How much abuse can hypereutectic pistons take?

[eddielugnutz]

Just curious, but how much can hypereutectic pistons take, I've been told they don't hold up well in any supercharged or turbocharged/nitrous motors, just mild normally aspirated motors below 350hp.

[82 GT]

They can handle more than what people give credit for. I've seen them used with 150 shots of nitrous before without problems.
It depends on how much power or boost you plan on throwing at them.

[Dark_5.0]

The hypereutectic pistons can handle boost and Nitrous. I have also seen people spraying 94-95GT's with 150 shot's with no problem and I have also seen 94-95GT's with S-trim blowers with no problems.

Hypereutectics work just fine till something goes wrong like a lean condition or detonation while using a power adder. They will fail where forged pistons wont when things go bad.

[82 GT]

Originally Posted by Dark_5.0

Hypereutectics work just fine till something goes wrong like a lean condition or detonation while using a power adder. They will fail where forged pistons wont when things go bad.

Exactly! If you know what you're doing when using boost or nitrous then you can use the hypers. If not, then forged would be the best way to go.

[~The Jester~]

Originally Posted by 82 GT

Exactly! If you know what you're doing.......

Do we have to go further than that? I can absolutely MELT a forged piston with a mis-tune on nitrous. But on the opposite side of the coin, Hyper-craps will tak a bit of abuse, but not A LOT!

FWIW, I'm beating the PISS out of my hypers, all motor. And so far, so good! They're getting swapped out for a set of forged slugs this winter (perhaps 9.5:1 ratio????? Hmmmmm)

Think of it this way. You're hitting that piston with "X" amount of force when the fuel/air ignites. Think of "X" as a sledge hammer. In a normally running engine that sledge hammer, or "X" hits the entire top of the piston, and the world is good.

If detonation occurs, somehow a 16 penny spike ends up on top of your piston, and "X" hits the nail, and ALLLLLLLL that force ends up in one single concentrated spot on the top of your piston. NOT GOOD.

Forged pistons are a lot more forgiving on the whole detonation thing, while hypers are not. Hypers have a higher silicon content (which is used for longer more reliable street use) but if your "tune" is off, they DO NOT like nails! So basically, whay Brian said is true, if you know what you're doing, you're good to go. Margin of error is significantly smaller with the hypers.

With me?

[eddielugnutz]

I bow to the masters yet again, thank you for enlightening me! I'll make sure I get a good dyno tune and run her a little rich! I'd rather waste a few HP and live to see another day ya know?