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The 'low friction' engines were used from 85 - 89. In late 89, 90 they reverted back to the earlier design - heavier, stronger rods and larger bearings. And in '93 (near the very end for the redblock) they added a nice feature - piston oil squirters to keep the piton temps under better control. This was mostly a NVH issue - as pistons that get hotter need more room in the bores, and people were complaining about cold engine piston slap. Add squirters, tighten the pistons in the bores, problem solved, and it's only incidental that that's a good thing for a highly boosted engine.
In stock use, even with a turbo (running stock levels of boost) I don't think there's any evidence that these 85-89 motors were any less long lived than the earlier or later engines (other than the thrust bearing fiasco, I guess). However, when you turn the boost up on a turbo'ed motor, you have far less of a margin for error with the skinnier rods. Pinging under boost is like slamming the pistons with a sledge hammer, you can't do that very often on skinny rods without them bending, and shortly after, breaking. The same thing will happen to a thick rod motor too, but only after lots more abuse.
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'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)
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