School me on piston selection.....
02-23-2010, 05:30 PM
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School me on piston selection..... So I've got a spare LT1 motor sitting in my garage that is going to be going into something...I really don't know what yet though. I'm either gonna buy a 96 Camaro I've been looking at for the past 6 months, or the motor may go to my dad for a street rod project he is looking to do.
Anywho...
The motor is going to be keeping the stock rods and crank. I have seen these units with ARP rod bolts hold PLENTY of power. The block will be .030 over of course and I plan on running a 150-200 shot. I will mainly be sticking into that nitrous area just because anything over 200 on a stock intake starts to run into distribution problems. I may possibly run a single plane down the road depending on what the motor goes into.
I do however want to bump the compression some, but still run 91 octane. And this will be using the stock heads still. I haven't thought about cam choice yet, but I do want to make sure there is enough valve relief to compensate for a high(er) lift cam.
What do you guys recommend?
Anywho...
The motor is going to be keeping the stock rods and crank. I have seen these units with ARP rod bolts hold PLENTY of power. The block will be .030 over of course and I plan on running a 150-200 shot. I will mainly be sticking into that nitrous area just because anything over 200 on a stock intake starts to run into distribution problems. I may possibly run a single plane down the road depending on what the motor goes into.
I do however want to bump the compression some, but still run 91 octane. And this will be using the stock heads still. I haven't thought about cam choice yet, but I do want to make sure there is enough valve relief to compensate for a high(er) lift cam.
What do you guys recommend?
02-23-2010, 07:38 PM
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I think pretty much any of the forged pistons out there will handle up to 200 shot. Some of the favored brands are JE, SRP, Mahle. Some guys love Ross. I'm sure you could get away with the cheaper TRW/SpeedPro as well if you take the time to prep them a little.
The top of the piston gets pretty hot with the N2O use, so I wouldn't go too tight on the piston-to-wall or the top ring gap.
I like to polish the tops and radius all of the edges exposed to the chamber.
Exhaust valves really need the same attention due to the heat.
I'm sure you know you'll have to run a pretty cold sparkplug with a 200 shot.
A racing type non-extended plug with the larger and shorter ground strap work well because the strap won't become a glowplug and cause preignition.
The top of the piston gets pretty hot with the N2O use, so I wouldn't go too tight on the piston-to-wall or the top ring gap.
I like to polish the tops and radius all of the edges exposed to the chamber.
Exhaust valves really need the same attention due to the heat.
I'm sure you know you'll have to run a pretty cold sparkplug with a 200 shot.
A racing type non-extended plug with the larger and shorter ground strap work well because the strap won't become a glowplug and cause preignition.
