440 piston choice

[moparfanUSA]

Starting the rebuild of my 440,( 30 over) my engine builder wants me to buy floating pistons and not press fit ones, which leaves a narrow choice. He hates KB pistons, so the only ones left with 5/64 rings is ICON ( which KB owns) other wise all of the pistons have 1/16 rings for racing. I wanted flattops with 2 valve reliefs ( sealed power) but they do not make a floating pin piston. I am going to get SCAT H Beam rods and I am going use my 915 heads. ICON offers 2 pistons, one with about a 8:1 CR and the other 10.8:1.
My question is, if it is just a street car, not racing why not use the press fit ones. He is so insistent on using floating ones. I hate to have to go to a bigger head gasket thickness which increases the chance of blowing them out to lower the 10:81 ICONs.
Any ideas on what pistons I should use.....I THINK I have looked them all up.

 

[69Bee]

Use Sealed Power 350NP pistons (flat top with a compression distance of 1.990"). Use your original rods, resize them so the bore is round and straight. I would advise against the scat rods from all of the issues I have heard. If your machine shop does not want to use the pressed rods, I can send you my address to ship the motor to me to build for you.

It is your motor, not his. He should build it the way you want to...

 

[lewtot184]

there's nothing wrong with pressed pins or kb pistons.

 

[mentor70]

unless your heads have already been milled previously and CCed, your probably no where near 10.8 comp. dont worry about that yet.

i have the Icon pistons in a flat top, and my out of the box 440 source heads left me at around 9.8....im going to have to mill them a little to get 10.25 which is my target comp.

full floaters are the way to go, its easier to assemble.

i didnt like the out of the box Icon wrist pins, so i upgraded with H13 pins from Trend performance.

 

[m79ded]

Use Sealed Power 350NP pistons (flat top with a compression distance of 1.990"). Use your original rods, resize them so the bore is round and straight. I would advise against the scat rods from all of the issues I have heard. If your machine shop does not want to use the pressed rods, I can send you my address to ship the motor to me to build for you.

It is your motor, not his. He should build it the way you want to...

Hi

I was wondering what issues have you heard about the Scat rods?

 

[69Bee]

Hi

I was wondering what issues have you heard about the Scat rods?

Big end or pin end not sized correctly.

 

[moparfanUSA]

I don't want to use the rods that are in the motor now, they came from a truck and by the time I have the fluxed and such I would rather buy new ones.
Looks Like Eagle or scat.

 

[lewtot184]

i use icon 836 pistons with a set of 440 source h-beam rods in one of my 440 engines with edelbrock heads. this combo is about 3/4lb lighter per piston/rod than the stock combo.

 

[moparfanUSA]

I was thinking about the same combo, my hold up is on the ring size, 5/64 vs 1/16 which most use for racing, which I will not be doing, so in the end I guess the size should not mess me up . I found Wiseco pistons that on paper look good.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I have stock rods resized with ARP bolts and KB 2.065" compression distance pistons. No issues and I have run this to 6000 RPM through the lights plenty of times. Pressed pins too. If you want H beam rods go with K1 Technologies. X2 on not needing floating pins for a street car. Also compression should be 9.5:1 max and I'd say not less than 9.0:1. Run a mild cam that keeps the cylinder pressure in the 160-175 PSI range and you will be fine.

 

[m79ded]

I was also going to go with the icon pistons for this build but my engine builder told me to check out Probe pistons. I looked at them and they seem,ed to fit my build very well.
They have dished and flat top pistons and with either 990 pins or 1.094.
They were cheaper than the icons and lighter so I went with them.
# i got was Probe 14797 along with Scat rods from CNC motorsports. And as 69Bee mentioned I will have them checked for sizing.
I was going to skip the rods but the cost to nicely do up stock rods I figured for a little more I have new H-beams.
Also check Flatlander and Rpm machine they had gret prices on engine parts.
Good luck

 

[mentor70]

i was going to go with Probe too, but after i waited 8 weeks for them, and was then told it would be another 6 for what ever BS reason they werent done the first time, i decided to get off the shelf Icons from 440 source, not bad, but i think the wrist pins sucked, so i ordered H13 pins from Trend performance, downer is they run slighty larger than the Icon pistons and 440 source rods, so everything will need a little custom re sizing.

 

[MT_Mopar]

i was going to go with Probe too, but after i waited 8 weeks for them, and was then told it would be another 6 for what ever BS reason they werent done the first time, i decided to get off the shelf Icons from 440 source, not bad, but i think the wrist pins sucked, so i ordered H13 pins from Trend performance, downer is they run slighty larger than the Icon pistons and 440 source rods, so everything will need a little custom re sizing.

They told me the same thing last year, I ordered, waited 6 weeks, called them and they said another 6 to 8. Then we went with Ross Racing Forged Pistons 82008, that changed the CR, which changed to a custom grind cam, which all worked out in the end for a great build on 91 octane. Good luck with your build!

 

[Garys1969RR]

i use icon 836 pistons with a set of 440 source h-beam rods in one of my 440 engines with edelbrock heads. this combo is about 3/4lb lighter per piston/rod than the stock combo.

Wow! 3/4 pounds is a lot of weight that doesn't have to stop and then move in the opposite direction 200 times a second at 6000 RPM. 6000 RPM is 100 Revolutions per second, piston changes direction once at BDC and once at TDC, equals 200 times a second. Just checking the math. Lol.

- - - Updated - - -

I used Ross racing pistons that weighed in at 550 grams it seems. Pressed pins, domes, 1/16" rings, stock 440 rods. That thing revs super quick when sitting at idle and opening the throttle. I drive it on the street alot, and have had no issues.