[AGABE]

I Am Building A Motor For My Mustang. There Are A Lot Of Choices As Far As Short Blocks Are Concerned. My Major Question Has To Do With Piston Selection. Some Use Cast Aluminum, Others Forged And Hyper. For A Street Application With A Good Cam And Aluminum Heads What Is The Best Choice ??

[DoubleVision]

If you dont plan on spraying it with nitrous or revving it to the moon Hyper pistons work great on the street. Just make sure the bore clearance is correct.

[whyholdback]

Power is addicting. Eventually you will want more. Build it as 9.5:1 with forged pistons, then in the future you can add whatever power-adder you like.

[AGABE]

Some Short Block Suppliers Are Quoting Cast Aluminum Pistons. Are They Any Good ??

[techinspector1]

Originally Posted by AGABE

Some Short Block Suppliers Are Quoting Cast Aluminum Pistons. Are They Any Good ??

There are millions of motors running around out there using cast pistons. For a stock rebuild or a lightly warmed over build where a motor won't be subjected to excessive rpm's or power adders, they will do an admirable job. Be careful about the compression height though, you want to replace the pistons with pistons using the same compression height as stock in order to prevent having an excessive piston deck height that might eliminate squish and contribute to detonation (spark knock).

Hypereutectic pistons are also cast, but are manufactured with an excess of silicon to toughen them up a little for use in a street or street/strip motor. Pay close attention to piston to wall clearance and ring end gap.

Forged pistons are the ultimate in strength, but are also expensive compared to cast or hypereutectic. They might be used in a street, street/strip or strip only competition motor. Pay close attention to piston to wall clearance and ring end gap.