The oem oversize pistons are 75.25mm and have same compression ratio as the oem 75mm pistons. If the piston skirts and cylinder walls are scratched like they normally are in the 954 the cheapest option would probably to check some reputable shop whit good equipment can they recondition the oem pistons and get the the stock bore welded if it needs it and then plated. That way only new parts needed would be the ones that are out of spec+ new seals, gaskets, bolts, probably new piston rings etc. I wouldn't see any real benefits on the oem 75.25 pistons.

 

I was wondering if the stock pistons can be repaired and if the cylinder walls can be kept stock sizes. I will check with my local machine shop and see what they say. But I want to get the thing running and then determine my next move.

 

Even if the cylinders are badly scratched they can be welded and then plated. U.S. Chrome offers allso some kind of piston skirt coating so they can probably repair the pistons allso and that way if you send the pistons whit the casing you will get right cylinder wall to piston clearence in every cylinder. They will probably repair the pistons, measure them and machine the cylinders to fit each pistons and mark them if the piston size varies a lot.

http://www.usnicom.com/plating/pistonCoatings

 

I will give them a call tomorrow and see if they can help me save some money. I am not looking for high performance just reliability and to actually get out and ride.

 

I looked at their price sheet and it still looks like it will be around $850 for the welding, plating, honing, and piston coating. But like I said I am going to give them a call tomorrow and see if they can give me an estimate without actually seeing the case and pistons. That still saves me close to $400 and not having to buy new pistons. Plus they say the coatings on the pistons make the engine last longer and wear better and should do away with the scarring in the future. I also think they said it does improve performance as well so that seems like a winner to me.

 

I actually got my piston skirts coated whit tech lines coating. It feels very slick compared to the machined surface that they came whit from Wiseco. In my opinnion the coating should reduce friction, heat and whit it you can run tighter piston to cylinder wall clearence whits equals more power. Even if you use oem piston whit the piston skirt coating and the nicasil plating in the cylinder walls you can run much tighter clearence so it should make little more power then stock. Add to that a good port and valve seat job on the head and good exhaust and you should be making about 155-160 rwhp. The crank i would allso get polished and rebalanced. I don't know how much the 954RR counterweights have weight difference but GSX-R 1000 counterweights have been balanced to 5 grams of each other. Machine shop whit normal equipment to balance the crank can normally balance them to 1 gram or whit very good equipment even less.

 

I just got off the phone with them and I am really happy with the info and the price. He said there is probably not a need to do any welding or honing to the cylinders since I am still in spec for the piston to wall clearance. So he said I will need to have it re plated and do the piston skirt coating. If that is all I need then I am also going to go with the thermal coating on the piston dome as well. If I do have to have welding or honing that will be another $200 and I may decide against the thermal coating. So my estimate was high and they can possibly do the work for $609, $709 with the thermal coating. And if the block needs welding or honing then it would be an additional $200 to those prices. That saves me anywhere from $600 -$400 dollars. Thank you Mika for the info and saving me money, I definitely appreciate it.

 

I think that the thermal coating isn't very usefull on a bike whit that compression. It just keeps the bike little cooler but the 954RR doesn't have any overheating issues even little modified so i would put that money on something ellse. For me it could have been usefull because i'm running 13.5:1 compression ratio. The thermal coating just would have been a lot pricier here in Finland. Little under 200€ if i remember correct.

Are you trying to get any more power out of it? What are the other mods?

You're welcome for the info!

 

I researched the thermal coating after the last post and what you said is correct, it is mostly used for race engines or diesel engines that get really hot. I will be using the engine ice coolant and that will lower temps by up to 50 degrees. It worked real well on my 09 ninja 250 and 03 600rr when I had those bikes.

I am not really going for power since this will be my first liter bike. I am going more for a reliable bike that I don't have to work on constantly. Most of the mods I will be doing is for looks and not necessarily power. I currently have a k&n air filter, pair mod, and a d&d slip-on with 8 inches cut off the back. I am going to make an under belly exhaust for the bike which will make the bike slightly louder but will do away with the big hunk of metal on the side. My 03 600rr spoiled me and I like the exhaust to be out of the way.

I might put the money your advice is going to save me towards new fairings and a tank respray to match the new fairings. The previous owner got cheapo Chinese fairings and they look like poop and are flimsy as hell. Plus the tabs are glued on and most of them have broken off. I am also having the frame, sub frame, swing arm, case covers, upper and lower triple tree, rear sets, and passenger pegs and bracket powder coated. I am still debating on if I should go flat black or gloss black. By the way I am either going white repsol, white moto gp (like t4rusaf), or either oem titanium or titanium moto gp fairings.

 

I would get the head ported and a good valve job while you have the head of. And good aftermarket headers whit the exhaust you are planning. And maybe dec the head or see if anybode sells a thinner headgasket to the 954. 12.0:1 or little more should be ok whitout lot of extra heat. These shouldn't affect reliability off the bike and give decent gains to all rpms so you won't get bored whit it in the start and you will be pretty much on the same line whit never 1000cc bikes. When you buy a new bike whit more power at first you will get the "wow" effect out of it but pretty quick you will get use to it and then you will wan't more power