Ok so I now know what to do with my rods with your guys help, but I need new pistons!!! My last set of 2287p trw .030 were wore out as my shop said with detonation damage on 4 of the 8 and excessive wear in top ring groove. I had another set I was bidding on and the got away for 270$, 5$ more than me and they were garanteed to be useable supposively. Anyways I'm over it I want NEW. I'm thinking of getting these trw's again with a 10.3:1 compression ratio with a 71 cc head which seems odd and mine are a 72cc with cj valves so I figure it will be around 10.2:1 ish. I'd actually like to have a but lower compression in the low 10's. Heres
the link
SPEED PRO TRW Ford 428 Cobra Jet Forged Pistons 10.5:1: eBay Motors (item 170528778492 end time Sep-16-10 13:58:44 PDT)

Any other suggestions for this price range and my build for low rpm bottom end power in a big truck

Thanks again..

 

Silv-O-Lite has a cast 10.3:1 piston 1138-030
Summit carries them 2 week delivery $384.99 + shipping

 

whats the big difference between cast and forged though. Ive read into them and its seems cast isnt really that bad. They tend to be more brittle while forged is more forgiving but cast is lighter. My engine supplier guy qouted me a set of cast pistons for 229$ with the same compression as these but I dont know brand type.
I just need to get this thing going all the parts are now at the shop waiting to be balanced minus pistons, and heads are done.

 

Those look exactly the same as the trw's but in cast form for 25$ less??

 

Cast is ok as long as your not boosting, using nitrous or going over 6500 rpm. You can get away with 10.5 comp by swapping cams to lower the dcr, I believe the highest dcr you can go with pump gas 8.3 but you can fudge that number by backing out of the timing. IMO I would have the motor dyno tuned after a full rebuild, its worth the $3-400 to know exactly what your motors doing.

 

Plus cast pistons are quieter, particularly when cold.
Forged pistons have no expansion control in them so they expand quite a bit when they warm up so the clearance needs to be greater. This equates to noisier.
Cast pistons have steel rings cast into the skirt of the piston controling expansion so the piston/wall clearance can be closed up making for quieter operation.
My personal prefernce is cast for street use, forged for track or really hard (nitrous, etc.) street use.

 

You might want to do some math here.... How long do you plan on keeping the truck? How many miles are you going to put on it per year? If you are using your truck every day, and plan on keeping it, then the savings on using regular fuel compared to premium fuel will pay for the machine work needed to mill the center of "forged" pistons to get your compression ratio to 9:1. With this setup you can use full timing, making your engine more efficient and powerful. I built a 9:1 428 years ago with this method, and it was a workhorse engine pulling a 5th wheel and happy with regular fuel. The important factors are to only mill the tops of the pistons inside the ring lands, so you do not weaken the top ring land. The TRW pistons I used had plenty of material to remove without weakening the piston. Balancing the assembly is important. Yes it will increase your cost of building your engine, but in the long run, you will save money if you keep the engine for a long time...

 

I plan on using the truck as a somewhat daily driver and a weekend wheeler. I've actually been in touch with with Barry R with some help on this build. I gave him my specs including tire size and gear ratio and he gave me a suggestion for my best choice for cam. I also bought his new FE book recently and its great with tons of color pics.
As for pistons cast ones are starting to look real good as I like the fact that they have better expansion control and make less noise. The cast ones I had in mind are a tad lower compression than the forged as well. I just wonder if anyone makes a 9.5:1 piston for this motor with a 72 cc head. Why would you have to machine if someone made one. Are they all trying to be equivilent to a cj piston?? Also what type of gas would be needed for a 10.2:1 motor a mid, or supreme?

 

You can't go wrong with the information Barry will give you. Years ago, no one made 9:1 pistons for my 428 application. Remember if you mill the heads or deck the block, your c/r is going to be higher than the piston manufacturer states. There is no simple answer to your question because of many variables, the cam being one of them. Also remember if you decide on cast pistons and later on, you want to add some juice "nitrous" cast pistons are not recommended. Now I only build racing engines, so I have not looked into what pistons are available for stock applications. Maybe some of the others here have the latest information on cast pistons with near 9.0:1 cr. for a 428.
Good luck on your build.

 

Thanks man it sounds like you have lots of experience with these engines. I'm not planning on running nitrous or anything thus is not a race motor. I just want a good torquey motor for the street and hardcore trails. I'm fixed on this 428 as its not only unique for a truck but seems the way to go as for FE's. I could have easily gone with a 460 and been in it for half the amount I'm in for this one but when someone says" hey what you got in there for a motor?" they expect you to say 460 in a big truck but Nah its a 428!
haha I guess its only cool to the people that know right...

 

Barry's been nothing but helpful and supportive with the build of my FE. Although I dont know him personally he seems to be a stand up guy. When I ordered his FE big block build book and after recieving it on the first page it was signed personally from him in a jiffy marker" FE's forever, Barry R". I thought that was pretty cool...

 

He does love the FE

 

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