So what are my options besides pulling the whole motor and replacing all the pistons...

 

Sorry for the noob engine question, but what's wrong? I've never seen the insides of an engine up close, so I don't know what it's SUPPOSED to look like.

 

Look at the first pic. There is a chuck out of the piston.

Curious, where did that chuck go? I wonder what the walls of the cylinder look like.

 

Hard to tell what the cyls look like from here. Depending how many miles it has on it, I'd either make sure no more can chip off or replace that piston and replace all the rings. Maybe look for a used one.

 

5.0 Swap. Nuff said.

 

I think for now I'm just gonna get the head redone, file down the sharp sides of that chip and call it a day. Found a remanufatured motor for 1500 at a salvage. Just curious how hard is it to throw a 4.0 in there? The engines are the same price. What all do I have to change?

 

I'm pretty sure the guy I bought it from knew about all this crap....had his mechanic throw a new gasket on there and then he sold it to me.

 

being that you are in Cali i would just throw in another 2.5 and call it a day to much crap with smog and dmv to make it worth it

 

Not if you know the SMOG dude.

 

Yikes. When did you notice this?

 

Get a used engine OR for the price of a "new to you" engine you could take the engine to a shop and have that piston worked on or that cylinder sleeved. The engine machinist would make that call. So, either way...


GB :)

 

You don't need a new engine. Replace the piston and rings. All you need is a top end rebuild. You already have it half way apart. Why replace it?

Or use this as an excuse to swap in a 4.0 or a 5.0. Depends on how involved you want to get.

I'm just waiting for mine to die so I can :))))

 

If I pull the motor I'm gonna want to put something bigger in there. What I ended up doing was smoothing the sharp edges of the chip in that piston and I had the head rebuilt. Hopefully that will last me till my next grant comes and I will get something Beefier.

 

just drop in some forged pistons and rods out of a turbocoupe. THen you can turbo it and make waaaay moar power than a 4.0 or 5.0 for cheaper.

And 1500 for a 2.3 lima is outrageous. complete motors should be 300-500 for everything.

 

Where would I find the pistons and rods? it is a 2.5.

 

Oh dam, well with the 2.5 you'd need to order new pistons and rods. However, you can swap in the 2.3 crank from a small journal and run stock t/c pistons and rods. To get them, check turboford or turbofordranger. You can get them for like, $100. You can keep it as is until you can turbo it later on down the road. But you can piece the turbo kit for $1000 or so and have a mild build.

 

@Chris. You need to take 1997 out of your signature. It's a little confusing to people who didn't see your other thread. You have a 98, I don't care what your paper work says. No pre-98s came with IFS so you aren't a 97. The pre-98s were Twin I-beam front suspension.

 

Forgot to do that yesterday.

 

Much better!! Welcome to the 4th gen club.....which you were already a part of....you just didn't know it LOL.

 

How is the compression for that cyl? If it's not low as hell i would just drive on.

 

I dunoo but I am tapped out on money at this point having the head rebuilt so back together it goes.

 

So how did you come about finding this? Why was the head removed in the first place?

 

I removed the head because after I changed the timing belt and water pump there was a really loud clicking noise that I knew to be the sound of a valve knocking.....I.e. Time for a rebuild. THen I found the crack in the piston and the machine shop found the crack in the head. YAY!