Hot Rod Mag...Jan. 2002
In the article where Jo Jackson spends $7500 and takes his Nova into the low 11s, high 10s...

For his small block, he uses 350 truck "X" rods w/ ARP bolts, and four-eyebrow cast alum. pistons. He installs them backwards on the rods to reduce friction. "Dyno testing has shown it to be worth 5 hp."

Can anyone here elaborate on this?

 

what the hell, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. I don't even think it's possible.

 

The wristpins are set up so they're offset a few thousandths in the piston, by rotating the piston 180* it changes the rod angularity in relation to the crank. I think there's a tradeoff tho in piston "side loading" and it can cause piston slap and reduce longevity.
A friend that's a former nascar wrench told me once that they'd do that for qualifying, to squeeze the most power out of the motor, but then for the race they'd switch it back.
I have a feeling it's not the best plan for the street.

 

Actually, stock cast pisons have about a 0.020" pin offset, but that can be specified when ordering a set of aftermarket pistons. I'd think you'd be asking for trouble with offset toward the power stroke side rather than the compression side.

 

yep I did it, by accident actually. You could clearly see after i tore it apart, after only 5,000 miles, the extra wear in both the rod bearing on only one side, and on the cylinder wall on one side. very very bad.

and now its assembled the right way, it runs SO much smoother.

 

sounds like a good trick to have to rebuild again in a few miles.

 

It's referred to in the article as an old Chrysler Big Block trick

Other items from the article:
1) Home made scraper made 8 hp more w/ stock pan. 4 hp more w/ deep pan.

2) 993 head castings ported w/ 2.02/1.60 valves. 0.140 angle milled to 62 cc for 10.3:1 compression w/ the 0.030 PAW pistons. 225cfm @ .500 intake amd 180cfm @ .500 exhaust.

3) 0.020 piston to head clearance. Fel Pro 1094 gasket

4) 323/329 adv. duration 0.493/0.512 lift 112LSA
"When the cylinder heads are flow limited, more camshaft duration is needed to let air in the engine. It is also important to avoid over-lifting the valve off the seat. Once the port reaches maximum flow, the air speed is at its strongest, and excessive lift serves no purpose except forcing the need for stiffer valvesprings."

5) Holley 750

6) 160 Dyno pulls on the engine: 443.6 hp at 6,600 rpm and 386 lb-ft at 5,300 rpm. Excess of 370 lb-ft from 4800-6200rpm.

7) TH400 trans. w/ 4000rpm stall.

8) The Nova weighs 3000lb.

9)Less than $3500 in motor. $7500 in entire vehicle.

10) 12 bolt w/ 4.56 gears

11)1.58 sec 60' times...11.305 @ 116.83 ("It has pulled a high 10 in ideal conditions".)