At what point are "custom nitrous pistons" required?
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At what point are "custom nitrous pistons" required? just like the title reads, at what point are custom nitrous pistons with a thicker crown and relocated ring lands required? it seems many many folks run off the shelf diamond or wiesco pistons in their nitrous motors and running up to 300 shots. these custom diamonds are over 900 dollars. when is it required? thanks in advance.
I think the key is compression, cam and how much nitrous. Most of the people on here that run large shots are under 11.5-12:1 with larger cams that tend to bleed off DCR. Once you really start getting up there in cylinder pressure I think that's the time to switch. I don't know at what point, but that's my hypothesis as to the reasoning.
the deeper ringland you have, the less likely you are to lift the ringland. meaning that being on the richer side of things it will puddle and start to pull the ring through the piston to the top, detonation from being to lean will also cause this.
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It also has to do with thermal expansion. Having the rings higher up submits them to higher stress. Large shots of nitrous create a lot of heat in the cylinders. With a normal ring package this can cause ring butting which leads to ring failure. Certain things like pistons taper, ring package, and skirt design are very important in designing pistons. I had a conversation with Erik Koenig about this. Here's a thread I created that goes through what goes into designing a set of pistons:
http://lsxextreme.com/showthread.php?p=1731#post1731
http://lsxextreme.com/showthread.php?p=1731#post1731
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300-350. The old white Outlaw car went mid 9s with a 347 using stock rods and off the shelf pistons. Eventually the stock rods distorted and they went to a set of Eagle rods. A lot of people over build their cars.
I'd imagine it's all in the tune(to a certain point), but agree that 300 is getting close to Armageddon on a stock block/4 bolt head.
Never pushed the limits, so dunno "when" is enough to go specific, but we'll be hitting these w/2 or 3 kits(600 total)in an LSx iron block w/6 bolt TFS 235's on top.
JE, custom/one off(13*)N2o pistons...... 12.2:1 dome'd.
Not cheap but neither is peace of mind
Almost a shame to hide these in the motor
Never pushed the limits, so dunno "when" is enough to go specific, but we'll be hitting these w/2 or 3 kits(600 total)in an LSx iron block w/6 bolt TFS 235's on top.
JE, custom/one off(13*)N2o pistons...... 12.2:1 dome'd.
Not cheap but neither is peace of mind
Almost a shame to hide these in the motor
Mid 9s on 300 is slow. Hell, I went mid 9s on a stock bottom end 346 with only a 175 hit of gas.
