ivan c

Hey guys,
First time on the site and I would really like to get some feedback on Mahle Pistons.
I got a LQ9 Stroker Motor built with D1SC Pro Charger 8.8.1 Compression, Callies Crank, Scat Rods, Mahle Pistons with Hell Fire Rings, Custom Bullet Blower Cam, Dart Heads, and Big Stuff 3 Fuel Management. That is some info on my engine.
My builder purchased Mahle Pistons in beginning of 2007, I had the car completed in September of 2009. I put about 500 miles on the engine. Engine is putting out 11 PSI of boost. Max boost that I had the car at was 6 PSI.
The problem that I had was that the Mahle Pistons land ring broke. It was a
.250'' top ring down 4032 alloy. These pistons were chosen by builder because he was told by Mahle that it would handle 15 PSI...which it obviously did not even handle 6 PSI.
Now Mahle will replace them with their new .300" top ring down 2618 alloy pistons.
Does anybody have any feedback on these new pistons from Mahle or any other info that can be useful to me.
Thanks

Rybar

iTrader: (11)

Ivan's a good buddy of mine, just helping him post pictures of the broken piston.

If you guys could please chime in and help him out with some suggestions for what piston to use on the re-build.

Ricky Bobby

I had mahle pistons in my last motor 9:5:1 comp stock ls7 block bore out. Stock crank balenced ,stock heads ,callie rods. Ysi 16 psi. Made 965 thruoghmy6 speed,8 somthing with 4l80e good for 8.81 1.32 @ 154 and the pistons where never a problem if that helps

ivan c

Thanks, Do you know if you had 4032 alloy or 2618 alloy?

Ricky Bobby

no I cant answer that but they where for sure budget cost wise.

chase3

iTrader: (1)

i ran 4032 mahle pistons with boost and burnt a hole in 3 of them. but really that was all thanks to LMR for leaving my timing at 27 degrees on a motor i told them was 10:5:1 CR. that was only at 6 psi. My new pistons in the ls3 are the x series wiseco 2618 pistons. really a 2618 piston will hold better to boost than a 4032 piston

ivan c

how much boost are you running on 2618 piston and what CR?

chase3

iTrader: (1)

I havent got the 418 back in the car but final CR will be about 8:9 or 9:0. I had to go with a -32cc piston to get me there because my AFR heads were milled to 62cc and with a 4 inch stroke i needed a huge one lol. I will prob stay around 10 or 12 psi for now even though a 2618 piston will hold lots more. Almost every boost car with forged pistons making huge power will be 2618. a 4032 piston is low expansion and cant hold the heat caused by the more compression from boost therefore causing it to melt away. Though i believe a 4032 will be alright for low boost. I think mine would have been fine except LMR left it with 27 degrees timing. I was going to get the mahle 2618 pistons but they are so new that the warehouse told me it would be a few weeks and i didnt want to wait. If you are putting in 2618 pistons you should have no worries man

stevieturbo

Likely detonation broke that ring land.


I used some cheap Mahles on one of mine, circa 20psi, never had any problems.

G Engines

What do you have for a ring gap?

ivan c

Ring gap is 26

code4

iTrader: (30)

I run mahle pistons in all my engines, never had a piston failure. I buy them from TSP, idk what alloy they are.

G Engines

I would say its in the tune up. your pistons look a little dark for only having 500 miles on them and your bearing looks like it has taken some abuse. Is Mahle willing to swap out your pistons?

XtraCajunSS

iTrader: (2)

As stated above, obvious detonation issues looking at bearing wear and piston top. FWIW, if the tune is good, either alloy will do the deed. 2618 is just more forgiving than 4032 albeit a bit heavier. I've used Mahle in many different applications over the years, for a boosted app, I tend to steer customers toward Diamond 2618's but if someone is on a tight budget, I will run the Mahles as long as I have control of the tune.

Shane

ivan c

Yes Mahle is swaping them for 2618 alloy and top ring down will be .300''

Armageddon

iTrader: (41)

That's cool they're backing their product. I've always been told to stay away from Mahle for forced induction applications.

stevieturbo

Mahle make some of the best pistons in the world, and supply pistons to many OE high performance engines, as well as aftermarket.

Rybar

iTrader: (11)

Ivan just sent me pictures of the revised Mahle pistons that they sent him:

quickvert1

Im at 914rwhp w my 416 novi 2000..21lbs...i have the 4032 pistons..so far there holding up and should run 8s next time out

NoorJ

Great to hear that they backed up their product. I'll agree that Mahle makes some of the best pistons, but I may be a little biased lol.