My 350 is currently in the machine shop. I want to replace my old pistons and rods. What questions should I be asking myself/the machine shop to in order to make sure I get the right parts for my budget????

 

• How long will it last?
• What's the budget?
• What are the goals?
• Are all 3 of those things in agreement?
• Fast, durable, cheeep, pick any 1 or 2 but can't have all 3
• What parts will this be used in conjunction with?

 

Need to know head chamber size , cam specs , desired CR and intended use to pick piston type ; dished / flat top

 

Im looking for cheap and durable or cheap and fast. Can anyone recommend a solid brand to look into using the questions listed above?

 

Cheap and good usually dont go together but.....


What head
What intake
How high you plan on spinning it
Cam? Desired compression? Is he decking the block, if so how much?

Need to take all these into consideration before doing anything.

You should talk to your machinist tell him what you want and what you have to spend bet he will point you in the right direction and has a better line of parts than most of us.

Plan this carefully and do it once.

 

And souls in Hell are looking for icewater too. Welcome to hot-rodding.

Prioritize. Can't have all 3.

Not a matter of "brand"; rather, it costs MONEY, in the form of time knowledge machinery and materials, to make it fast AND durable.

 

Alright thanks feel a lot better about this now.

 

speed pro are reasonably priced. used on a lot of rebuilds

 

Need more info to help you make a decision. Its not so simple as high perormance piston as youre seeing. Id say talk to the machinist...best bet.

 

I know theres not much info here but can anyone give me an educated guess on a $$$ value for a set of decent pistons and rods... just trying to get an idea of what ill be looking at

 

Pistons could be anywhere from $7.50 each for the cheeeeepest of the cheeeeeep rebuilder crap, to $100 each for professional race grade parts.

Likewise, rods could be anywhere from around $6 a piece for mass-produced reworked stock ones, to over $1000 a set for virgin nonobtanium ones with purified irreplacium bushings.

What is this motor going to do? Goals? ET, HP, lap times, ??? Budget? Purpose: are we talking daily driver, hot street, street-strip, bracket racing, Pro Stock? Gotta be a bit more specific.

 

this car will be my daily driver but i would like to have some power... I have a stock crank, cam and heads the cylinders are being resized and will now be a 355. Compression Ratio because of stock items machine shop said will be 9 to 9.5:1. I have a couple hundred set aside for this right now. I would like to replace the heads later this summer when i get some extra cash.

any suggestions?