately not the same beast as a turbo SR20, I guess I have a lot to learn about this engine.

With all the rod/piston/bearing mods that you mentioned above, what kind of hp do you think the bottom end will be good till, 600?

[Neil]

not really sure what the limit is with those parts. you'll probably have to research them individually.

I can only imagine that 600hp would be either undrivably fast or such that by the time you get up the power you've run out of road to use it.

Racing is about having a well balanced car. which means if youre going to be running circuits where you can actually use 600hp, you'd better have some well engineered aerodynamics, a highly tuned and corner balanced suspension setup, very wide tires and 12" brake setup in which case you would probably benefit from dual wilwood bmc's for adjustable bias. not to mention full roll cage, chassis stitch welding, custom wiring harness, all accessories removed.. etc.

If you just want to do time attacks or run friendly cups on a ~2-mile course... in my opinion 300hp, skyline brakes, and a stiff spring/strut combo or street coilovers would be more than adequate. most of those guys run basically stock porsches. cuz power isnt really the name of the game on a road course..