I'm swapping a 5.8 in my 94 f150. I took my pistons out yesterday and i accidentally dropped one and broke the skirt. and i was thinking.. should i go ahead and buy a set top flat tops or just buy the one OE type dished piston? the pistons were replaced 10k ago bored .030 over so all the others are in good shape.

are there any advantages on a low RPM torquer truck to have flat tops? im looking for torque not HP. but both would be nice haha.

I'll be buying a new cam, MINOR porting the stock 1988 5.8 heads.

 

True flattops will raise compression considerably and create P-V clearance issues with aftermarket cams so at the very least you would want flattops with valve eyebrows, but these alone won't make much if any difference on a stock motor so it's a bit of an unnecessary expense.

Hog the exhaust ports out as much as you dare and spend some time opening up the lower intake port exits where they meet the heads.

 

thanks for the response. i can get some flat tops (with valve relief) for $150. would there be any noticeable gain worth 150 bucks?(plus the price of getting the pins pressed)

i dont want to pass up a cheap opportunity for some extra Ft.lbs and maybe a little HP. i just dont know if there will be a gain. i dont mind running premium if i need to. i run premium anyway...