Review: Wiseco's Budget Friendly Pro Tru Pistons
07-02-2014, 11:10 AM
#1
Review: Wiseco's Budget Friendly Pro Tru Pistons Erik at HKE hooked me up with a set of Wiseco pistons for a 370ci LS2 I'll be building over the next few months. They're the Pro Tru series, which are like the Junkyard Dog pistons, but are more budget friendly. They don't seem to be used very often, so I thought I'd share my impressions for anyone who may be looking for pistons on a modest budget.
These pistons specifically are PN: PT124A3, so they are for a 4.030" bore, stock 3.622" stroke, and stock 6.098" rod with a .943" pin. They have a small 4cc dome and "multi-fit" valve reliefs to work with either cathedral port or rectangle port cylinder heads. They include .943" pins, but the 1/16", 1/16", 3mm piston rings will need to be purchased seperately.
As with any Wiseco piston, you can tell right off the bat that they are high quality pistons. They're fully deburred and all the sharp corners from the valve reliefs have been removed. The ring lands are nice and thick, as well as the strutted pin boss area. The skirts have Wiseco's anti friction coating, just like the more expensive pistons, but have a "PT" rather than the usual "W".
The piston itself is pretty heavy, weighing in at about 564g, which the dome is partly responsible for. There is no milling in the underside of the pistons either, which the more expensive pistons have to reduce weight. The pins are short and have a double tapered ID, so they come in relatively light at about 121g. They're secured in the pin bores with c-clips instead of spirolox, which are another 2g. The pins measured dead nuts at .9430" with my Starrett OD mic, and in the small end of a stock LS3 rod, it had .0005" clearance.
Erik has a nice ring set on the way for me, so we didn't get a complete bobweight yet, but it looks like it will be about 20g heavier than a stock LS3 rotating assembly. With LS3 rods and crankshaft, it should only require 1 slug of heavy metal to balance, which is normal even with a lighter piston and h-beam rods.
The ring lands of the Pro Tru pistons are nice and thick, but do not feature the "anti-detonation" aka "contact reduction" grooves in the top land or the "accumulator" groove in the second ring land. The pin is oiled with a single oil hole, rather than two.
Compared to the Junkyard Dog pistons, you save about $100 depending on the rings you get with them, and you can use your stock rods instead of having to purchase aftermarket rods with a .927" pin, so that eliminates that cost compared to the X series Wiseco's. Overall, I'm very happy with this piston. It's a little less expensive than the Junkyard Dog line of Wiseco pistons, but you still get the high quality that Wiseco is known for. For a street engine, it's certainly a great bang for the buck piston option that doesn't leave you paying for options you don't really need.
These pistons specifically are PN: PT124A3, so they are for a 4.030" bore, stock 3.622" stroke, and stock 6.098" rod with a .943" pin. They have a small 4cc dome and "multi-fit" valve reliefs to work with either cathedral port or rectangle port cylinder heads. They include .943" pins, but the 1/16", 1/16", 3mm piston rings will need to be purchased seperately.
As with any Wiseco piston, you can tell right off the bat that they are high quality pistons. They're fully deburred and all the sharp corners from the valve reliefs have been removed. The ring lands are nice and thick, as well as the strutted pin boss area. The skirts have Wiseco's anti friction coating, just like the more expensive pistons, but have a "PT" rather than the usual "W".
The piston itself is pretty heavy, weighing in at about 564g, which the dome is partly responsible for. There is no milling in the underside of the pistons either, which the more expensive pistons have to reduce weight. The pins are short and have a double tapered ID, so they come in relatively light at about 121g. They're secured in the pin bores with c-clips instead of spirolox, which are another 2g. The pins measured dead nuts at .9430" with my Starrett OD mic, and in the small end of a stock LS3 rod, it had .0005" clearance.
Erik has a nice ring set on the way for me, so we didn't get a complete bobweight yet, but it looks like it will be about 20g heavier than a stock LS3 rotating assembly. With LS3 rods and crankshaft, it should only require 1 slug of heavy metal to balance, which is normal even with a lighter piston and h-beam rods.
The ring lands of the Pro Tru pistons are nice and thick, but do not feature the "anti-detonation" aka "contact reduction" grooves in the top land or the "accumulator" groove in the second ring land. The pin is oiled with a single oil hole, rather than two.
