Forged pistons

[mdiesel]

So my build got stalled for a bit, work, budget, kids ...but now I'm picking it back up. I've been researching forged pistons, JE from zzp, Diamond from intense.. both are good quality and require l67 or l26 rods. Biggest negetive issues with either of those is cost... je's are $900 and diamond's are $1000.
I just found, at summit racing, DSS racing forged pistons. Like the others they require l67 or l26 rods, but they're only $600 bucks in 4032 alloy,and you can get them in 2618 alloy for 40 bucks more... I've found pretty good reviews online about their quality for ls and sbc pistons, but not much on the 3800 pistons.
. Has anyone here use DSS pistons for the 3800 and if so how do they compare to je or Diamond pistons ??

[ssms5411]

Never heard of them, been running Diamond pistons 9:5.1 for 20 years, that’s with a supercharger, then nitrous and now with a turbo. Still running strong. I’ve only put 55000 miles on them in 20 years but they have seen a lot of FI and nitrous. I did L32 rods , clev. 77 bearings. Are you going to run FI or nitrous?

[mdiesel]

Never heard of them, been running Diamond pistons 9:5.1 for 20 years, that’s with a supercharger, then nitrous and now with a turbo. Still running strong. I’ve only put 55000 miles on them in 20 years but they have seen a lot of FI and nitrous. I did L32 rods , clev. 77 bearings. Are you going to run FI or nitrous?

nitrous... maybe turbo later on. I found info on LS1 tech forums saying DSS pistons were as good quality as any JE pistons.... but still nothing on the 3800 piston. Id assume they'd stick to the same quality level from one platform to another. I just know the 600 price tag as opposed to 1000 makes a big difference in weather or not i wanna go forged

[ssms5411]

Yeah I only paid $600 in 2002 for my Diamond pistons, I like the Diamonds because they came with total seal piston rings which have held up great. Need to decide on your FI , so you can pick a nice cam. Also decide on valve springs and if your going to do a double roller timing chain. With the double you only notice it at idle. My single chain came apart running 130lb springs. I’m glad I got the double roller.

[mdiesel]

any engine ive ever built automatically gets a double roller chain figured in, i wouldnt use anything else. Mostly the decision about going forged or not is more to do with longevity. I hate doing the same thing twice, so if im gonna spend the money and time on a build im more out to build so it can take whatever i might throw at it in the future. i just gotta win lotto ...lol

[ssms5411]

That’s cool, I’d go with a Rollingmaster double roller, never messed with the JP double roller. Their a tight fit but they do go on. Have you decided on the cam?

[ssms5411]

Also if you plan on turbo go with Intenses Manley 1.90 and 1.57 valves. Great for flow. Since your heads are off should be a nice upgrade, their made for turbo cars.

[ssms5411]

Only thing I can wouldn’t recommend is light weight pushrods, I had 5 warp when I was running my super charger at 10lbs. Went with ZZP comp . 105 pushrods alot beefer . And valve springs 130lb and above. Since your doing a double roller. I wish I lived closer to a dyno shop , last time I was there they ask me to work for them since I do my own tunning. Showed them my resistor setup for my knock sensors and setup my Hptuners program . I passed was in the police academy so that was cool. Make sure you tune it good and better to be safe than sorry later on. Once mine is done tunning I’ll take it back to them and get some numbers. Hopefully I can get it tuned right by Nov. or Dec.

[mdiesel]

ive got a set of intense stage 3 heads, havent decided on cam yet. figured id do pushrods once i get the longblock together and get a length checker to get the rod length right. Im tempted to go mega squirt, rather than hp tuners. I hate MAF tuning and mega squirt allows you to easily go to a speed density tune, but i gotta do more research on it .

[ssms5411]

Nice, stage 3 already has the Manley valves. I’ve never messed with MS just Hptuners since 2002. Might as well go with a Intense turbo cam. You’ll still need a good wideband O2.

[ssms5411]

If your only running 10lbs of boost you don’t have to worry about maf tunning . If you go past 10lbs then you’ll need ZZP mini afc to tune it. I’m at 6-7pbs and only use PE to tune it, haven’t messed with the maf yet. After I get though with my other mods I plan on tuning it for 10 Psi. Should put me at 400 or so at the wheels . That’s all I want.

[mdiesel]

i dont plan on going more than 10psi. ive got arp head studs, but ive heard even with those people lifting the heads at 14psi. really if I wanted to go higher than 10 i probly would need to look at drilling the heads and block for additional bolts/studs. too expensive for my blood. lol

[ssms5411]

Nice, I didn’t like the ARP head studs and MLS gaskets my headers at the time wouldn’t clear them. Had to grind the headers down, which was a pain so went with Felpros stock gaskets, so far holding pretty good. Stock should be good for 15 psi after that studs would be recommended. The Cartunning kit was set for 15 psi and the guy who had them never blew a head gasket. Of course your tune will be a big part of that.