Forged Pistons K Series 1800

[wild bill]

Well the VHPD head is off at the mo so i thought that now would be the time to put some forged pistons in as it will save on labour charges however 2 questions

 

I run 1800K with emerald ECU and Jenvey TB's Piper fast road cams and verniers so a theoretical 180 -190 bhp

 

1) Do i really need Forged Pistons, i know many of you have run this type of BHP through standard K blocks for 2 or 3 years without incident however i also know Oily reccommends forged over 160 but what's the reality without being anal

 

2) Where is the best place to get these pistons and rods if that is the decision and how tricky to fit

[Myles]

It's revs more than bhp that kills pistons, AFAIK.

 

I'm running 180bhp and 7.5-7.6krpm with the MGTF 160 pistons (somewhat tougher than normal, but not forged).

 

Project Scope-Creep is live...

 

Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™

 

Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com

---

[Mark Durrant]

I had to fit forged pistons to a 1.6 supersport earlier this year, so yes you do need them. Its revs that kills the pistons with the lands breaking off and many of the Supergrads and Megagrads have the forged pistons fitted. I might know of a set of VHPD forged pistons with rods and matching liners that are available. Drop me an email to my profile if your interested.

 

Mark D

Su77on Se7ens

 

[Jason Plato]

I ran for 3 years at 186 bhp reving to 7900 rpm with EU2 pistons .

 

Its the EU3 pistons that are the weak ones - these have failed on Grad racers with 115 bhp and reving past 7600rpm on the downchanges.

 

to change the pistons on your EU2 engine you will need strip the entire bottom end unless you bodge it and do it with the engine still in the car 😬

 

Have a word with Rob when he comes back from Greece

 

dave

[Jenson Button]

Dave...does that mean it's easier to fit forged pistons to EU3 engines?

 

 

[oilyhands]

Fitting pistons to EUI3 and EU2 engines is the same.

 

It is possible to fit forged pistons to an engine in-situ without bodging it. In essence it is the same as when the engine is on a stand but without the facility to turn the engine bottom up.

 

IMO the reason EU3 engines tend to be more prone to breakage is that they run marginally weaker and at higher temperatures than EU2 engines. IMO the SS rev limit is set way too high for the stock pistons, 7200 is as high as you should go, any higher than this and you risk breakage of the ring lands.

 

oily

[wild bill]

engine is revving to 7400 before cut off with limiter at 7200

 

Engine is supersport (or was) but i don't know if this is EU2 or 3

 

Rob is back tomorrow and we have discussed this. His view was that the engine should be fine, my only reason asking was because it would seem silly not to do it if cost was reasonable and as head is off. As i understand it there is no reason to take engine out to sort this and i have easy access to a hydraulic ramp but i'll bow to knowledge on here as to what's best.

 

Edited by - wild bill on 9 Nov 2005 11:30:40