hopefully an easy question for someone out there.

this is my first turbo(T3/T4) so i need a little advice.

i have a b16a, just about everything has been upgraded (fuel, spark, blah, blah). in other words its ready for a turbo. i'm pulling the tranny and head off for a little work and i figure this is a prime time to do something to the bottom end. however with all this talk running around about stroking, overboring, forged/ high compression pistons, stock compression vs. low copression. i'm comfused as to what i really NEED to do.

i'm not building an all out racing engine just something more.
i want to be able to run the engine on 91 oct. if i can't oh well.
what kind of compression should i have?
to get that compression is it a combination of both the turbo piston and head gasket?
is a brand new stock piston just as beneficial as an aluminum?


please straighten this confusion out
thanks

 

should i use a stock head gasket with turbo pistons?

i've heard overboring isn't really necessary.

 

Yes, use a stock headgasket with some lower compression pistons.

Overboring doesn't make as much of a difference as you think. The money could be spent elsewhere.

 

yes thank you.
is there a certain compression ratio to shoot for.
i was also going to have the block honed and balanced.
is there anything else that would be a good idea to get done to it?

 

If you have the money, I would recommend a sleeve job as well. It isn't required but will be safe for a lot of boost. 8.5-9.0:1 is an optimal compression ratio.

 

if your going to go through the work of putting in new pistons i would def do a hone job on it just the clean up the cylinder walls...if you planned on running high boost having the rotating asembly balanced wouldnt be a bad idea. and as schmoo said if u have the money a sleeve job...it allows for alot more boost down the road

 

thats good info.

would balancing the rotating assemblies on a turbo engine be a bad idea because to keep the turbo spooling the engine needs stay rotating at high RPM's?? so would a lightened flywheel be a bad idea? if so i still have my stock one.

 

No, a balanced rotating assembly will put much less strain on the bearings, so it will be a good thing, boosted or not. I have a 9lb flywheel in my boosted car and it really doesn't affect turbo spool as much as people are led to think. I can get on the throttle faster, so the rev range the turbo is effective in comes much quicker.