Compared to the Junkyard Dog pistons, you save about $100 depending on the rings you get with them, and you can use your stock rods instead of having to purchase aftermarket rods with a .927" pin, so that eliminates that cost compared to the X series Wiseco's. Overall, I'm very happy with this piston. It's a little less expensive than the Junkyard Dog line of Wiseco pistons, but you still get the high quality that Wiseco is known for. For a street engine, it's certainly a great bang for the buck piston option that doesn't leave you paying for options you don't really need.
The following users liked this post:
SpraydZ (07-30-2022)
07-02-2014, 12:46 PM
#5
Or any floating pin stock rod. If you have the pressed pin (pre-03 LS motors) then it'd be better to just get the regular Wiseco piston set with the Scat I-Beams. Hell, the Scat I-Beams are $287 from WS6Store and are a massive upgrade to the stock rods.
07-02-2014, 02:00 PM
#6
This is where careful planning helps keep a build within budget and a little heads up if anyone is thinking of using these.
Trending Topics
07-02-2014, 02:17 PM
#8
Thanks for the review, I've always wondered about these pistons as they seem to be one of the few 3.622 stroke pistons with a dome. And even with that, most of the domes are really high in the 10cc+. A small 4cc dome is perfect for mid 60s cc heads and still be able to run pump gas.
Are these 4032 or 2618 alloy? I'd be curious how tight PTW clearance you can get with the coating from Wiseco.
Arent GenIV pistons/rods full floating tho and not pressed fit anymore? Or does that not matter and you just chose to used a pressed fit bushing?
Are these 4032 or 2618 alloy? I'd be curious how tight PTW clearance you can get with the coating from Wiseco.
Any press fit rod would do, as would any stock stroke crank (even LSA). The press fit rods are lighter though, so that would help. I'll be using LS3 rods
07-02-2014, 02:41 PM
#9
No, you don't have to. Any press fit rod would do, as would any stock stroke crank (even LSA). The press fit rods are lighter though, so that would help. I'll be using LS3 rods and crank, and with these pistons, the bobweight is only about 20g heavier than what a LS3 crank is balanced to from GM. As a worse case scenario, a 5.3L crank would be balanced to a lighter weight, so the difference would be greater and require more heavy metal to be added.
This is where careful planning helps keep a build within budget and a little heads up if anyone is thinking of using these.
This is where careful planning helps keep a build within budget and a little heads up if anyone is thinking of using these.
07-02-2014, 04:04 PM
#10
Thanks for the review, I've always wondered about these pistons as they seem to be one of the few 3.622 stroke pistons with a dome. And even with that, most of the domes are really high in the 10cc+. A small 4cc dome is perfect for mid 60s cc heads and still be able to run pump gas.
Are these 4032 or 2618 alloy? I'd be curious how tight PTW clearance you can get with the coating from Wiseco.
Arent GenIV pistons/rods full floating tho and not pressed fit anymore? Or does that not matter and you just chose to used a pressed fit bushing?
Are these 4032 or 2618 alloy? I'd be curious how tight PTW clearance you can get with the coating from Wiseco.
Arent GenIV pistons/rods full floating tho and not pressed fit anymore? Or does that not matter and you just chose to used a pressed fit bushing?
I decide to use an LS3 rod, which is bushed for a floating pin. I think they're more robust than the earlier press fit rods, plus I like the ease of assembly/disassembly with the floating pin. The piston itself doesn't care which style you use, as long as it has its pin clearance. With the press fit, you don't need the c-clips to retain the pins.
07-02-2014, 04:07 PM
#11
I'm glad you guys appreciate it. I hate how vague some of the descriptions can be, which is why I wrote this. I think summit has these listed as having four valve reliefs or something, which it doesn't. Hopefully this can answer some questions for people considering this piston.
07-09-2014, 08:32 PM
#17
I'm looking for a budget friendly boost rotating assembly. I'll be running a HS V2 turbo kit with a T7875 turbo. What pistons would you recommend with the Scats?
07-12-2014, 05:02 PM
#18
You can take most of these solid dome Wisecos and just mill off the solid dome partially or completely if you wanted or needed to. A lot of automotive shops will do it on the lathe for in the 50.00$ range. It looks like it might be an 8ish cc dish with it all gone or so?
06-09-2018, 09:07 PM
#20
Digging through the crates to revive old threads i wonder how these pistons do in a LS1 (3.903) with LS1 heads and boost?
can u mill the dome off without sacrificing structural integrity?
it doesn’t look like a lot of done in it
anyone else use these?
can u mill the dome off without sacrificing structural integrity?
it doesn’t look like a lot of done in it
anyone else use these?
The following users liked this post:
Wesley Griggs (03-25-2020)