The engine is going to be out of the car so I am going to go ahead and make it a 355. I need a good set of forged pistons and rods for a budget build. For now its going to be a cam only (cc503) car with maybe some spray down the road. What is a good set to go with??



Thanks

 

Mahle Power Pack Pistons and some good scat forged I rods.

 

so what are the limitations in this setup? where does the factory crank become a problem? could you make 600 bhp (cam + 200)?

 

Factory crank is good to about 600fwhp.

 

Could someone please list some exact part #'s and where I can find them. I would like to keep close to stock compression. Thanks.

 

Go search on Summit's website or google. I'd get the Mahle powerpack and some forged I-beams with ARP rod bolts. You can easily bump the compression up to 11:1 or more. I'm running around 11.5:1 in my 355 rebuild. It will depend as much on the heads and head gasket as it will the pistons.

Why are you going to put the stock heads back on the car? They're already a huge restriction for the stock displacement. You can get your heads ported for $500-700 dollars and that would be the best money you could spend on the motor.

Make sure you get your block zero-decked as well, then you have more options as far as head gaskets are concerned.

 

I am really stretching for money just doing all of this. I really wish I could do heads as well right now but I really can't swing another $850 for some LE ported heads. Are LT1 pistons the same as standard SBC pistons?? Also who do you recommend for rods??

 

Scat and Eagle are pretty popular with most people here because of the price. I stayed with the stock rods and ARP bolts.

 

do a search on ebay there is a shop in IL that has great prices on rotating assys

 

Alright thanks. I looked up the Mahle powerpack and it said 10.6:1 compression with 64cc heads. I believe the stock LT1 heads are only 58cc so what would this raise my compression to? Also what compression distance will I need?

 

Stock heads are 54cc. By compression distance I'm guessing that's quench. If so you want .035-.045" with lower being better.

 

Well with the stock heads what would my compression be?

 

You might want to check out Karl Ellwein at ellweinengines.com. Karl is a well respected engine builder. Karl is mostly on the Impala SS forum but on occasions he does post here. Karl has the complete reuild kit for the 355 LT1 with quality parts like Scat 6.0 forged rods, mahle piston power pack, required gaskets, timing gear and chain.

 

I have been very happy w/ eagle (4340 h-beams) and diamond pistons if you can find a vendor

 

If you are interested I have a set of TRW flat tops .030 over for $100