[silver_pilate]

Well, I seem to be finding myself in a bit of a quandry. Here's the jist of it:

When I built my motor, I did so in a N/A approach with no future plans of using a power adder. However, now that I'm reaching the end of my chosen modding path, I'm once again bitten with the power bug.

My engine was built to be a reliable, well mannered, and quick street motor, and it has been just that. It's not the quickest car out there, but it is fun, and it will run with most things you run into everyday. I'm finally getting into that 13.7-13.5 range where as most LS1's at this altitude run 13.8's on street tires.

Anyway, when I built the motor, I used Keith Black hypereutectic pistons. They are very strong (my builder uses them in his 500 hp track cars), and they are lightweight and have great thermal expansion qualities allowing them to be run at a tighter clearance than forged pistons.

However, when we assembled the motor, we gapped the rings at .0065" which is where KB recommend for N/A cars. For nitrous / s/c applications, they recommend a .008" gap. I e-mailed KB, and they said the gap was too small for nitrous. Also, I'm running close to 10:1 compression.

I've been seriously considering a 75 hp shot which should put me into the 12's with this AOD car (at 3400 ft altitude). I was looking at Zex kits and I think with conservative tuning, it would be safe for occasional use. I've talked with others who think the same thing. However, I've also heard stories of blown off ring lands and such with these pistons. Also, my cam may not be the best setup for nitrous applications (although it works great for N/A ).

What do you guys think?

--nathan