Stock Forged Piston Questions

[TLByrd]

I bought a '63 409 short block and I'm building a street engine with it. Edelbrock heads, two 4's, hydraulic roller camshaft....and the stock forged pistons which are 11:1. The block was in good enough shape to keep the standard bore and I hoped to use the re-use the stock pistons. However, we found that several of the wrist pins were very tight, due to the engine sitting for many years. I soaked them in a variety of liquids to free them up, but I'm still not comfortable with it.

So, I sent them to a machine shop to have the pins pressed out to check everything. The owner of the shop said that it would be no problem to hone the wrist pin holes, and polish the pins if I didn't want to spend the money on new pistons. The biggest worry would be piston slap, since I'm using the heavy stock pistons. I obviously don't want this thing to sound like it's about to fly apart, and I don't want to do any damage in the process.

I'm guessing I just need to bite the bullet and buy a set of pistons, but just wanted to hear some opinions on the situation. What would be the preferred forged piston for street performance without breaking the bank?

 

[409newby]

Everyone That I've talked to on this site suggests BBC rods and new forged pistons!

 

[yellow wagon]

new forged pistons won't be cheap but still the best option for a performance motor. Sell the stock ones to help offset some of the cost.

 

[Skip FIx]

I know even a fairly low mileage set of factory forged I had checked the skirts were collapsed.

 

[Don Jacks]

You can get K-B ICON forged pistons for less than 600.00 ,but the cylinders will need to be bored .o38 [no standard size made], or Ross for about 700.00 from Show-Cars.BOTH ARE DARNED NICE PARTS.

 

[1958 delivery]

Throw them away and buy some good, new pistons. You're spending thousands on roller cam, alum heads etc and you want to use an old dinosaur for pistons, no thank you.

 

[Skip FIx]

Forgot to also mention the factory pistons are really heavy and have an outdated skirt design also.

I got JEs for my 470, they were nice but the intake valve relief was not deep enough for a big cam luckily minewas only 251@ 0.050.

 

[TLByrd]

My real reason for wanting to keep the pistons is sort of crazy when you consider all these new parts that are going in/on this engine. I wanted to keep the stock rotating assembly because this engine was in a local '55 Chevy drag car in the '60s. I wanted the short block to sort of retain the history of this engine, but that is obviously not the smartest decision. I'll do some research on the pistons and BBC rods....can I use my stock crank with this setup?

 

[Phil Reed]

Never put cheap parts in your short block assembly. Put the cheaper parts on the outside that you can upgrade at a later date. It's hard to upgrade a short block already built.

 

[Dick MacKenzie]

Never put cheap parts in your short block assembly. Put the cheaper parts on the outside that you can upgrade at a later date. It's hard to upgrade a short block already built.

AHhhhhhhh..... sound advice Grasshopper!

 

[poison ivy]

what does your engine builder say? Have him examine the parts and advise.

 

[Ronnie Russell]

I read all the time about someone who has a standard 348 or 409 block. Not one cyl with bad taper? I guess I just have had bad luck, never saw one in my shop that would come close to std. I would have that block checked again and again and again before I bought expensive pistons , std size. You can always sell .030 or .060 pistons , but whats the chance of ever finding another std. block to use those pistons in? I think poison ivy's advice is very sound. Don't buy anything without the machinist input.

 

[TLByrd]

I'll check with the machinist to get his input. If by some miracle, he says that the block is perfect and the pistons are still usable, am I missing out on some horsepower gains by keeping the heavy pistons and short rods? Or are the light pistons and longer BBC rods mainly for reliability at higher rpm?

The camshaft I chose is a Comp hydraulic roller (236/242 @.050, .578/.593 with 110 LSA) and I didn't have intentions on turning past 6000 either way.

 

[Don Jacks]

Not to give you a short answer, but truthfully it's both.Longer rods equal better power,lighter pistons equal better durability polus the ring grooves are set up for modern lower friction rings [there can be as much as 30 plus hp there alone]

 

[models916]

Stock rods are short and weak.

 

[threeimpalas]

...I wanted to keep the stock rotating assembly because this engine was in a local '55 Chevy drag car in the '60s. I wanted the short block to sort of retain the history of this engine...

You've already foregone the "history" with the aluminum heads, different camshaft, etc. A drag racer would have updated the components to better parts, anyway. Go with new pistons.

 

[entourageguy]

Stock rods are short and weak.

Have you been talking to my wife!!