NEw Block

[DustyR/T]

Ok, I am picking up my block from a used 3.0 at the junkyard. They say it smokes, but no knock. No matter, I will be replacing everything regardless. I am posting this to ask how much and where forged pistons for an overbore of .0100 can be acquired. I will use venolia but who do I call. I tried contacting them from their number on the website during hours, but got nothing. Anyone help me here? Also what should I do to the block to prep it. Hot tank, crank machining, Shot peen, Sonic test, etc.? It will be used for boost eventually so how much will the compression be raised with that overbore? And is there a way to have them make me the overbore w/ a deeper bowl in the face to reduce compression if it is too high? I will only be using 10-15psi max on the engine. My heads have already had extensive work. New custom Crower Cam, back cuts on the valves, bronze valve guides, port matching, 5 angle valve job, and a bit milled. .029 to be exact. Any ideas or comments will be much appreciated. Thanks

[Ondonti]

Find a set of rings first.

just because you can get a piston size doesnt mean you can get rings that size.
I had to get a +.096" bore piston.


I would suggest somewhere between .090 and .100" overbore if you are getting custom pistons. call a ring company and get ALL your ring specs (ring size, radial depth, ring thickness, etc. Then call Venolia and ask for Gale. He did my pistons. If you forget any information, just ask him what else he needs and call back your ring company.


its different when you are TD guy and you can just order pistons/rings off the shelf.

My rods were shot peened (I didnt ask for it but thats what they did after resizing the big ends). Get is balanced!!!!! you already seem to know most of what you want to do anyways. Just make sure you have a good machine ship.

Care to share info (cam stats) about your crower Cam? They werent helpful to me.

BTW, send Gale a piston from your junk motor. he ended up doing the combustion dish found in our pistons rather then a standard dish. he just made it a little bit deeper to get a lower compression ratio. Venolia is very smart about this stuff. maybe if you are lucky they even have some of the info from my pistons still.

[DustyR/T]

Brent is it? Thank you for responding, I was actually hoping it would be you who responded because you gave me most of the ideas to do this stuff. Also, how much did the pistons cost? I wish I had my spec chart on my new cams, but they were a steal. 180bucks to grind em. I really wished I saved/scanned that sheet. But anywhoo, they made a top end increase. My machinist revised my originals and spoke to crower about what he wanted. HE didn't go too crazy because he didn't know how much my valve springs could hold, though they did still meet OE requirements and were re-installed. Did you keep your compression around 9:1 still, or drop it lower? I want it to stay at 9:1 so I could drive it w/ or w/out turbo. No turbo for now until I'm funded for that project. But I want to break it in w/o turbo anyways. If I do it all at once, I'll want to hop on the pedal and probably glaze the walls. Did you replace your rod bolts? I heard they weren't too strong. And how about main bolts?

[Ondonti]

pistons cost $520 shipped with pins and pinfit.

I wish you had your cam specs also. Im guessing its not as wild lf a cam as I had made. it helps when you use your machine shop as the middleman. The guy who did my cams does the cams for my machine shops 4 second top fuel cars (they have 2). He loves to come by and try to convince them to use this "new" cam he just made.

Stock valve springs will take .450" lift I know that. I had my machinist test that. My springs were NOT up to OE requirements so I needed to get a new set. Im looking for a set of 2nd springs to help me rev higher but that might take a while (and be installed AFTER the motor is already running/driving/racing.

My pistons were 7.5:1 and I removed material from the combustion chamber making my motor about 7:1.

Doing the math, My compression loss is less % wise then my weight loss in my new car, so I dont think I will feel any n/a performance loss compared to my Spirit. Maybe even a gain with the head/cam work. I would actually enjoy seeing the low compression motor make decent power without a turbo.

Stock rod bolts. I dont plan on reving passed 8000 rpms so Im not worried. Rod bots are scariest when it comes to revs, not making actual power.
Stock main bolts should never need to be replaced with ARP's. The bottom end is stout.

[Ondonti]

BTW, you are supposed to beat on the engine.

Cylinder walls will glaze if you dont break the engine in correctly, (aka, go WOT, then Decellerate on the transmission, causing vacuum in the crankcase and pulling oil and debris off the cylinder walls. Then repeat).

[m90daytona]

you could stud the main...its cheap and it makes the torque spec on the main bearings more accurate.

[DustyR/T]

how would I stud the main, and has anyone done it?

[Ondonti]

There is no point on our motor. Our main bolts are not torque to yeild, and even 4 bolt mains have never proven to hold more actual HP. Even with studs.

[m90daytona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ondonti There is no point on our motor. Our main bolts are not torque to yeild, and even 4 bolt mains have never proven to hold more actual HP. Even with studs.

you mean we dont have a torque spec on our main bolts?

[Ondonti]

No, that means we dont have crappy bolts that are made to stretch. You can resuse the bolts in the 3.0 motor (aka headbolts, mainbolts, etc).

[m90daytona]

you get a better torque with a stud and nut than you do w/ a bolt therefore getting a better torque on the main bearings. not that you will have problems with the regular bolt set-up but for the price its def. something i am going to do when i build my motor.

[Ondonti]

What is "better" torque going to accomplish? I understand that studs pretorque what they are bolted to in the opposite direction the nut will torque things, thus attempting to prevent any actually distortion in what the stud is in but......
The motor was designed with bolts in mind. Never seen main studs prevent bearings from spinning either. Even with a .150" overbore and 1000hp we dont get cylinder wall distortion.

1000crank hp on stock main bolts.......why change?

Money better spent balancing the motor or doing something else


Stock head bolts hold 700whp with the DOHC MLS headgasket, so I dont even see a reason to get head studs.
you can resuse all these bolts.