Which pistons ?

[J.D.B.]

Hi, i am rebuilding a 4A-GE bleutop.
I saw some pistons for sale on ebay.
Are these reliable to use in a stock engine ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85-87-TOY...2ea214156a

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/86-87-TOY...5188901177

[totta Crolla]

for a stock engine just use standard Toyota pistons.

[Ivan141]

And pay 10 times as much.... I think the question deserves a better answer than that. I have a box of these myself, but they only have usdm low and high compression, not the european 10.1 stuff. Haven't used them yet so cant comment on durability.

[allencr]

Why do they have 2 different listings & prices for the same part #10-659?
I don't know anything about the manufacturer, but I don't think that any Chinese, PI, Korean or Taiwanese counterfeiter is going to bother making knockoffs for the small number of 4AGE's that were produced.

[Dmc12]

J.D.B. Wrote:Hi, i am rebuilding a 4A-GE bleutop.
I saw some pistons for sale on ebay.
Are these reliable to use in a stock engine ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/85-87-TOY...2ea214156a

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/86-87-TOY...5188901177

These two listings are for ring sets only.....!?

if they are piston and ring sets that 17euro each

[Uzelac]

Nope, you get 4 pistons + set of rings for that price.

I remember those pistons three years ago when i looked for pistons for my 4AGE.
Didn't have the courage to buy them, went with Wisecos for ~350$.

If they are around that long, someone must know something about them.
I believe they should be OK for stock engine.

Regards

[totta Crolla]

pistons are probably the weakest part of the 4age and when they go it is usually the ringland and when that goes the bore gets scored. Re-bore or replacement block is the only answer. Personally I would not take that risk. The price is good, agreed, but are these pistons likely to be as strong as the originals ?

[Ivan141]

I think calling the original pistons strong is somewhat of a stretch considering the amount of broken ringlands I've seen. I'm prepared to risk it. If I have to spend 400+ euro's on a set of pistons I might as well save up for some engine that will perform better out of the box.
It should be obvious that 40 dollar pistons are not the best choice for a performance build.

[totta Crolla]

and given that the stock pistons are probably only just up to the task....... The problem appears to be in the design rather than the quality of materials used. All the broken pistons I have seen have let go in the slotted area behind the rings. Performance pistons have holes rather than slots making them stronger in this area. If the ebay pistons are slotted they could be a weak design and made with inferior materials.

[NoHachi]

Yeah, but now we're deep into "could/maybe/should" country.
"Weak design" is also relative. Stock pistons seem to hold out fine for 200.000km's or so. If the new design is 50% less durable, then its more then enough for the use that most AE86s will see in the rest of their lifetime.