I'm currently having my LS 402 rebuilt with forged JE Nitrous Pistons and a set of nitrous rings. The motor previously had Mahle forged pistons which I'm guessing did not hold up well on some 200 shots when my Timing Tuner was not pulling timing due to a wiring issue. On a recent leak down test cylinder pressure was all over the place and the motor was leaking oil out the rear as well. I'll know for sure when I hear from the engine builder next week. My questions is the Nitrous pistons are thicker and stronger, made of a softer alloy and have the top ring moved down to dissapate heat better. That's all great for nitrous but I'm wondering what if anything is being given up N/A? Appreciate everyone's comments.....

 

Aren't the ring gaps set a bit looser for rapid expantion? If so you might have some bleeding of compression into the crank case.

 

You will have a wider ring gap with nitrous then in an N/A application.
Thicker (heavier) wrist pins.
Typically around 13-13.5:1 compression where N/A would be much higher.
Quench heights are higher in nitrous applications.
Cam designs are different.

What I'm leading to is nitrous engines when designed that way will make less N/A HP then N/A specific...

 

I agree with him....