Bottom end rebuild?

[Robs89LXi]

I've searched but cannot find anything on bottom end rebuilds. Has anyone here actually done one? I've got 246K miles on my A20A3 and have a pretty good oil leak going. I will be pulling the engine very soon, and will be replacing the timing belt, major seals and oil-pan gasket. I want to know what I need to be concered about with my crank, bearings, pistons etc. while I have it open. Please don't offer advice unless you have actually done this! I am contemplating going with the Diamond pistons/Eagle rods/Clevite bearings combination as I plan on doing more top end modifications later. What do I need to check for as far as my crank goes? What about cylinders? Any other things I need to check on that I haven't asked about? My goal is to have a beefed up bottom end that will be capable of handling around 250, turbocharged whp. I am looking for PERFORMANCE and RELIABILITY.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Rob.

[k-roy]

Looks like you have the right idea going, you named the best parts.
You should have the block torn down, hot tanked, and bored over. As for the crank get it hot tanked, balanced and knife edged. That should get it to spin a little more freely. I would also get a lighened or even aftermarket flywheel as well. And don't forget a good oil pump.
Check out these two sites http://www.kmodifiedracing.com/index.html and http://www.accordcentral.com
Those two business specialize in performance a20s. They are ran by the users Sean and K-Mod.

[Robs89LXi]

Do you know just how much hp our stock internals are rated for? What about the stock rods? Would they be okay to use with the Diamond pistons? I would of course have them xrayed/magnafluxed first, but are they capable of handling 250whp? Where can I find out this type of technical information, first hand?

[AccordEpicenter]

Yes the stock rods if you have them shotpeened or polished are strong enough to handle 250hp+ as long as you keep to the stock rev limit (over 7K=no no) but the diamond pistons have a different wrist pin size (21mm vs 19mm i believe) you can have them resized to accept diamond pistons tho.

[Robs89LXi]

Thanks. How do you know that they are capable of 250hp? And what does shotpeening or polishing have to do with strength? Also, I thought the Diamond pistons were available in both wrist pin sizes (19mm + 22mm). Is this not correct?

[AZmike]

Shotpeening increases the fatigue life of parts by setting up compressive stresses on their surface.

[Robs89LXi]

Shotpeening increases the fatigue life of parts by setting up compressive stresses on their surface.

Thanks. So shotpeening does not actually make it stronger, it just makes it "lesss weak". I would still like to know what our rods are rated for. Does anyone know where I can get this type of technical detail? Is there a Honda site, or manual available anywhere? I appreciate the input, but I'm afraid there is a lot of "hearsay" that goes around on this board where information just gets repeated so much that it becomes fact :). I'm sure you guys are right and they are indeed good for 250hp, but that is about what I'm shooting for running on my engine, but I don't want to be operating at the upper limits of any engine part. Thanks again and let me know if you know of any resources for this info.