So at what point should you really think about doing work to the engines internals?? Im thinkin about making the jump to either a BR500 or BR580. Do I need headwork for that or no? I want my engine to last so its more of a saftey thing then a power thing. What do you guys think?

 

I would not go over 420 without changing the pistons and rods - after that you can do up to 700 if you avoid detonation

 

it depends on the amount of money and the type of mod you have made so far, there are a group of guys in florida, one's a service writer for a mitsu dealer and the other owns a performance shop next door to the dealer and each has an evo. they were running full exhaust & intake piping, bigger turbo and customer manifold, complete stand alone engine managment, build head with cams and such, and a slew of other mods that i can only dream about where im at. but the whole time they had the factory short block with the exception of rod, main and head bolts. surprisingly the block held for a long time, they even had the cars shipped to new york and dyno tuned and the writer's evo was making over 750hp to the wheels, but sadly a month after they dyno'ed, they were driving arround town in it, retuning for another mod they made and accidently lean cyl 3. it wasnt pretty. the piston fused to the block and the rod went threw the piston, but there is a happy ending, they purchased a 2.4l stroker kit and was due to arrive in a few weeks. so alls good. but back on subject the factory internals can hold between 400-500 hp with just upgraded rod, main, and head bolts.

 

How much work is involved with Pistons & Rods...Is there anything that goes along with them? What kind would you recommend?

 

What do you mean upgraded main?

 

upgrade the rod bolts, main cap bolts and the head bolts

 

I was runing 532 awhp on the stock bottom end with arp rod bolts reving it to 8200rpm for about 10,000miles with no problems. But i say anything over about 450 and your pushing your luck.

 

i agree with him, oh and the guys from florida had these things spinning up to about 9200rpms. makes a person cower down when you hear something twisted that tight. but cower in a good way

 

APR is the bolt to go with?

 

What guys in Florida are we talking about here?

 

BTW guys - Head studs are a good idea - but seriously I have not seen any incidence of the stock rod bolts going

In fact the piston seems like the real weak link

 

What pistons would you recommend?

 

these guys i believe are from daytona. and i think the sevice writer i think works at daytona mitsubishi. but dont quote me on that i could be wrong

 

I ahve heard of plenty with 550whp on stock bottom end and stock block with no problems at all.

 

I would do rod bolts if I were planning on really pushing the revs. I would do the head before I did rod bolts. I think the mains are perfectly fine at the 400-500hp level as I have not heard of anyone having an engine failure due to the mains stretching.