Pumped for Pistons

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Update by Tom Suddard to the Nissan 350Z project car
Jan 25, 2017

We’re pretty sure that even a billet cat litter scoop would look awesome. Nevermind the new pistons and connecting rods for our LS1. The best part of engine building is unwrapping shiny new parts, and we spent a few minutes instagramming once the UPS guy dropped these off.

What exactly are these? Pistons from JE Pistons and connecting rods from K1 Technologies. We’re only planning to build this engine once, and these spendy parts should be cheap insurance against anything we throw at it in the future.

How do you pick pistons from a catalog? Simple: Measure, measure, and measure some more. The correct piston is the one that fits the measurements you aren’t changing–like block height and rod length–and will create the measurements you are changing–like compression ratio. We’re aiming for about 10:1 compression. We’re also planning for a .007-inch overbore, which should clean up our cylinder walls, give us a little bit of a displacement bump, and greatly increase our head selection by providing more room for big valves.

What are we doing ordering pistons before we even started the machine work on our block? That’s a trick question–it’s dumb to start honing before there’re pistons in your hand. We’ll get to the reasons why in the next update.

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Comments
Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/25/17 12:51 p.m.

...look awesome...

These two words are deserving of some pictures.

Tom Suddard
Tom Suddard GRM+ Memberand Associate Editor
1/25/17 1:20 p.m.

Sorry, Toyman. Not sure why the photo wasn't originally posted. I updated the first post.

84FSP
84FSP Dork
1/25/17 1:25 p.m.

Yumm billet sexieness.

APEowner
APEowner GRM+ Memberand New Reader
1/25/17 2:41 p.m.

Hmm, a billet cat scoop. I could make one of those. I wonder if my wife would like one for Valentines day...

Toyman01
Toyman01 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
1/25/17 5:13 p.m.
Tom Suddard wrote:

Quoted for the pure awesomeness of machined metal.

If diamonds are a girl's best friend, machined metal is a man's.

Thanks for the pictures.

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