What out of the box combos would you like to see?

[Eaglestroker]

I've seen a few people mention Diamond, and while that's a really great piston, judging by the how much did you spend thread that's close to half/third of a lot of the budgets.

We've done a lot of the SBC rod journal in the SBF market to allow infinite rod options if you want to get a custom piston made. We've also done some Honda journal lightweight stuff but that's hardly suited to a torque crawler, wheeler, or buggy style of use. Thanks for the input folks keep it coming.

[dwg86]

I will say this, utilizing an already made piston is an advantage. I'm not sure of which material crank (cast 5140 or forged 4340) would happen first or at all - most likely one and then the other depending on popularity.

Convenient thing is most of the rod lengths are common and a 2.100" rod journal opens you up to ANY SBC rod we currently offer. Thanks to the folks that use and support our stuff already as well. Keeps folks like me in a job!

The amc 6 rods are wider than the sbc rods. Could the sbc rods be made wider to work with 4.0 crank? A smaller big end rod that was wide enough to work on the AMC rod journal would be nice. That way offset grinding could be done for different strokes.

[jsawduste]

I've seen a few people mention Diamond, and while that's a really great piston, judging by the how much did you spend thread that's close to half/third of a lot of the budgets.

We've done a lot of the SBC rod journal in the SBF market to allow infinite rod options if you want to get a custom piston made. We've also done some Honda journal lightweight stuff but that's hardly suited to a torque crawler, wheeler, or buggy style of use. Thanks for the input folks keep it coming.

Few comments, I don`t recall how much I spent to the penny but it was well less then a 100 per piston with pins and rings. Set up as FFers with the pin height located for your rods and zero deck.

My engine is fed well well, lubricated well and most important was built with quality parts and attention to detail. What is there to hurt ?

What pisses me off is the mentality of cheap and good. They are most often two separate things. You can have one or the other but rarely both..

This forum (and most others) is cluttered up with folks that have cheaped out with parts and now come back to try and understand why their project doesn't work well/or perform as well as they expected or could. If your going to do it then do it right.

Prime example is Hesco. Folks whine about the cost of their parts but you RARELY hear any complaints.

Eagle, I applaud you in taking the steps to market a set up. But I would market it so that folks whom purchase have to make there blocks and part choices fit YOUR components. Proven components that are known to work together. If that means an extra step in the machine shop then so be it.

You don`t like 9.5 compression ? To bad that`s what works in the majority of applications. Your going to spend the time and money to build a stroker then worry about the extra few cents you might have to spend on better fuel ?

Dammit I am not made of money any more then the next guy but I get so sick and tired of folks being penny wise and pound foolish.

[dwg86]

well said

[IH 392]

You don`t like 9.5 compression ? To bad that`s what works in the majority of applications. Your going to spend the time and money to build a stroker then worry about the extra few cents you might have to spend on better fuel ?
Dammit I am not made of money any more then the next guy but I get so sick and tired of folks being penny wise and pound foolish.

Well at $.20 a gallon difference, averaging a fill up every two weeks, that's $100 a year that could be well spent some where else!??, and apparently you've never been 150-200 miles from BFE and have to fill up with year old gas from the local yocals! so you can get back to civilization!??, yep their premium means it's been delivered within the last 365 days!?, I've been there and done that!, had to pour 5 gallons of mix gas I made from "PREMIUM" fuel bought in BFE for my Yamaha in the truck just to get rid of it!, the bike would barley run on it and you COULD NOT! ride it!, $34 bucks down the hole! my Yamaha NEEDS! good gas, I built it to race!, my Jeep is to drive, everywhere! and you can't always get good gas, I'm building it to run on what's available!

[Cheromaniac]

Using a stock 258 crank, 4.0L rods and KB944 forged pistons the piston is still in the hole around .020". So you have to deck it that much if you want a 0 deck clearance for a .044" quench with the thinner head gasket. I'm sure the piston would have to be left in the hole a bit as a kit just to account for varying deck heights between blocks and other variances. Part of the .020" could be taken up by a longer rod or a longer stroke crank.

Or a taller piston. KB could have made their 944/945 pistons with a compression height of 1.373" instead of 1.353" so that even with the production variances in block deck height (9.450-9.456") and rod length (6.123-6.127"), the deck clearance would be anywhere between 0.002-0.012".

You could even keep the IC944/945 pistons with 4.0L rods and just increase the stroke by 0.040" to 3.935" instead. This would require offset-grinding the 258 crank (or making a new custom grind) and using custom undersize rod bearings for a journal diameter of 2.01". Displacement with a +0.060" overbore and "square" cylinder dimensions of 3.935" bore/stroke would be 287.1ci or 4705cc (4.7L). To achieve a 9.5:1 SCR, the combustion chambers would need to be opened up to 61cc.

Alternatively if you want to run the engine only on propane you could keep the chambers at 57cc, use the KB945 pistons, and shoot for an 11.0:1 SCR.

[SilverXJ]

You don`t like 9.5 compression ? To bad that`s what works in the majority of applications. Your going to spend the time and money to build a stroker then worry about the extra few cents you might have to spend on better fuel ?

Its not all about the extra cost of premium. Some people would like a forged piston with a greater dish for turbo or supercharger applications.

[jsawduste]

You don`t like 9.5 compression ? To bad that`s what works in the majority of applications. Your going to spend the time and money to build a stroker then worry about the extra few cents you might have to spend on better fuel ?

Its not all about the extra cost of premium. Some people would like a forged piston with a greater dish for turbo or supercharger applications.

This is true they might. But I`ll bet that Eagle would sell 10 kits at 9.5 compression too 1 of a different number.

Plus logic would dictate that if a person is building an engine for FA the minor added cost of machining the pistons for a lower compression would not be a big factor.

[SilverXJ]

Plus logic would dictate that if a person is building an engine for FA the minor added cost of machining the pistons for a lower compression would not be a big factor.

Unless you get a custom piston there is not much to machine out of the KB variety.

[Cheromaniac]

This is true they might. But I'll bet that Eagle would sell 10 kits at 9.5 compression to 1 of a different number.

Plus logic would dictate that if a person is building an engine for FA the minor added cost of machining the pistons for a lower compression would not be a big factor.

Yeah, I'm sure Eagle would indeed sell many more kits for a NA engine, but it would still be nice to have a lower compression option (say 9.0:1) either for forced induction engines or for NA engines running on low octane fuel. The Diamond pistons used by Hesco have a bigger dish (IIRC it's ~26cc) than the KB944's and would serve that purpose very nicely.