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A feeler thread for a potential mod

How much is a set of custom LS pistons? Are there forged flat top or dishes pistons without valve reliefs?
From my experience when ordering custom pistons, it doesn’t matter if you buy 4 or 8, there’s not much of a price break on the per part price.

From my quick 10min look, it seems that the only true flat tops available are cast replacement pistons, which are cheap @$200/8. This could be an ok solution for a high performance NA setup, or a turbo setup with a lot of chamber work to lower the CR down.
 
How much is a set of custom LS pistons? Are there forged flat top or dishes pistons without valve reliefs?
From my experience when ordering custom pistons, it doesn’t matter if you buy 4 or 8, there’s not much of a price break on the per part price.

From my quick 10min look, it seems that the only true flat tops available are cast replacement pistons, which are cheap @$200/8. This could be an ok solution for a high performance NA setup, or a turbo setup with a lot of chamber work to lower the CR down.

There's also a cast dished version with an 8cc dish. That's just the stock 96mm bore pistons, though. Forged pistons with notches exist, as well as those for larger bores.

To be honest, when I first found this solution for pistons, I was trying to find a near-stock solution for that lack of flat-top pistons to raise CR and increase squish without shaving the head. Everything else was a bonus.
 
Stock b230 block is really only limited to 97mm bore before they split at high power levels.
 
I like this idea, but it doesn't seem like you save much money and I wouldn't run a piston with valve reliefs for some other unrelated valve configuration. Or do an overbore for non-cleaning it up reasons.

Seems you'd be better off tracking down some B230E/B230A pistons for almost zero dish.

The weight saving is interesting, though.
 
I'd like to see how this turns out, and how LS piston skirts work vs the standard B230 pistons which have the tendency to get sloppy. I worked at a shop that built high performance Vanagon 2.1 motors. Wasserboxers have a 24mm wrist pin while a type 1 has a 22mm. Some aftermarket big bore pistons had terrible deck and compression height issues, so we took brand new Scat type 1 rods, bored out the wrist pin bore, and installed a brass bush with an offset bore, to lengthen the connecting rod to achieve the right deck. Many of these motors in customer cars have over 100k miles of pushing Vanagon westys around for the last 10-15 years.
 
That is quite the accomplishment making the wasser boxer engine last more than 60k miles.

I forget the user name now. A long time poster many years ago used the Buick Turbo pistons in his red block build. Don't know what happened to that one but it was a good idea,
 
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