piston slap

[98outbackpdx]

my 98 outback has piston slap it is annoying but liviable. is there anyway to fix this?
i have heard replacing the pistons can help, or putting in a new motor in it.
my brothers 99 sus does not have piston slap that i can hear and it has been treated like crap and he has a lot more miles on his sus than on my 98 outback. is there any major internal changes between the two years?
i am going to run this car for as long as i can, and i don't want to have to replace the motor if at all possible.
when i am using the CC or i am going up hills i try to not let the car get above 3500rpms unless i am accelerating quickly.
piston slap is not necessarily a death sentence is it?
it is not to bad when it is warm, and if i use 10w-30 oil it is almost gone.

[Kiwi GT]

EJ20R in the JDM BG GTB's have piston slap issues. It's normally due to the bores wearing out of round. Fixed by reboring and going to oversize pistons. Until they go oval again.... Inherent block problem really.

[Grafton]

my 2.2 slaps like crazy when it is cold, my wife's 2.2 doesen't at all and we both have 170k on our cars

[chuckthefuk]

piston slap is not necessarily a death sentence is it?
Nope thats crank-walk

I have the same issue as Grafton's 2.2 in the cold. Slap till shes warm. However my old 2.5 never slapped but developed rod knock eventually.

-Chuck

[ouch1011]

Mine only slaps if I drive it when its really cold. A few minutes to warm up and it usually doesn't make any noise.