I guess the jury is still out on whether the Mahle Forged pistons are plenty adequate though. I mean, we've seen Pat's set that got really hot and failed, we've seen Matt's that failed due to heat via nitrous, I'm sure there are others that have failed but have they been failing because of inadequacy or because of unneeded abuse? Sure, they are more brittle than the Arias, that much I've learned, but if the Arias eats rings up and possibly bores too, why go through the hassle? Some have called the Mahle a "compromise piston" but until I see a situation where they failed or caused a different failure without extenuating circumstances I don't think that's a valid claim against them.
x2 - to get the type of power where you are even thinking about forged pistons I would say you are going to need some "unneeded abuse". Matt has had stock pistons last much longer than the Mahle forged pistons, he still hasn't sent them back to Guy to be inspected for cause of failure but 6 passes on $2600 pistons...... They'll live if you don't abuse them, but then again so will stock pistons.
I would rather replace rings than pistons - cast or forged. And like I said at 900+ rwhp you are never going to get everything to last forever - you have to decide what you would rather replace. You could make steel bearings that would last forever but they would tear the sh*t out of your crank. My vote goes to replacing the cheaper "wear items" like bearings and rings rather than replacing hard parts. Monotherm or monosteel pistons would be nice - you could have a steel keystone ring in them and not beat the ring lands up, but at the cost of a considerably heavier piston and about double the cost of forged pistons.
drugs :baby:
bad tuning, bad injectors, holding it wide open for 120 seconds or something rediculous, you know.....unneccessary
Nitrous is just a turbo in a bottle :baby: So are you gonna send your injectors in for testing every couple thousand miles? Get your truck set up to where stock tuning will do 900+ rwhp so that you can run "good, safe" tuning?
Man I know I will never be at a power level you guys are at that are cracking these psitons but boy does it worry me non the less. Dustin to bad you can't have a dd and a race truck.
I wish I could afford to and talk my wife into it.
ok heres a thought.
what is bore diameter? Depends on if it's stock (4.055") or oversized bore
what is piston diameter cold? Depends on if it's stock or oversized pistons
what temp does the piston itself see at sustained wot under load? HOT!!!, some people peg 2000* pyrometers and that's not even as high as cylinder temps
how much does piston expand? ie piston hot diameter? Every time I try to get this measurement they cool off by the time I get the engine out and torn down:spit:
again i do not have a degree in chemistry or physics but just like thinking outside the box. i wonder if a slight overbore could help a little?
The different expansion rates of stock cast vs forged pistons is taken into consideration buy the piston builders. The Mahle forged pistons need .006" clearance, compared to stock that needs .0025", and Arias that needs .008". For a standard Duramax bore (4.055") the stock pistons are 4.050", Mahles should be 4.043", and the Arias should be 4.039". And the pistons are also tapered. You could have the engine slightly over bored to allow more piston to wall clearance but I don't think that the cracked pistons are a failing due to clearance issues.
The weight of the piston also makes high RPM a lot harder on the wrist pin holes, as do the extreme cylinder pressures you need to get 900+ rwhp; and every crack I've seen is parallel to the wrist pin.
Here is a good read:
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article/1788/diesel_pistons.aspx