There are 3 people I know of on this board who were way over 900hp with rods and de-lipped uncoated LB7 pistons. One pulling truck made 980 on a mustang dyno....he ran it hard for 4 yrs and the thing is now unused but still fine. Those pistons already had 130K miles on them when he built the engine. Another LB7 was about 950, ran mid 10's, still being driven daily. Another was also around 950 and ran mid-low 10's......that engine has since been built however I don't believe he ever had piston problems. Keep in mind that much power is hardly ever used, you really can't except on the track.