Question on L2295F Pistons and 440 Source Stealth Heads

Does anyone know if Installing L2295F Dome top pistons with the 2.029 CH and the .125-.140in dome on the somewhat closed chambered 440 Source Stealth Heads possible? I’m looking to retain my current 10.5:1 CR with the option of being able to bump it up or down by just a head gasket swap, and the L2295Fs look very enticing for that. The theoretical set up would be about .040-.050 in the hole, with a .060-.070in Compressed Cometic MLS Head Gasket, head at 80ccs, Stock Stroke and .030 over bore, LY rods, and the Dome works out to be about 11.1-12ish CCs. According to what I’m calculating with the .040in in the hole case with taller dome, the piston would be sticking out of the hole about .030in, or in the other case with the shorter dome and .050in in the hole it would be sticking out about .015in. Will that be an immediate head collision or is the dome on the valve side and there’s some clearance to be had? And if there is clearance any experience on about how much? It’s got a XE284H Comp cam with .507 & .510 lift.

Thanks in advance!

I ran the 2295 pistons with all types of heads.They will fit with no problem, however you need to re-evaluate the valve pockets. They are not very deep and need to be opened up a little on the ends.Always do a clay test.

That's some good info. Thanks for sharing that

Thanks for the reply! Definitely good advise on the clay testing, but do you happen to know a ballpark size cam you’d be able to run with these without immediate cause of concern, or is .510 already pushing the envelope? I’m only gonna be able to get one set of head gaskets when the time comes and I’m shooting for that 10.5 CR, if I gotta mill it out it’s gonna throw off the ratio a tad by adding CCs no? Also what’s the best method of tooling to open those up if thats what must be done?

I ran the Mopar .557 with those pistons, but that is with stock valve sizes and no milling. Larger valves will need to have the pistons machined. If block or heads are milled that goes out the window. Every motor is different.

Gotcha thanks a ton for the info, you’ve been very helpful! If you don’t mind me asking can a die grinder or something be used to widen those reliefs or do you need a shops milling machine?

They need to be made wider and cut deeper. I would let a professional do it. should be about $80. You can buy a tool or make one if you like.

I have those pistons in my 440. I did not use clay to check valve clearance because a friend ran nearly the same combo with no problems. I realize that all engines are different and I should have done it anyway. I have the .650 lift Comp cam. The heads are ported 906s with 2.140 intake and 1.880 exhaust valves. The block has also been decked .060. The pistons have not been clearanced in any way. It sounds as if I have been very lucky to have not had any clearance issues.

I had a set of thoise in a 383 back in the day and I seem to recall they're more like a 12.5:1 CR - and that's with an open chamber head !!

.040 - .050 in the hole and then a .060 - .070 gasket. This just sounds ridiculous to me. And it defeats the whole purpose of the domed piston. Why not take the money you'd spend on those MLS gaskets and put it toward a set of modern day, forged, light-weight pistons from 440Source that will give you the desired CR with no ridiculous effort. No fancy deck/head finish and use a standard head gasket. gasket How were you planning to get the piston .050 down in the hole - those things were made to have pretty close to zero deck height.

My suggestion is to spend a few bucks more and get your CR in a more traditional way.

The 383 piston, 2293 is obviously different than the 2295 for a 440. The 383 piston was advertised as 12.5:1, with a 79 cc head and blueprinted deck height.

The 2295 in an uncut 440 block will be 0.050 - 0.055" below the deck.

Assuming the Stealth heads measure the advertised 80cc, the block is the stock 10.725” height, and you use a .040” gasket(and that the stroke is actually 3.750” and the rods are actually 6.768”)....... the CR would end up at around 10.8:1.

Swapping only the pistons to Icon IC822’s would drop the CR to about 10.2.
With some head milling and a thinner gasket you could get back to that 10.8 range, only you’d have much lighter pistons and effective quench....... and proper valve pockets.

That’s not a bad idea, but one thing that I liked about the L2295s was the stock rod compatibility and the option to raise / lower CR with just a head gasket swap. However I may just end up sleeving my 69’ block and reusing the L2310s it has. I’m not a huge fan of decking/milling If I don’t have too. Right now Stock gaskets and intakes fit like a glove. It’s running about 10.5:1 right now as it sits but it has a pinhole in a cylinder wall pressurizing the coolant, but what are you gonna do. Thanks a lot for the help everyone it’s definitely given me a lot to toss around!

How did you determine its a pin hole in a cylinder wall. Seems unlikely.

The Icon IC968 is the same as the IC822, only it uses the 1.094 sized pin.

There is also the IC9953, as well as pistons from Pro True and SRP that have similar dimensions and pricing.

I’ve replaced thermostats, rad caps, the heads, the head gaskets, radiator, etc and I kept getting air in the coolant, along with random spurts of 250 degree coolant temp (Steam I assume) on the aftermarket temp sensor (OEM read all good saying within the safe range), and a constant clicking and popping of all the thermostats I’ve tried combined with a upper rad hose gurgling and shaking like crazy. It usually last about 30 seconds then It’s all normal again until the cycle repeats later in the drive, sometimes overflowing the coolant reserve bottle. I just kinda figured after all that all that’s really left is the .060 over block. I would love to be wrong and finally fix that head scratcher of a problem. I’m open to any suggestions haha

if you just have a coolant reserve [overflow] bottle and not a recovery bottle, you are ingesting air into the coolant system, which will cause the symptoms you describe.
a recovery system will have the radiator overflow tube enter the bottom of the overflow can [or the top, but you will have a tube or hose going almost to the bottom of the can] so the expanded coolant when hot, can enter the can. when cold, the coolant retracts and is drawn back into the radiator. the tube must go into, or be at close to the bottom of the can to work. if not, hot coolant is just pushed into the overflow can, and is replaced by air when the coolant returns to it's cold state.
this system also must use a radiator cap with dual seals.

Okay I’m open to any suggestions anything’s better than pulling/replacing an engine in a car you’ve spent years working on haha, This is the way my current overflow set up is ran, but I also did come up positive for combustion with the coolant sniffer test.

Didnt they come with an overflow without a recovery bottle?

If the upper hose gets rock hard after a little driving, and you have a near continuous little stream of tiny bubbles, you have a leak.

Once I get a chance to run the car again I’ll try to capture it on video and link it, it’s a very odd/confusing thing to see.

i'm just guessing here, but i don't ever recall seeing a radiator cap with a pressure release lever having the double seal necessary for use in a recovery system.
does the overflow tube shown in your picture exiting to the drivers side of the filler neck run under the radiator and enter the overflow container from the bottom ?

Yeah it’s ran very similarly to that, also that’s how I had a 383 ran & slant 6 as well. Red flags? Also where do you think the combustion gas could be coming from?

Blown head gasket or cracked head would be the most common source of combustion gas in the coolant. A cracked or pitted cylinder wall would likely drive oil into the coolant too so if the coolant is clean, not a likely source.

I didn't think a domed piston worked at all with a closed chamber head.

I think you'd be better off to find a piston with a CH that puts it as close to zero deck as possible and machine the block to square and zero it. .039 head gasket would set your quench perfectly.

Sounds like you're keeping the stock rods so you might even find a flatop hypereutectic cast piston that would accomplish that economically.

Kevin

Here’s the chugging upper radiator hose and a possible valve train tick/knock.

- https://youtu.be/6lEKE8GadIM

- https://youtu.be/3udE4xoeF_I

I’m going to start a new thread about the coolant and engine noise issues since it’s kinda off topic, thanks for everyone’s input on the L2295 and Stealth Head question!

Here’s the new thread: https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...upper-rad-hose-chugging.html#Post2823199