ITM, Clevite, or Federal Mogul Pistons?

[Careless]

Hi guys.

 

I saw my VG33e's bores and found that they are a little tattered and bruised. Not too heavily... Just had a friend whom I trust a little worried when he felt/looked at it... I tried eyeing it with a straight edge and it looked way out of round, then tried with another straight edge and it looked ok. Only on pistons 1 and 6 though opposite banks, opposite ends of the blocks. It kinda makes sense...

 

I don't want surprises so I'm looking for some aftermarket, largest over-bore pistons I can find. So far 0.020 seems to be common shelf size... but 0.040 is available. This is a good reason for me to get all this done and have a truly reliable daily VG33ET when I remove the manifolds and such from my Z31.

 

The question I have (and this may apply more to v8 guys, since those engines are simply more common and rebuilt more often) is how do these brands stack up?

 

ITM looks like a good brand, but they offer chrome plated and cast iron rings. They say the option is there for either, but their parts numbers don't show it... maybe it's a verbal thing? I dunno.

 

At 200.00 dollars for a set with rings (hopefully chrome plated) and new wrist pins, I think I'm going to do it. I wanted to have the engine hot tanked, and have the bearings checked and replaced with standard size (hopefully, to avoid more money burned away) and then I wanted to paint the block.

 

Federal Mogul is 50 bucks more, and comes from Summit Racing rather than on eBay. And their shipping charge is not applied at time of purchase... I don't want to be stuck with their super-fast shipping and have UPS take their huge cut.

 

Clevites/Mahle only showed up on website at .020 over only, and I believe it was for a single piston and not a complete set, but it would be somewhere at or around the average of both ITM and Federal Mogul.

 

Neither of these pistons are considered performance brands by any means, but they meet or exceed OEM standards (from what they say, I guess... but I've done catalogs and brochures for companies and that's all BS most of the time).

 

I read the most relevant ITM thread and saw a couple of regular posters whom I've been reading posts from since I got here on HybridZ, and some made some nice numbers on the L motors in Naturally Aspirated form with the ITM's...

 

I think I may just get the ITM pistons and call it a day, but if someone can shed light on why I should go elsewhere... or what type of rings they got and how they looked/felt? that would be noiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

 

Arrigato.

[Careless]

The verdict is Sealed Power H1113CT Pistons in a 0.75mm oversize.

These are Hypereutectic. ITM, CLEVITE, and standard FED MOGUL are NOT. I've called and emailed and had a distributor even check for me... they say they are not Hypereutectic.

 

Sealed Power is a different casting than the FED MOGUL ones, which is the parent company. they are labelled as hypereutectic, and cost a bit more (if yo don't know where to look)

 

They come with chrome plated top rings, cast iron second rings, and standard oil rings. No fancy shmancy here, but they are better than OEM or other non-forged Aftermarket. Chris86NA2T on Z31Performance made a heck of a lot of power, more so than I will be for another year or so. These are the ones for me.

 

I found them in a lot of price ranges.

 

1) Rock auto. 54 dollars a slug. After conversion and shipping = 420 CAD for the set.

2) Local parts place. Without applicable taxes = 530 CAD for the set.

3) Machinist Jobber price. Without applicable taxes. 61 dollars a slug = 370 CAD for the set.

4) Autopartsgiant.com. 44 dollars a slug. After conversion and shipping + discount code = 290 CAD.