fyi guys,

Well yesturday i picked up a RB30 for my conversion into my R33.
I will be using my RB25DET head on the RB30 block. So i started stripping the motor down, pulled the crank, pistons, girdle, oil pump, welch plugs & everything off the block. Now the RB30 block is going to be Acid dipped/cleaned and machined out a further .10 ontop of the .15 that it allready has. (total of .25)

Looking around on these forums i noticed a couple of threads of people spending $800 - $1200 on RODs! I pulled a piston out yesturday of the RB30, removed the gudgen pin and looked at the rod...

I then walked over to my old mans 900HP, 7 liter, 454 Big block chev (Also in peices on the floor) & compared rod sizes. Width of the Rods, SAME!.... Side wall strenth & Height SAME!!. Only noticable diffrence is that his are slightly longer. (witch in fact would make them weaker than mine because my rods would have a higer pressure tolerance) I will leave the rest for you too decide when its time for you to do a rebuild.

Anyways i am now at a stage were i am looking for pistons, i am not intrested to here anything about forged pistons. Alot of people arent aware of the cons about forged pistons, such as the amount of slop that a forge piston has (Clerance properties between the bore and the piston, & heating + cooling tolerances).If you guys all wanted to run 9 sec passes and were looking for no more than 100K then i would suggest running forgies. not for mild street cars.

Now, has anyone tryed using Thermo-pudic pistons (not sure on spelling)? i havent done too much reasearch into these pistons, but heard that it a very strong alternavtive to running forged pistons. And are still capable of running very high HP (600+). Some of the advantages of these pistons so far are that there heating & cooling properties closly match the stock pistons, and they are a very snug fit in the bore (prevents slapping up the bore on cold starts, unlike forgies that have to become warm then expand to provide the snug fit) This inturn reduces engine (cylinder) wear and will provide me with the drivability & performance that i am after.

Has anyone used these pistons or know of someone that is using them that has problems?

Basicly i am after so critism on the pistons, if there is any?

Thanks.


Edit : new host of the RB30 DOHC guide hosted by Titan

RB30 DOHC Guide. (Click me)