Thread: Starting thy glorious vvl project

Im starting my vvl project today, i have a sr16ve block gotten a N1 head 2.0 rods and crank in 2 weeks time. i was originally thinking of doing a 2.3 build but im not sure now im thinking the money will be better spent on a freak header and n1 intake manifold and plenum. but the thing im most stuck on is the pistons, what will work best for this setup sr16ve, sr20ve or N1 pistons??

thanks in advance for any input

Changing your mind from 2.3 already! If i go with itb's ill have an N1 intake for sale...

Damo the sr20ve pistons would be the easiest option. You can go with sr16ve which you already have but you need to have them skimmed 1mm if im correct.

sr20ve ones will give around 11.6ish i think if you have a genuine n1 head

Almost! Andreas worked it out for me that it would be about 11.8, thats allowing 1.5 for the diff in heads.

It is a genuine N1 head so is 1mm shaved in comparison

^^ sounds about right

11.8 is plenty of compression for a street motor imo. The 2.3 liter motor, it seems, is not that hard to build these days. You will, however, have to put in more money and time. If you think you need a little more bump in compression I thought that SR20VE 20V pistons were a good intermediate option (between 20ve and 16ve) but that is based on memory not for sure. I would like to run another VE some day but its mostly just casual research at this point.

Sounds good, what's the car gonna be used for? If it's all out power or drag racing the 2.3 will be a good build. But I'd keep it 2.0 for constant high RPM's while at the track...don't know what a 2.3 would be like at 9krpm?

gonna stick with the 2.0, the 2.3 is going to work out a bit expensive. id rather have the money for decent exhaust header and intake. and handling bits for when i get a car to put it into

have a few more bits now, thanks to POC. still struggling to understand what pistons will work best, i can get whatever will work best have 16ve and n1 here and sr20ve can be ordered i just dont understand anything about the compression

16ve pistons. Just shave their tops a bit and have the valve reliefs cut 1mm deeper. This will bring your compression back down to somewhere in the 12's. Throw in a 1.1mm MLS head gasket as well. Remember to notch the piston skirts else they will destroy your oil squirters / piston coolers with the 2.0 stroke.