I am in the process of freshening up my current 355 for next year..mainly just new bearings and rings.My question is what piston deck thickness should I try to obtain from a piston to be safe on a 250 shot of juice?Right now my current combo has Manley forged flat tops (which are machined from TRW blanks) with a.175" deck thickness and gives me 10:1 with the 64cc AFR 195's.Am I safe with that thickness on a 250 shot or should I look into new pistons?The crank & rods are 4340 so those I know will take the abuse.I have sprayed the 100 shot many times and once a 200 shot..but I am looking to set it up to get sprayed a 250 on a regular basis next year when I hit the track.Basically I want to be safe rather than sorry.Or should I be fine with the pistons I have?

 

what kind of cam are you running?

 

..right now it is a Comp XE 274 hydraulic flat tappet.But that is another area I am looking to swap out during the rebuild..thinking about going solid roller.Any suggestions?I run the car NA 85% of the time..but when I spray I want it to be more than up to the task.

 

well there is a great effect of overlap on cylinder pressure, its amazing how well your piston can cope if just a little overlap is there. the comps usually have a tiny bit. those nitrous cams do build more cylinder pressure and cyliner pressure = power but they tend to do it too much. I ran cheap pump gas with my 150 shot for years in the JYD it had a 106 degree lobe sep and a pile of overlap (circle track cam. This is an extreme case. Im not saying to duplicate it. but after switching to a nitrous cam the engine has blown numerous set of head gaskets. just something to think about. you can see it running on the old cam in the video link in my sig.