Was wondering if anyone has ever ran oem ls rods with Supertech Pistons Or any other forged pistons? Why i go with ls rods? i have them, they are light compared to forged rods and h beams, and can handle 300 hp. Im going with Supertech Pistons because they are pretty cheap plus i can have more of a variety of compression ratio i can mess around with rather then oem pistons. Plus they can handle alot more power and they dont expand as much like oem pistons so i can have tighter clearances. I know i will have to go to the machine shop to get them pressed in and get them fitted properly but i would just like feedback on this to see if anyone has and if they had any problems with it. Any Info or feedback would be great! Thanks!

 

have the LS rods sent to the machine shop
so they can rebush the small end so it accepts a "floating" pin , rather than "press"

and get yourself some arp rod bolts to replace the oem rod bolts

should be good and ive done this countless times

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another shadetree aproach is... press the supertech pins into the rods and pistons
and not use the circlip/wirelocks it comes with it... as if its OEM

some have run this like this, however i dislike the idea that the pin remains pressed in the rod and the pin puts all the friction into the pistons pin bore
(do not run locks when doing it this way)

 

Thanks for the feedback! Have you ran into any problems? and why do you not use the circleclips or wirelocks? wouldn't they help for extra security?

 

because the pin is "fixed" at the rods when its press fit..

it then rotates at the pin bore of the piston.. the locks dont rotate...try to picture that for a moment..

rebushing rods are fine. never encounterd problems with that

but the shadetree method.. have seen issues sometimes.. its why i dont suggest that

but everybody's free to cheap out..
and we'd always be here to answer queries when results go awry LOL

 

LOL thanks man! ill take it to the machine shop and get it done

 

I run stock rods with pins locked into the rods, never had a single issue, as long as the pins were installed properly by using a rod end heater to get the eyelet to the proper temp so the pin slides right in. and I've never seen any wear in the wristpin bore in the pistons, even with motors that were powerful enough to oval the wristpins 0.001"+.

heck, just today I installed my "new" JE pistons onto stock rods, using the ovalled wristpins, I just indexed them so the wider orientation is vertical. I love rod heaters. you literally push the pin in with 1 finger, pushing on small punch so you don't get burned.

 

Good call


or here

 

only thing I'm wondering is why he didn't use the better rod heater in the first vid? the red machine that he's using to hold the piston while he presses the pin in is actually an electric rod heater table with coils, with adjustable temp settings and timers and everything. it's actually the same exact rod heater I just used. maybe he's just oldschool and likes to use flame lol

 

Okay so is there some type of clearance i need for the wrist pin bore and the wrist pin itself?? Say if i rebush or bore out the stock rod small end to make it accept the floating pin what clearance would i need to run it? Dont all the forge piston wrist pin all come one size btw?

 

if you want a floating pin, you would need to have bushings installed in the rods, you can not have a steel surface or it'll destroy the rod and pin.

as for clearance, I don't remember off the top of my head. best bet is to check with the aftermarket companies to see what they recommend, or just ask your machine shop