Pistons, rods and timing chain

[Dreamcar86]

Just as the title states are there a preferred piston that everyone is using these days in a stock block .30 over? I am being told that the TRW's are old school and too heavy and clunky. That would leave my choices to Wiseco, JE or Diamond. Any opinions or experiences?
It is also my understanding that the stock rods are not bad pieces but if there is something better I would certainly be open to ideas.
On the timing chain I have always used Rollmaster however it looks like Jack Cotton is selling a CC double roller. Is this as good or better than a Rollmaster?

Any and all help greatly appreciated.

 

[Boost231]

it all depends on what your goal is. i run CP pistons and a double roller timing chain. i also have stock rods. the stock rods are pretty stout but it depends on how far you want to go.

brent

 

[JDEstill]

pistons - I like the shape of the Diamonds, seems like it would be better than the big round dish that the other piston types have. But I bought Wiseco's because they have (or had?) a great price on them at Summit.

timing chain - I bought a Comp Cams double roller on the advice of Bill Anderson, who I would consider a trustworthy source He recommended # 3129, which is the Hi-Tech Roller Race chain, *not* #3226 which is the High Energy chain. I think it was around $50 when I bought it, might be wrong, but it was a lot less than the Rollmaster, and with Bill's seal of approval...

John

 

[Dreamcar86]

pistons - I like the shape of the Diamonds, seems like it would be better than the big round dish that the other piston types have. But I bought Wiseco's because they have (or had?) a great price on them at Summit.

timing chain - I bought a Comp Cams double roller on the advice of Bill Anderson, who I would consider a trustworthy source He recommended # 3129, which is the Hi-Tech Roller Race chain, *not* #3226 which is the High Energy chain. I think it was around $50 when I bought it, might be wrong, but it was a lot less than the Rollmaster, and with Bill's seal of approval...

John

Thank you for the input. A better product and less price, now you are talking my language. Funny how no one has responded to the TRW's. They must be an old school thing of the past.

 

[JDEstill]

Those TRWs are heavy. Well, now that I think about it, I think it was the *pins* that were heavy, to make the assembly the same weight as the stock pistons, so you didn't have to rebalance. Using lighter pins with the TRWs was something some people did back in the misty past. My machinist was real leery of doing that, he thought if the pistons came with those pins that he needed to use them. But with the other, lighter piston/pin assemblies available, no problemo! Just have to get it all balanced. I know they drilled some holes in my crank counterweights that looked awfully big Anyway, I don't recall anything bad about the TRWs besides the weight. I do figure that the Wiseco's are a higher quality than the TRWs, but I have no proof of it and could be wrong.

John

 

[Turboholic87]

I think TRW has since changed the design of the pin. I looked at a set of L2481F .040 TRW pistons I bought recently and the pin walls are much much thinner (only about 0.175") than the old pics on gnttype.org show. Just out of curiosity I'll weigh them tommorow at work to see how they stand up against the JE's & Diamonds.

 

[Dreamcar86]

Those TRWs are heavy. Well, now that I think about it, I think it was the *pins* that were heavy, to make the assembly the same weight as the stock pistons, so you didn't have to rebalance. Using lighter pins with the TRWs was something some people did back in the misty past. My machinist was real leery of doing that, he thought if the pistons came with those pins that he needed to use them. But with the other, lighter piston/pin assemblies available, no problemo! Just have to get it all balanced. I know they drilled some holes in my crank counterweights that looked awfully big Anyway, I don't recall anything bad about the TRWs besides the weight. I do figure that the Wiseco's are a higher quality than the TRWs, but I have no proof of it and could be wrong.

John

I think TRW has since changed the design of the pin. I looked at a set of L2481F .040 TRW pistons I bought recently and the pin walls are much much thinner (only about 0.175") than the old pics on gnttype.org show. Just out of curiosity I'll weigh them tommorow at work to see how they stand up against the JE's & Diamonds.

I have been doing some research on the weight and it seems that the reduction of weight is more important on a naturally aspirated engine however it stands to reason that a reduction in weight surely could not hurt anything. My main concern is to have a piston that can withstand the abuse of detonation. As much as we try to avoid detonating our motors it stills happens. I figure if you are going to take the time and trouble to pull an engine and rebuild it you might as well get the best parts available.

 

[Turboholic87]

I weighed my TRW's and the piston is 575 g and pin is 155g. The JE's weigh about 542 g and the Diamonds weigh 537 g acording to the online catalog. So I guess the TRW's are heavier but only by 33 grams. Considering these motors don't rev that high and have a short 3.4" stroke I don't think a heavy piston matters that much. Does anyone know how much the pins weigh from JE & Diamond??

 

[Dreamcar86]

I weighed my TRW's and the piston is 575 g and pin is 155g. The JE's weigh about 542 g and the Diamonds weigh 537 g acording to the online catalog. So I guess the TRW's are heavier but only by 33 grams. Considering these motors don't rev that high and have a short 3.4" stroke I don't think a heavy piston matters that much. Does anyone know how much the pins weigh from JE & Diamond??

Those are surprising numbers. I would have thought that the TRW's would have been heavier than that. That is a good point, these are not high reving engines and it more than likely makes no difference what we put in them.

 

[Dreamcar86]

it all depends on what your goal is. i run CP pistons and a double roller timing chain. i also have stock rods. the stock rods are pretty stout but it depends on how far you want to go.

brent

Hey Brent,

Not looking to set in GN records just wanting to build the strongest motor possible with the best parts I can get my hands on. I am probably going over board with some of this stuff as I am an 11.XX 1/4 guy however if I decide to push into the 10's I would like to know that the engine can handle it.