piston selection help

My dad gave me a bit of a reality shock. This shit is going to cost some money, money that I dont really have. I found a rebuilt motor in the cities for $800 which is too much, but I would have payed it so I didnt have to go through the redtape of rebuilding. He had no recipts, no names of rebuilders, and no compression test so I said no. Well, now I have to rebuild my current engine. I was going to get the cheapest 8.5:1 pistons I could. Well, I can get OEM replacements for half of that. I am shooting for like 425. I know what compression ratio does for the performance, my question is how much of a difference does it make? I am thinking I am going to be able to get it out after probably 2 more days of working on it. My parents have no faith in my mechanical abilities despite getting the car running on the first try before it his the streets. I think I am going to rip it apart and see whats going on. I need to read a few good articles on rebuilding and I am going to tackle it "in the closet." It shouldnt cost too much money, especially if I do the assembly. Yes, I know I need to check clearances and that I need to read a lot more. Anyone thats built their own engines want to toss in the two cents?

Rebuilding a motor will add up quicker than you expect it to once you start getting into all the little shit like gaskets and such... If you are limited on cash then maybe you should just do the 1g rod 2g piston combo and that'll raise your compression some and still be relatively cheap. But then again it could end up costing just as much as aftermarket pistons would because of the machine work needed done on the 1g rods to make the 2g pistons work... Not real sure what you should do there. As far as the rebuild, I honestly think that any of us that know every component to the engine and what it does can rebuild a motor... BUT, most of us lack the experience needed to do it. I guess theres a certain finess (sp?) to putting a motor together properly. I'm sure theres all sorts of little secrets and things to do differently on each kind of motor. The worst that could happen is that something goes wrong on your motor and it has to be rebuilt again. At least you would learn from it then if that happens... I would love to rebuild my motor myself too, but I just have too much money into all these parts to trust myself in doing it 100% right the first time. :2cents:

You had rod knock right? Why dont you just replace the bearings and it will cost you all of $100 probably less

Dont think a rod/the crank are junk?

Measure it and find out. Cranks can always be turned to.

Thor, pull the pan and check the rods and crank. If they aren't scored (scratched and gouged), measure them like Scott said, and you most likely will be able to put in some new bearings and be on your way. Otherwise if the crank is gouged, it'll need to be turned like Scott said and if the rods are fucked, you'll need a different set of rods at the minimum (rods can't be ground, or our rods anyways). Just my $.02.