I'm building a 273. Please don't say I should go with a 360 in stead, I won't.
I want to be able to rev the engine as high as possible. The stock slugs make this difficult (if I could even find a set of stock 0.030" over stock slugs).
When it comes to the stock pistons and rods: what is the limit in terms of rpm?
I've found two viable options for pistons.
1. Egge 10:1 pistons:
Egge Piston Set with Pins – Egge Machine Company
2. Ford 5.4
pistons, Ford stroker
rods and 3.58" (360) stroke crank.
The Egge pistons are just cast aluminum. What would be the rpm limit on those? They are lighter than stock, but not by a lot, maybe 10%.
(These particular Ford pistons are hypereutectic but there are forged ones to be had, of course. Not sure if I need that, I won't be boosting it.)
Does anyone have a better idea?
Now, there is the third option of custom pistons, did anyone do this? What are we talking in terms of cost? Where to order?
The Ford combo:
The pistons are pretty much the same bore. 3.63" vs. stock 3.625. I would probably be needing to go with 0.020" or 0.030" over pistons, the block needs to be bored and squared up.
The compression height is significantly smaller though. 1.157" vs stock 1.822" Hence the need for a longer rod.
The rods are 6.657" vs stock 6.123" and differ from stock when it comes to journal size and Big End width. The journal needs to come down from 2.125" to 2.086", a difference of 0.039". Not impossible, right?
The big ends of the rods need to be ground from 0.94" to 0.927", a total of 0.013" or 0.0065" on each side. My machinist can do this, no problem. Probably not even very expensive.
A third option would be to offset grind the stock crank by 0.030" and deck the block 0.100" and use the same piston and rods. Decking the block 0.1" will cause all sorts of pain with the intake and general fitment but I don't
want to stroke the engine, I would like to keep it as stock as possible. I would actually rather de-stroke it but that would make my compression height problem even worse.
So, thoughts? Tips? Used 0.030" over 12.5:1 pistons laying around?
