Hello There,

Mike and I had an enjoyable conversation about his car and his new build. I remember the car well over the years and it's neat to be able to help him on this new project.

The thing to keep in mind with this type of build is that you want soft, "dumbed down" chambers and pistons. Today's 18* BBC heads are available in NA and Nitrous versions because of what has been learned in the past 10 years at cylinder head companies. We have plenty of help with "swirl" with the blower on top of this type of engine. You don't want to have to "fight" nitrous or boost's extremely high cylinder pressures plus "quench" when it comes to this level of power. This car is also very heavy. You have to treat this like a tractor pull or top dragster type build. This will build heat in a hurry when the hammer is dropped.

Thick decks and skirts are key to keeping the ring grooves stable to allow the rings to do their job. If the part is flexing like a trampoline, then it doesn't matter if you have a set of $2800 P/S rings in the engine, it won't seal. Another key factor is pin strength, everyone likes to run their parts/components light, but if the pin flexes then that will cause the piston to flex as well. This leads to cracked pin bosses or decks, as well as pin galling.

The dish typically we like to start .250-.300 from the edge, this allows plenty of meat for the ring radial depths of the groove to have support. It also create stability in ring groove flatness and finish when they are cut. Tapered ring lands allow the piston to grow up top, as well as some tricks on camming and skirt profiles to prevent scuffing on the skirt.

Piston to wall clearance for forced induction can be as loose as .012, ring end gap as wide as .090-.100, and pin bore clearance set at .002-.0025", again you are compensating for the extremes when you are wide open. We go back and forth with guys wanting tighter piston to wall to prevent piston noise cold, yet want 2000hp to the flywheel. It's a trade off, just like the suspension for cruising vs. racing. Rarely is there a compromise.....