For those that are interested. Got my 4.1 pistons.

[cool 84]

After only 8 months. The JEs were ordered 2 weeks ago and they are now here. I can get the order # if anyone wants it since a few people seemed interested in an off the shelf 4.1 piston. I paid $618 for them but they sent me pins too which I didn't want (I was going to use the stock pins) so they would probably be cheaper than what I paid. Specs are 8.5 comp ratio, 1/16, 1/16, 3/16 rings lands for Total Seal rings, and pins are full floating.

On another note I heard from the source that Probe is going to be making a budget off the shelf forged 4.1 piston as well as forged 3.8 pistons very soon.

 

[mycarsucks]

Congratulations. You are planning to put this 4.1 through its paces right? I would like to see if they really are as weak as they are supposed to be.

Are these budget pistons supposed to be a forged or hyper?

 

[cool 84]

The budget ones are forged and should be ~$350-400. I should have enough up top to stress the block a little but I highly doubt it's any weaker than the 3.8 blocks. Only thing that has me concerned is it's .035 so the cylinders might be a little thin. I'm going for solid 11s in pure street trim and probably won't push it hard until Vegas.

 

[FJM568]

For all who are building a 4.1L, in talking with Phil Verhaeghe about building a 4.1L 2 or 3 yrs ago, he told me that a 4.000 bore is the biggest that you want to go with them on the production block and that you should have it sonic checked to verify that the cylinder wall thicknesses aren't offset due to core shift when the blocks were cast...All that info should be in the 4.1L recipe that is listed on the GNTTYPE website...

The biggest reason for going .035 over on the 4.1L is that brings the bore to 4.000, which increases availability on piston ring choices and keeps that cost down some simply because of that alone, but the custom pistons eat that savings up...

On a side note, is the budget piston that you mentioned going to be .035, or are they going with .020 or .030 over???

You also may want to send the part # for the J&E's to Ken Mosher and have it posted on the parts page or the 4.1L recipe page, or whatever number J&E would need to make another set for anyone who wants them...A lot of the manufacturers(like cams, for instance) keep records of special order part #'s so that the part is able to be re-ordered and made to the same specs as the previous order...Especially on cams, you can order a specific grind, even though it is not listed in the catalog, it still exists...The same holds true for pistons...

 

[turbowrenchhead]

So you are still waiting for the budget pistons after eight months. You ordered J&E's and you paid 618 for them? I ordered my J&E's three weeks ago. I dont know if the machine shop got them or not.
Did you get a estimate on the machining yet Brent? I am having them do it right with steel caps and the told me 3k to 3500. I just about s**t my pants. Just wondering how yours compares.

 

[cool 84]

I really didn't want to go .035 but it's a long story as to why I did it. IMO, that's going to be the weak link in this motor. I got out of the machine shop very cheap. I had rods resized, block bored and honed, cleaned and magged block, crank, and rods, block decked, line bore, girdle properly set up, and all the usual stuff for a total of $1,500 counting the cost of the pistons. Plus another $150 for the complete 4.1 out of the junkyard and $200 for rings and bearings. I'm doing the assembly myself because I learned never to trust anyone else. Besides, no one wants to set it up as tight as I want it on the rods (1.2 thousanths) so I'm doing it myself.

 

[Men in Black]

Turbowrenchead; you need to find another machine shop, they obviously don't want your business.

 

[turbowrenchhead]

The shop I took it to is very reputable. There are not a whole lot of shops to chose from around here. PT&E is 3 hours away but I know I would get charged twice as much for the same work. They are doing all the things the cool84 is having done. They told me 2k in labor plus parts, so 1000 to 1500 for parts. I supplied the head gaskets, apr main studs and steel main caps, and of course the block, rods and crank. So they are getting the pistons, pins, head studs, rods bolts/studs, bearings and rings. They are also doing head work. Valves are getting cut and gides are getting done too and surfaced.
I think the prices in labor are close considering that I am having head work done too.

 

[turbowrenchhead]

Oh and they are assembling it. They did there research and I supplied them with alot of info. I think they can do a better job of putting it together then me. Also if something happens the the motor it wont be my fault.

 

[max_burke]

Good to hear that it's finally coming along! I'm looking forward to seeing the numbers you manage to get out of it!

 

[cool 84]

Originally posted by max_burke
Good to hear that it's finally coming along! I'm looking forward to seeing the numbers you manage to get out of it!

Good to see you over here! My POS will probably run 14s with my luck since I've never been able to get one single full pass out of it.

 

[BuickTV6]

Hey cool84

Hey did you not used to have another hotair TurboRegal that was pretty fast? or am I confusing you with someone else? And If you did have a faster one, what happened to it?

-Todders

 

[cool 84]

It was fairly quick before but I've never gotten a full pass out of it. It went 12.9@ 110mph but the cat was plugged and boost was 13psi through the traps. With it running good in a third gear pull I could pull one of the local Viper GTS's about half a car every time. It was worse from a dead stop but I never got any good times with it. Even so, it worked out to my advantage in the street racing scene around here. I had a pretty basic combo before but it seemed to work well. A friend blew the motor up for me with 30+psi so I used it as an excuse to get serious.

 

[max_burke]

Originally posted by cool 84
Good to see you over here! My POS will probably run 14s with my luck since I've never been able to get one single full pass out of it.

Doh! Well good luck with it anyways.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

"NEW" Pistonz??

Hey, Red. If you would just take that overbored piece over to your bestest bud, he'd put it together and it would be good for some lo 10's.
With all his "nowlege" that he's shared w/ others such as you, Lou and Dutt, he'd be my choice

GUESS WHO!!!