I am thinking about turning my 327 into a 383 stroker. Scat has 3 piston options with their rotating assemblies.

Keith Black
Hypereutectic
Srp/Mahle

Can I get some of you guys to recommend your choice and why?

 

http://www.venolia.com/

Their reputation speaks for itself.

First used them in 1972

 

A couple of the brands you listed seem to have limited menus, and if this is a serious build-up, I'd caution against compromising your specs to suit off the shelf availability. Should you need custom slugs, other brands you should look into include Diamond, Ross, Arias, and I'm not about to say anything bad about Venolia (nice pic).

My personal preference and why: I'll be putting a set of custom Arias pistons in my current 496 BB project. I've had nothing but superb quality from them in the past, and they'll do about anything you can imagine you'd want done to a piston (custom comp heights, offset pins, expansion grooves, skirt coatings, blended/blasted domes...) in house, so they're absolutely ready to go out of the box without having to send them out for treatment or massage them to obtain a finished piece.

Can't recommend the Hypereutectics for any real perf engine. That's my $0.02

 

I could have bought anything and chose Mahle. They are a low silicone, Low expansion forged piston. They have a Grafel (spelling) coating and were within 1/2 gram out of the box. Come with Mahle rings and they don't reqire the support ring at the bottom at the pin like some. I wouldn't put KB Hyper's in my lawn mower. GM uses Mahle pistons in the new Z06 for the above reasons.

 

I've got the forged aluminum SRP pistons in my 383, 10K miles of abuse and still no problems. Very acceptable oil consumption, the stroker engine eats less oil than my 4 cyl neon engine.

The forged pistons are noisy though, before they warm up.

 

Thanks guys appreciate it alot! Looking for more responses from others!

 

You have received good advice from above. I have Arias pistons in my BB blower motor in my 65, J&E's in the 565 that is in my 71, SRP's in the 489 ZL1 motor that was in my 71, and Wiesco pistons in the 422 SB in my Camaro. I have not experienced any issues with any of the above. Like others said I would run from the Hypereutectics.

 

gm uses CAST pistons in the z06 but i believe they are mahle

 

Forged JE/SRPs in my 383, Forged Arias in my 496 blown motor, forged Federal Mogul L2166s in my 327, and Hyper Federal Moguls in the kid's 350 Corvette. Personally for a mild street car, Federal Mogul Hypers are a nice affordable quality piston.

I would also check out Speed-O-Motive for your stroker rotating assy. Is this a large journal or small journal 327?

IMHO, if you are going with a cast crank I don't see any real need for a forged piston.

 

w/ Scott
Federal Mogul "brand" aka Sealed Power aka Speed Pro ... I like their hypers.
I do Not like hypers from KB aka Silvolite aka UEM.
If you KNOW your part numbers & KNOW pricing, you can probably get crank-rods-pistons for 383 street stroker at fleabay for less$.

 

Hyperutectic pistons in this application are fine unless you're thinking you're going to NO2.

JE/SRP are my piston of choice for street builds. The other brands are great as noted - I'd used a LOT of Sealed Power pistons over the years.

 

It is my intention to use Probe moleculite pistons.

348g which is comparable to the Ross Ludicrous lightness piston at 373g.

They are affordable, and I cant find anybody with anything bad to say about them.

 

I could have bought any pistons I wanted, and I decided on premium CP Forged Pistons, which I believe are the best on the market. They are made from 2618T-61 aluminum, which is the highest grade material available for high performance/race forged pistons. You just about can't kill these, no matter what you throw at them. That combined with precision machining and you can't go wrong, though they are not budget pistons.

The company was founded by a bunch of guys who left JE/SRP some years ago when the company was bought out. They've been around and know their stuff. They also offer premium rings, pins, clips etc. On top of that, they'll custom make pistons for you as well.

Here's a link:
http://www.cppistons.com/catalogs/

 

For a street engine w/o forced induction or N2O, the Hypereutectic pistons will work ‘better’ than the forged pistons. Less piston slap/blow by/noise because they expand less. Better wear characteristics and they will rev to 6800 rpm or so. Make sure they are something like a 390 alloy that has undergone a T6 heat treatment and they’ll perform just fine. If they aren’t heat treated; then they are junk for performance use.

Forged pistons are actually softer than Hypereutictics and therefore less brittle. Because of this, they will stand up do detonation somewhat better, withstand the additional loading from forced induction/N2O and rev higher. They are generally available in nearly any custom application you can dream up too – for a price.

If you’ve a set dollar amount for an engine, put it elsewhere – a good set of heads for example. This will give you far better returns for the money than a set of custom pistons.

-Lurkin

 

I had KB hypereutectic pistons in my 383 for about 14 years and 15k miles. Guy I sold it to tore the motor apart because of a bad cam lobe and the pistons were perfect and the cylinder walls had zero ring groove or taper. I did run synthetic oil in it though. I have heard that the KB Hyper piston quality can be bad though...

For my new 427 sbc motor, I put Mahle forged pistons in it with the skirt coating ect. Kind of expensive though, thinking around $600 if I remember right.

 

Go for forged anything. I'd trust a cast crank long before I'd use a cast piston.

I have SRP's in my 540. They've been...shall we say *tested* many times..no issues. I am using almost double the wall clearance SRP recommends (and even then I only have .0045 on a 4.500 bore) and they are quiet on cold startup. No problems at all.


JIM

 

The Mahle pistons are a forged piston made out of a low expansion alloy that alows smaller piston to cylinder wall clearances than other forged pistons. No piston slap and the durability of forged. Best of both worlds.

 

Yep....not sure what Mahle's are made from....but I'm assuming something pretty close to the 4032 that SRP uses. 4032 is a harder material than the 2618 that most race pistons are made from. The 2618 is perfect for heavy load race applications. It usually needs a little more wall clearance and may make a little noise when cold. The 4032 will allow tight clearances...down into the .002 range with no issues. It wears great, but not able to withstand quite as much abuse as the 2618.

Piston noise and oil control are as much about skirt design as clearances. I've learned that there is a vast difference in piston design even with very similar pistons. The taper and barrel ground into the piston skirt shape greatly changes it's characteristics. There are many subtle variations for particular applications. You can get an awful light piston with a tiny skirt that will work fie if designed properly.

The SRP's are an offshoot of the GM 502 piston production setup. SRP makes all of them and uses the machinery to make other popular pistons for our hot rod stuff in high production runs. That allows for a great piston at a reasonable cost.

Mahle makes good stuff too...I have their rings in mine right now.


JIM

 

The Mahle Powerpak is a 2618 high silicone, low expansion alloy. Recommended clearance .0025 to .003 on my small block. The kit with rings, pins and really nice locks runs around $600. They were within 1/2 Gram and perfectly uniform 4.027 in diameter out of the box The 548 I have for sale in the C3 section has the SRP Pistons and are a very good piston as well. Here is a good article on the Mahle's .http://www.popularhotrodding.com/eng...em_piston_kit/

 

Mahle aftermarket has 2 lines of forged performance pistons ... 4032 for sportsman ... and 2618 for pro race. JE owned/operated by Dover Corp (NYSE DOV) ... as are Wiseco, Carrillo, Rotary Lift, Warn Winch & MANY others. CP race pistons lite & pretty darn good but I've seen em crack where JE don't.

-edit- afaik ... Mahle PowerPak piston-ring kits are sportsman-grade of 4032. afaik 2618 is low/no silicone hi-expansion.