Early custom forged pistons
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2023 7:32 pm
For earlies, off the shelf piston options these days are regular cast pistons, and they dont handle high boost levels for very long. Actually, with aggressive timing, they wont handle stock boost levels for very long. I've pounded out the ring lands really badly and broken rings doing that. Years ago, Clarks offered the Hitech pistons for earlies, and this is what I've been running since 2004 and found they work really well at the boost levels that I run- 20-22. In 2018, during a tear down to replace a toasted cam, one of the center cylinder pistons was found to have some minor scuffing and the wristpin seemed to be sticking a little, so it was decided to replace it. Clarks didnt have Hitech pistons for earlies anymore, and I couldnt find any early forged (tried really hard to find some) so, eager to get my car going again, held my breath and put stock cast pistons in on the 2 center cylinders. Yes, I know, a far from ideal way to take care of it, and knew that it was going to have problems at some point and planned on getting a complete set of custom forged pistons before that bad thing happened.
The engine now has approximately 30000 miles on it and has been up around 20-22psi a few times without issue, until my knock sensor died and I sorta forgot about getting it fixed. Hit it really hard and got some bad pinging and then a HUGE gusher of oil shot out the dipstick. Never ever have I had anything like that happen before, so knew I likely did something bad to one of those 2 cast pistons. This was a year ago, and I ordered custom forged pistons from Ray Sedman at American-Pi . In the meantime I found I could calm down the blow by by driving it easy and slightly increase the oil viscosity. I have been driving the car as is while waiting for the pistons. Finally, here they are!
The engine now has approximately 30000 miles on it and has been up around 20-22psi a few times without issue, until my knock sensor died and I sorta forgot about getting it fixed. Hit it really hard and got some bad pinging and then a HUGE gusher of oil shot out the dipstick. Never ever have I had anything like that happen before, so knew I likely did something bad to one of those 2 cast pistons. This was a year ago, and I ordered custom forged pistons from Ray Sedman at American-Pi . In the meantime I found I could calm down the blow by by driving it easy and slightly increase the oil viscosity. I have been driving the car as is while waiting for the pistons. Finally, here they are!