I have a 88.5 Samurai that i bought 3 months back. It smoked like a junkie from day one. I thought the rings were just straight up shot, so i was putting lucas in till i could find a new engine and putting thick oil in her. Well i must of used to much oil , i upshifted to 3rd and pop , instant rod knock. It got me home maxin at 25 ( people on the highway were pisssssed lol). Anyway i found a block , Seems to be in good mechanical shape but it smokes off and on. This guy seems like a genuinly honest man , its only 75 its not like he tryin to get rich. He straight up told me im almost sure it is the rings,his old carb would dumb fuel on them running extremely rich , it could have been my valves or valve seals. He recommended i buy new rings , drop it at a machine shop have it honed , new rings installed , and get my head rebuilt , he has a guy that will do it for 250. So thats what im doing. I bought a set of NPR made in japan Flattop pistons and NPR rings for 103$ im waiting on. Not having it bored or anything. Im not sure if it needs it but i want it done right so im having my whole head done everything. I have a new feel-pro gasket set i paid 40 for it. All new NAPA T-BELT water pump belts and hoses. Im gonna put it together its costing me about 450 for basically a new engine. How many of you think it will work? it has no problems with the bearings rods crank and what not.im using my pan and a HD carb setup i got the hardware for 100$ and carb for nothing my dad loves harleys. Im using a Honda style intake setup with a 2inch exhaust , i think 2 1/4 is to big for the 1.3 . Its straightback to a very quite but very open flowmaster muffler pacesetter header so itll breath good. Im thinking with the flattop pistons and this setup it should make 85-90 hp from the almost 70 stock. if i make 75 to the tire get 25-30 mpg and it runs strong ill be one happy man.happy trails.

You should be able to have someone check the block before you store working on it, just to make sure.  It should be a fun little rig though once your done with it.

 Thanks. Yes im havin the whole thing looked at , ive decided on some other things since i made that post. Im havin the whole he re-built from the bottom up. Im takin the block in to the machine shop , i want him to measure out the bore of all 4 cylinders. Im hoping they come back good , if they do im ordering standard flattop pistons. He will also look at the rod bearings and main bearings ,hopefully they come back good , if not ill replace them. that should give me basically a rebuilt engine. Does anyone know how much extra hp flattop pistons give you over oem? I know they have like 68hp stock, after i know my engine is good and new though ill save some money and im going to buy the euro style manual choke weber carb,JDM style intake,Pacesetter header which i have already and a 2 .25 inch exhaust with a straight through cat which is already on to a straight through but quite flowmaster muffler, i used a univ highflow cat.  How much hp will that setup net? im not to concerned i mean its a sammy im more into a solid running sammy , but hp is nice to have. Im thinkin New engine,Weber carb,JDM style intake,Header,High flw cat,exhaust,flattop pistons , im thinking about 85-90 crank hp. Let me know your opion. im going off the carb and intake would bring it to 75, header about 80, the highflow cat,exhaust and pistons , 85-90hp. I was going to use the HD carb setup , i just dont want to spend anywhere from 340-400 on a carbsetup.

It's going to be hard to squeeze that much performance from the engine, if your looking to get 90 hp your asking for almost a 40% boost from stock.  Sure it's possible, but that is still a pretty big jump.  Sammy Pro is a pretty good guy to chat about numbers over at http://www.sammypro.com.

Never buy rings until the machine shop has started working on your block.

You say you want it done right.

On an engine that smokes, if the rings are worn, the block is also worn, best case scenario, you will be at the max piston/wall clearance and honing it will put you over - even with new pistons.  Plan on a rebore, have the block miked to determine how much of a rebore.

Do NOT, for one second consider reusing the bearings, fit new ones, have the crank miked to determine if it needs to be cut and undersized bearings used.

If this is not the route you are taking, just understand that you're cutting corners, rather than doing it right - your money, your engine, your choice.

Oh - Juancho - I get my pistons & rings BEFORE the machine shop starts working on the block - but AFTER they mike it - the best way is to bore to match the pistons & rings, not try to find piston & rings to match the bore, after it's done.  They measure, and depending on the "ovality" of the bore and any defects in the walls, they will let you know how what oversize to get, remember, you can always go larger, but once you bore, you can't go smaller - (you may be able to sleeve and bore again, but that is expensive)