Pistons for turbo engine

[fordperson]

Hey, I need some advice regarding purchasing pistons/rings... Im looking into lower my compression in a bmw s52 engine, so far I have looked at JE,CP,ROSS and Venolia pistons... and total seal rings. From the opinions I gathered im leaning toward buying Venolia pistons... is there anyone here that experienced those? opnions? I was also looking at total seal rings but I had people tell me they fail quite often.
Any advice/opnions etc on pistons and rings would be great.

Thanks in advance.
Tom

[Zgringo]

Originally Posted by fordperson

Hey, I need some advice regarding purchasing pistons/rings... Im looking into lower my compression in a bmw s52 engine, so far I have looked at JE,CP,ROSS and Venolia pistons... and total seal rings. From the opinions I gathered im leaning toward buying Venolia pistons... is there anyone here that experienced those? opnions? I was also looking at total seal rings but I had people tell me they fail quite often.
Any advice/opnions etc on pistons and rings would be great.

Thanks in advance.
Tom

I've used Aries an Venolia pistons with good luck. The Total Seal rings i've been using for 20 years and never had a problem with them.

[fordperson]

Were any of the engines that had totalseal rings turbo-d? If so how much boost were you running?

Tom

[Zgringo]

Originally Posted by fordperson

Were any of the engines that had totalseal rings turbo-d? If so how much boost were you running?

Tom

All but 3 were turbo'd, and they were supercharged.

[beyondloadedSE]

Im running Ross pistons on my Contour. Would never deal with them again! I dont know who is running that place, but they need to get a clue.

I sent them a stock piston and told them I wanted some 8.5:1 compression pistons. How hard can that be? Get them back, and the skirt design is too long and pistons 1 and 6 would hit the bottom of the block when rotating. All they had to do was use the stock skirt design.

So I send them back, and this time they fix it but they send the wrong rings. Send them back AGAIN, and once I receive them they send the right rings, but forget to send new wrist pins since they were previously installed. NEVER AGAIN!

[nissanfanatic]

I like Wiseco, but all of the ones you listed will do the job. But its prolly best to look for one that makes and advertises pistons for your specific application. Like beyondloaded's incident, I wouldn't wanna deal with something like that if I can just buy pistons already set up for my application. Good luck.

[SaabJohan]

BMW's choice of supplier of high performance pistons is Mahle Motorsport. They are probably not the cheapest but they can supply high quality pistons, liners, pins and rings according to customers needs.

If the engine are suppsoed to be supercharged (mechanical compressor or turbocharger) it's very important to get a strong ring land which often is a weakness.

To minimize blow by gases it's also important that the parts are matched for eachother and has a suitable design for the purpose. This does also involve the cylinder (block or liner).

[Zgringo]

Originally Posted by SaabJohan

BMW's choice of supplier of high performance pistons is Mahle Motorsport. They are probably not the cheapest but they can supply high quality pistons, liners, pins and rings according to customers needs.

If the engine are suppsoed to be supercharged (mechanical compressor or turbocharger) it's very important to get a strong ring land which often is a weakness.

To minimize blow by gases it's also important that the parts are matched for eachother and has a suitable design for the purpose. This does also involve the cylinder (block or liner).

For hi-performance BMW recommends MaxSil or JE pistons as these pistons expansion rate are similar to the engine block which is very important for good service and long life.
Where as the Mahle pistons are suitable for OEM replacement pistons.

[nissanfanatic]

Originally Posted by SaabJohan

BMW's choice of supplier of high performance pistons is Mahle Motorsport. They are probably not the cheapest but they can supply high quality pistons, liners, pins and rings according to customers needs.

If the engine are suppsoed to be supercharged (mechanical compressor or turbocharger) it's very important to get a strong ring land which often is a weakness.

To minimize blow by gases it's also important that the parts are matched for eachother and has a suitable design for the purpose. This does also involve the cylinder (block or liner).

yup yup. Ring lands are always the first to go on my engine. Like cookie dough weak.

Another thing I have heard is really good is phosphate coating. Helps with really high heat.

[Zgringo]

Originally Posted by nissanfanatic

yup yup. Ring lands are always the first to go on my engine. Like cookie dough weak.

Another thing I have heard is really good is phosphate coating. Helps with really high heat.

Thats why piston mfg. make pistons for N/A engines and supercharged engines. The loads on the blown engines ring lands is much higher on blown engines than N/A engines.
I think your thinking of molybdenum coated pistons.

[SaabJohan]

BMW Motorsport are using Mahle Motorsport pistons in their racing engines (like their F1 engine), just like the VW-Audi Group (Le Mans, GT, WRC), Ferrari, Toyota, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen are. These pistons are usually forged of high silicon alloys, or RR58 based alloys but AlBe and MMC materials have also been used.
http://www.mahlemotorsports.com/obj.nsf/74BE3C2CF01E147685256E3C0064E644/$FILE/page22.pdf

A piston will not expand like a block since materials and temperatures differs. The shape of the piston and the clearence between the block/liner and the piston is therefore matched so the piston will fit in the cylinder perfectly at full running temperature.

Pistons are sometimes coated for a better run-in or wear resistance/friction reduction.

With turbocharged engines there is usually a need for hard anodized ring grooves.

[Zgringo]

Saabjohan, once again you only post what you've read and not fact.

"BMW Motorsport are using Mahle Motorsport pistons in their racing engines (like their F1 engine), just like the VW-Audi Group (Le Mans, GT, WRC), Ferrari, Toyota, Renault, Peugeot and Citroen are."

There is 3 company's that stamp piston blanks and Mahle isn't one on them. Mahle only machines them. Each of the above car mfg's has Mahle machine the piston's to there specs. as they do other companys. BMW is using Mahle pistons as well as other mfg. pistons in there engines.

"With turbocharged engines there is usually a need for hard anodized ring grooves."

With turbocharged engines it much better to alloy "TIBOR" with lead free, no copper in the aluminum than it is to anodize the aluminum.

As for who uses what depends on who cuts the best deal. I'd say I run Coke Cola in my car if they payed me enough.
I'd also piss on a spark plug if it cut 1/10 off my times.

[fordperson]

uhm my email notofications didnt work... thanks for all the responces currently CP pistons are $1100 for a set(6) with pins/rings. Is anyone aware of places that sell those retail? (custom made i guess) and aprox pricing on them. I called some of the numbers on their website but most of them dont sell retail.

Tom

[nissanfanatic]

Originally Posted by Zgringo

Thats why piston mfg. make pistons for N/A engines and supercharged engines. The loads on the blown engines ring lands is much higher on blown engines than N/A engines.
I think your thinking of molybdenum coated pistons.

http://ka24de.com/

Its the very first link. They advertize phosphate coating.

[Zgringo]

Originally Posted by nissanfanatic

http://ka24de.com/

Its the very first link. They advertize phosphate coating.

I stand corrected. Now I'll have to do some research. I know molybdenum is super for heat shielding and wear, but phosphate, I'm not sure, but i'll find out.
Thanks for the correction.