H22a With Forged Pistons W/o Resleaving

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

The reason why im posting this is because i heard that you cant use forged pistons in the H22A block without resleaving the block.

Well ive did some research as to why this is so. The H22A use a extra tough Nikasil (nickel ceramic) lining in all the cylinders for better reliabilty (BMW, Porshe, Mercedes and other manufacturers have used this process for decades).

The problem when using aftermarket forged pistons in these blocks (including the European maunfacturers which have ran into the same problem) is the rings and not the pistons themselves (i think). Most uses a chrome plating on the rings (which causes excessive wear on the Nikasil which causes the cylinder to lose compression and other nasty things).

They are aftermarket forged piston manufacturers that use Nikasil friendly rings. Wiseco is one, but they do not stock pistons for the H22A (have to be fully custom).

Either that or use JE's and get the Nikasil friendly rings from them or another manufacturer or use the OEM rings (i dont know if that is possible).

Hope this helps anyone planning to boost an H22A. Anyone with more input to offer please do so as i am not completly sure about the piston thing because im not sure if the forged piston itself will actually wear out the Nikasil coating. Turbo Porche's have solved the same problem so I think that some of the things could apply to the H22A as well.

Although i hear about the piston coming in contact with cylinder wall, im not sure if this would be an issue with the forged piston in the Nikasil coated H22A. Im doing some more research and will do post it here as soon as I learn anything new.
 
i know u have to check heat tolerances and expansion with different metals but I would say talk to a certified honda motor tech usually some crazy old guy (Hey some day that will be alot of us) any way the only one I know personaly is in MN Allan Murry, :huh: Murry Motorsports.
 
i have forged pistons in my h22a1 and my block isnt sleeved.....i am using wiseco 8.8:1 forged pistons (not custom made..straight off the shelf) i have had these pistons in my car since august of 2002....just under 12000 miles now..so with that said, what do you guys think
 
yaeh d98clturbo, i read on Wiseco's website that thier forged pistons and rings are Nikasil friendly but i didnt see a set for the H22A. Did you do some research or did you just choose them (if so you're one lucky MF :worthy: )?

Now to find a set of 85mm Wiseco's with rings for my car :( .
 
What kind of setup are you running on the engine? I mean setup up wise (turbo, NA, NOS) and what other internal mods do you have? If you are running forced induction, what kind of boost and from what source (turbo or supercharger). And what was your last ET or dyno result?

Thanks abunch if you can answer those questions for me :thumbsup: :worthy:
 
i had greddy kit on a prelude it ran good then the kid turned up the boost w/ 110 octane...needless to say he ate a cylinder (damn greddy blue box) ...anyway, i ve been doing alot of research on the h22 thing....the problem is not the nikasil, the problem is the material that the sleeves are made out of...its called FRM or fiber reinforced metal...its a combo of carbon fiber and aluminumn...its right in the Helms manual as for me...i'm very much contemplating doing forged w/o resleeving. i've heard some nasty stuff.
weisco is forged and so is JE and if you look on the JE site it say resleeving is required for the H22
also the rings are half the problem the forged vs. FRM contact is the other.... i've also heard of that being overcome by coating the pistons in iron.
 
Back
Top