5kT perf. engine rebuild

[Ken Keith]

I think pistons are available somewhere, if you dig far enough.  I 
know Eurospec used to offer different setups.  A company called 
Eurorace in Huntington Beach, CA also had such things.

You can get pistons from http://www.tttuning.com/
I once got a quote from them for a set of 5 Mahle pistons, iirc.

Or, http://www.tsr-performance.com/

On the timing question, look into that device that was recently 
mentioned on the list, the J&S Safeguard.  Apparently it retards 
timing prior to knock, and protects the motor.

Their website address is:

http://safeguard.bizland.com/index.html

Good luck,

Ken

p.s.  If your motor is a KH, then aren't your pistons already smaller 
than MC or later MC dual knock style pistons?  Perhaps you don't 
have to go "oversize" for Audi, but get bigger stock ones?

Ameer Antar <ameer at snet.net>
Subject:        	5kT perf. engine rebuild

> So, my engine finally blew up. It was actually the hose to the heater 
> valve, not the valve itself that broke. The engine overheated and when I 
> poured water into the tank, I heard a scary thud from the engine. The next 
> day, I looked into the hole and it was flooded w/ water. So is it likely 
> the head is cracked, or could it be a blown gasket? Should I get a new head 
> or can cracks be fixed?
> 
> Compression tests showed the rings were in OK shape. Should I overbore? If 
> so, I was told by Rod at TPC that oversize pistons can only be ordered 
> through the dealer. In that case, it'll be cheaper to have them custom 
> made. You can get forged ones for $120 a piston. Forged pistons would be 
> nice anyway as I'd like to warm up the engine a little more. My KH  engine 
> has a few limitations in it b/c of the control system. The ECU is not 
> programmable, so I'm stuck w/ it, unless I convert the whole engine bay 
> over to '86-'88 5kT design. This means, my boost is limited to .4 bar, 
> unless I use an aquarium valve, which I don't wanna do. I'd like to 
> actually increase the compression a little, which would affect the 
> performance throughout all ranges, not just at top end using higher boost. 
> I have a ratio of 8.3:1 right now. How much could I get just from skimming 
> the head? I could have the pistons machined w/ a smaller dish. Would a 
> ratio of 8.6:1 be reasonably safe? Since my ECU can't be programmed, I was 
> thinking of just retarding timing a few degrees. Can I do this just by 
> turning the dist.? Please recommend any other good mods, that will warm 
> things up a little. Thanks for the tips...
> 
>