Alusil compatible pistons
Discussion
I've been searching for turbo 104mm pistons for use in an Alusil block and so far I'm only finding Mahle and Wossner, unfortunately neither company can be bothered to reply to email requests for European suppliers. So does anyone know of alternative manufacturers or of suppliers located in the EU ?. Thanks.
Slippydiff said:
Tried Omega, nothing suitable in stock and minimum order of 12 to make some. Cheers anyway.Richard Hamilton said:
Cath Burrows sells Wossner pistons.
I'll try them. Found a UK supplier for Wossner but the price was more than importing from the US including import taxes & postage. I asked a US supplier about buying from them and having the pistons sent direct to me from Germany but apparently Wossner wont do it 
.Cheburator mk2 said:
blade7 said:
Wiseco or JE's if I fit sleeves.
Speak to Performance Unlimited - they sorted my 100.5mm custom 12:1 comp 928GTS pistons which are running in an Alusil bore. Had the skirts coated in a ferrous coating by JE in the US. Engine is still running 
also try cambridge motorsport, sorry havent got the number on me. they supply je pistons for us. ive only had 2 sets for 996 turbo enginesthat was fitted in cup car. 1 for the cup car and 1 spare for the same car.and 1 set for 993 gt2. the customer service is great(when dealing through cambridge motorsport anyway) about a week to arrive from usa. give them a ring to discuss or try performance unlimited as alex said my dad has dealt with them on small block chevy engines for his dragster for years. both companys are great to deal with which always helps.
mark
mark
BIG GT2 said:
also try cambridge motorsport, sorry havent got the number on me. they supply je pistons for us. ive only had 2 sets for 996 turbo enginesthat was fitted in cup car. 1 for the cup car and 1 spare for the same car.and 1 set for 993 gt2.
mark
Thanks I'll try them, though I think the 911 turbo engines run a Nikasil plating on the cylinders ?.mark
you are right. they are good in my experience but not in your application, sorry i didnt read your post properly. i think alex who suggested perf unlimited has a fresh engine but may have used them in his other engines, he would have to confirm that though. we both race 928 gts's but i havent seen him for a while
or kevin at emc was telling me about some big bore pistons and liners for 944s and 968s, have to ask him the details it was a while ago but they have many track miles to confirm the quality. he re alusiled a gts block for me in 2007, so hes a contact for that aswell if you need that doing
Thanks Mark, at the moment it seems like I'll have to import pistons from the US irrespective of bore material ie Alusil, Nikaslil or iron sleeves. I dont think it's possible to re alusil a block, though it can be honed/lapped slightly larger.
Edited by blade7 on Wednesday 2nd January 12:53
blade7 said:
Thanks Mark, at the moment it seems like I'll have to import pistons from the US irrespective of bore material ie Alusil, Nikaslil or iron sleeves. I dont think it's possible to re alusil a block, though it can be honed/lapped slightly larger.
You can do whatever you want with the alusil block as you probably know - I am running 100.5mm bores in my GTS engine now - had to take the bore out by 0.5mm as I had a catastrophic oil cooler pipe failure at Snetterton 2yrs ago. I am building a 6.0ltr 928 engine with 968 pistons, thus I am having the old 100mm GT block bored out to 104mm by Sutton Rebore.Edited by blade7 on Wednesday 2nd January 12:53
JE Pistons and their coating - I have run the engine for a total of 6hrs now following a total rebuilt - new crank, rods, pistons, rings, cams and ITBs. 2hrs idling and 4hrs on a dyno in maximum attack mode in order to map it. So far so good. When I spoke to Perf Unltd they were very well aware of the issues arising when running nekkid alooominum pistons in alusil bores. JE offers two-coatings - low friction one and another, which is specifically for running aluminium pistons in alusil/locasil bores. Just like you, I was sceptical, but my hand was forced by Porsche fitting alusil liners to the GTS block in 1996, thus preventing me from repairing the block economically by installing cast iron liners. Spoke to Performance Unlimited and JE themselves about 4 times and they were very helpful and adamant, that the coating will work. I guess I need to drive it to see whether it lasts...
Mark, I have not raced for 2yrs due to the slow nature of the built/rebuilt. This year though, we are back for more - will race the 928 and also share an E46 M3 with my brother in the Modern Classics
Cheburator mk2 said:
JE Pistons and their coating - I have run the engine for a total of 6hrs now following a total rebuilt - new crank, rods, pistons, rings, cams and ITBs. 2hrs idling and 4hrs on a dyno in maximum attack mode in order to map it. So far so good. When I spoke to Perf Unltd they were very well aware of the issues arising when running nekkid alooominum pistons in alusil bores. JE offers two-coatings - low friction one and another, which is specifically for running aluminium pistons in alusil/locasil bores. Just like you, I was sceptical, but my hand was forced by Porsche fitting alusil liners to the GTS block in 1996, thus preventing me from repairing the block economically by installing cast iron liners. Spoke to Performance Unlimited and JE themselves about 4 times and they were very helpful and adamant, that the coating will work. I guess I need to drive it to see whether it lasts...
It's a bit of a minefield TBH more so with turbo's. Research throws up conflicting opinions about what works and lasts or doesn't usually with vested interests. I dont know about GTS blocks but 944/968's dont have liners though I think Alusil liners are available for repairs. Where are you sourcing 968 pistons from ?, I think there are Mahle and KS versions available though which is better I dont know.blade7 said:
It's a bit of a minefield TBH more so with turbo's. Research throws up conflicting opinions about what works and lasts or doesn't usually with vested interests. I dont know about GTS blocks but 944/968's dont have liners though I think Alusil liners are available for repairs. Where are you sourcing 968 pistons from ?, I think there are Mahle and KS versions available though which is better I dont know.
Used 968 pistons crop up more often then you would think... The 928 block is liner-less, just like the 944/968 ones. My engine was a one off though, produced by Porsche as an expirement in curing oil consumption which was endemic with the GTS. Thus my engine got alusil liners and different pistons. Kolbenschmidt would happily sell you an alusil repair liner, but they assume you are repairing a standard size engine. Economically, it was not possible to get a liner to fit my engine. I could not fit Darton either... Thus I went with JE. I nearly went with Woessner pistons supplied by Chris White in the USA. You can find him on Rennlist. I know of two 928 supercharged 32v engines in Finland, which have been running for a while on custom Woessner pistons in Alusil bores without any problems. His lead times were long though, and I decided to experiment... Not the first time I have gone against conventional wisdom - racing a 928...
Cheburator mk2 said:
I nearly went with Woessner pistons supplied by Chris White in the USA. You can find him on Rennlist. I know of two 928 supercharged 32v engines in Finland, which have been running for a while on custom Woessner pistons in Alusil bores without any problems. His lead times were long though, and I decided to experiment... Not the first time I have gone against conventional wisdom - racing a 928...
Interesting. I know of Chris White, most of my information/misinformation is picked up from rennlist . Wossner is the most likely option maybe run in nicom plated cylinders.Definitely talk to Kevin at EMC, he was showing off some very spangly looking liners and pistons for 996 engines last time I was up there. I believe the liners for that block were Nikasil though but they have been doing this sort of thing for years (more like replacement cylinders than liners in the case of the 996). I believe it was Arias pistons they used in the 944/968 rebuilds, pictures are on their website.
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