Is there anyone using diamond 11500 pistons with a turbo or supercharger setup? If so post up your setup and rwhp.

 

900rwhp.

 

750rwhp on my Diamond Pistons.

 

If those are the flat tops with -2cc valve reliefs...I have used them for my first rebuild, then when I did a refresh on the motor with new rings and bearings. I have made 800+ with a 347 cid consistantly. Don't burn any oil either.

 

I am using them, but my engine has only 700 miles on it and I need to get it tuned before I will know how many HPs it will be making.

I didn't want to put it on a dyno before it was broken in.

 

... and if those are the same pistons... then they have over 100 dyno runs on them alone Must be good pistons

Bill

 

The LS2 I'm having built now will have Diamonds, but a custom set for forced induction and good to 20psi. Standard top ring down is .250", mine are .060" more at .310". A local builder is building and will tune the motor, Robert @ Advanced Dyno. The shorblock should be done next week, and a bunch of little things will be needed to finish it after that.

The LS1 I first built had Diamond 11500 pistons that lasted 24,000miles at 14psi. I found a BOV flange that apparently was leaking since the FMIC was first installed. After I fixed the boost leak, I had one short but glorious freeway test, at WOT saw 17-18psi for 2-3 seconds and afterwards the motor started running rough. Once it got home, it sent 'I give up' smoke signals out of the oil fill. The ring lands failed. Amazing how a just 3-4 more psi can make the freeway so much more blurry. That was not the fault of the pistons, excess boost caused the failure.

The LS1 was temporarily replaced by a mailorder shortblock where I didn't realize the 'thermal coated' Mahle pistons the idiot salesman spec'd out for a high boost motor were of brittle 4030 alloy. Those lasted 35miles into my 40mile trip home at less than 5psi. Didn't even make it home.

 

Same ones Bill.....good memory...but then again how would you forget all of the dyno runs or R&D that was done with that particular setup.


I would say 100% that ring land failure has more to do with detonation then it does boost pressure. I have ran 18# of boost on my car and used the exact same pistons and haven't had any failures with the ring lands......if my tune was jacked up and it was detonating I wouldn't be able to say this.

I just used out of the box Diamond flat tops and they have been used in the motor since 2003.


I actually ran 12#s of boost with my D1 on a completely stock LS6 for a little while tuned at 13.1 afr back in 2002, this was before anybody even knew how to really use ls1edit or tune FI cars. Naturally it detonated and I lost 3 of the stock pistons. Detonation kills....even forged pistons.

 

Yes, and each tune is unique to the setup. You can't have a competition of tunes and apply the best one to all FI cars.

The tune was for a combination which included a 14-15psi max boost. Once boost jumped to 17-18psi there's no telling what happened to the fuel pressure, A/F, timing, etc. Also if I recall correctly, off the shelf Diamond pistons are rated to 15psi.

 

Bill had over 100 dyno runs with my first TT kit @16#s, and then I put a few thousand miles on the setup before selling it. I then put my new TT setup on and did R&D and had it tuned with both maf and sd tune from 12-18#s until it was perfect.

I would never suggest that each tune is the same to any particular setup, but I will say that I have had the proper tune for each setup and as a result I have been using the same pistons for 1ks of miles, 100s of dyno runs with zero problems. The reason your pistons went (from your description) appears to be the exact same reason my stock pistons went...because it was too lean.

Currently I am running one tune in my car now that is set for 17.5-18#s, with the wastegate springs set at 9#s. So I use my higher boost tune all the time it just has less timing that it could have if I was tuned specifically for 9#s. But the AFR is the same.

I would recommend any of the current forged pistons that are available for the LS1.....I am just stating that I have used Diamond flat tops for thousands of miles, with multiple boost settings, with two different setups....actually 3 setups because I had them with my D1 procharger, and used over again when the motor was refreshed......out of everything I have spent....I feel strongly that I got my money's worth out of these pistons.....and very few people are well over 800+ rwhp and tq with a 346cid LS6.

 

 

I should say I agree with the above, Diamond 11500s are good pistons. In my case, I just wanted extra insurance.

 

Extra insurance is never a bad thing. I thought about buying a set of Mahles during my last build...but after cleaning up the pistons they still looked good enough to use. I think I like the Mahles and Wiseco's the best out of the new pistons...I have had these Diamonds since 2002. at that time the only choices were Ross or Diamonds.