The shift kit helps with KR mainly because it quiets down the transmission with a faster shift.

Ya, Bill holds the record for the worst chipped piston ever.

Interesting...

I thought the knock sensor only listened on specific frequencies and wouldn't detect just anything. Has it been tested and proven that a shift kit will reduce KR at the shift point?

LOL Agreed... thats brutal bill.... but i admit... i laughed at the pic of the pan with pieces in it and the comment on the "chipped" piston... maybe sliced and diced piston?

On the other side.... Dan did that happen to THE SSEI or another that your doing??? dont make me cry :P

I went from 7* to about 3* with a shift kit. I can't say for sure the shift kit dropped it but it is the only change I made. You can get KR just by tapping a hammer on the block. A noise transmission can set off false KR, as can exhaust touching the body of the car. Even a bad motor mount can set off KR.

Not my engine. This is a engine that landed in my lap.

So what'* the difference in the end result between the shift kit sold in the for sale section and tuning the PCM for quicker shifts via the PCS?

A shift kit reduces the time it takes for a shift by shortening the stroke of the piston. Think of the piston as a shock absorber, The fluid comes in and build pressure as the piston moves until it gets to the end of it'* travel, at that time the line pressure has fully engaged the shift band and it'* in gear. Shorten that time and the band engages that much faster. Upping the line pressure just adds a little more to it.

Marked my connecting rod and cap to prevent mixing them up.


I then removed the chipped piston and put a good one on the connecting rod. Then got it ready to install.


Torqued to 20 foot pounds.


Plus 50*


There we go, 6 good pistons.

Whenever having a failure in the 3800'*, it has been found as a best practice to have the block sent to a machine shop and align bored, then all bearings resized. Dan was lucky in this aspect, we had talked about it and his best route was to replace only the piston, not the rod or bearing. Most guys that try to "fix" a motor w/o a machine shop end up with about 200-400 miles before the bearing goes bad on the replaced cylinder. Since he'* reusing the same bearing in the same direction and postion, his chances are higher than someone that replaced the bearing.

He also checked over the cylinder walls for any scratches or imperfections caused by the chipped pistons. Those would have caused the motor be in need to be bored in the cylinders.

One other thing to mention is the bolts are Torque To Yield, meaning they stretch the first time they are used and are engineered to be throw away bolts. Reusing them is not advised as they won't have the same torque upon reuse.

Looking good Dan, how soon til it'* a complete motor again?

Another thing to keep in mind is never touch the bearing surface with your bare fingers. The oils on your skin will react with the metal and etch it.