Shopping list for forged internals: What's what & who's who

[bvysochin]

Hi guys..

Shopping for internals for a 96 bone stock cobra we picked up 2 weeks ago.. It's got 145k on it and I think is ready for a rebuild. It makes no tapping/knocking whatsoever, but I think there was oil in the coolant last time I checked. It felt a little down on power also. I've driven it twice since we've had it, so I can't really say much and haven't had a chance to really take a hard look at it and diagnose it. But we have a kennebell we picked up last week sitting in our living room and I REALLY want to put it to use so I'd like to get the motor prepared. Not really sure where to start with getting internals, so many different brands/products out there.. Not really looking to spend too much (who is), but still want to get a great bang for the buck. This motor is just going to have a kennebell on it, with possibly a little nitrous in the long run.. So power should be around 400-500 with the blower, and a bit more with the nitrous.

So what are the good brands/good setups? What do I need to have a pretty solid setup? If you guys could give me brand names/prices/reviews sorta, I would really appreciate it..

Forged pistons/rods? Brands, prices? Advantages?
Rings? Brands, prices, included with above?
Bearings? Brands, prices?
New oil pump? Brands, prices?

What kind of machine work do I need to get done? (I know this an open ended question that varies greatly from motor to motor, but what are typical procedures?)

Block .030 over? Clean it all up? Rebalance and polish the crank?

Just trying to get a plan or a list of what I need, so I can start browsing parts forums, etc and jump on deals when I see them. If I can start accumulating the right parts, I think that's a step in the right direction.

Thanks guys!

 

[Ciotti]

The New Edge forum is your friend :burnout:

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181225

 

[StealthCobra]

Diamond and Probe and CP all make excellent pistons. I put Diamond pistons and rings in mine. The rings are stainless which I recommend. Pistons were ~600-650 and the rings were ~150-200. Rods I got are Manley H beams with ARP 2k bolts. Those ran ~500.
I think most people run the stock oil pump. Many people upgrade to the billet oil pump gears, but I decided not to as my builder said he had never once seen the stock ones go.
Its hard to say what all kind of machine work needs to be done until its all broken down and you can take a look at it. Personally, I had my heads gone through and decked.
The block was honed, squared and balanced.
Crank was polished.
Also need to factor in all new seals/gaskets, new fluids, tuning?
ARP head studs are also a good idea.
Are you planning on putting together the motor yourself?

Hope that helps at all.

 

[bvysochin]

VERY helpful. Thank you guys.

That link was awesome Ciotti, I searched before I posted, but I only searched within the sn95 cobras. Good material, about to read through it all.

Stealth thank you for the response, yeah, I'm planning to put it together myself.

What are the differences among all the different brands of pistons? They're all forged and etc, right? What makes one better than the other?

I constantly browse through forums and see whats on sale.. a lot of times I have hesitated on jumping on parts because I don't really know what I'm buying. But this way, if I can get an idea of whats good, I will jump on the next hot deal.

Thx guys.

 

[Quadcammer]

i would not rank probe pistons in the same category as CP or diamond.

Those two would be my favorites, followed by Manley, JE, and Ross.

after that you get to probe, Mahle 4032, and below that its like speedpro and that junk.