I have a new motor that I am thinking of adding a small shot of nitrous to. It is fully forged with mahle pistons. My question is has anybody thrown nitrous to these pistons? I was under the impression that a forged piston is up to the task, but a buddy told me that with those pistons I should think twice about boost or nitro. They are in a 396 stroker and they have the grafal anti friction coating. Thanks for your input.

 

I did some digging around and did not find much on the bad side for this brand. Nothing more than any other I guess. Did you do anything to beef up the bottom end?

 

Are they forged !

 

I was asking if he did any high end barrings and things like that. A crank barring with out a tang can goof up any ones day.

 

The type of piston is only part of the equation. Any high compression piston will have a shorter life when hit with a shot of nitrous, and the higher the compression, the shorter the life. Most people building an engine designed for nitrous will start with a lower static compression ratio.
As mentioned by others, you'll also want to build the lower end to handle the nitrous, and how much it's built depends on what the nitrous shot will be. The larger the shot, the stronger it needs to be.

 

yes, we need a little bit more info on the motor. whats the quench? dished pistons? Any forged piston can be used with nitrous, theres a lot more to it besides pistons.

 

Sorry I guess a little more info would help. I attached a copy of the build sheet. The cam is a mechanical ( solid) roller. Heads are dart platinum. Everything is forged four bolt billet main caps. The short block is as solid as it gets. Compression comes in at just under 9.5. If you will notice the bob weight is less than a 350 but with 396 cubic inches. I take it to 6500 all the time and it is still pulling strong but my intake isn't enough for much more. I could only find one piston made by mahle for this combination. They do have the anti friction coating I think is what he was he was getting at. Pistons are supposed to be top of the line. One other thing I forgot is the ring groove is 1.5 1.5 3.0 mm. Hard to see in build sheet. Only looking to add 75-100 shot. Timing is locked with no advance at 35-1/2*. Would only have to retard 1-2*.

 

Also, does anybody know what my options are for keeping the alternator belt on? It breaks and throws them on a regular basis. Don't have dough for serpentine right now. How about an idler pulley for the v- belt? Attached a pre fire pic. Video here YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Or go to youtube and put in 1978 camaro 396 stroker. She is bad.

 

If you're sure the belt is aligned properly, then the fix is either deep groove pulleys, or fabbing a belt guard to keep the belt from riding up out of the pulley.

 

I'd rather start with less compression, but it would work if everything is set up properly, and you have the proper safeties to keep the nitrous from cooking the pistons. Be sure to have a pressure switch that shuts the engine off if your fuel pressure on the nitrous side drops.