Piston/Rod Combo for Gen 2?

[Racing_Rush]

For rods and pistons I wanted to upgrade my Gen 2 3.1L. What will fit other than stock into a 3.1L MPFI? Whats going to be the most reliable, cheapest, and easy to obtain? TIA

[torq455]

that depends on what your budget is, RPM range, and eventual HP goals are. stock bottom end is good to 7000 RPM and ~400HP. good idea to at least polish and debur the rods. you can also go with SBC rods, but you'll have to mill the big end (thickness) to be able to fit two rods on one crank journal. wouldn't hurt to use ARP fasteners for added insurance.

[ForcedFirebird]

You can use the Camaro pistons with the rest of your stock bottom end. This will give you 11.36:1 compression, a little more with .045" gaskets.


What are you doing to tune your mods? While you have it apart, should do a cam as well (again, providing your tuning options).

[torq455]

that's perfect CR for the likeness of the 272 type cam. does it matter what year camaro? are the pistons dished?

[Racing_Rush]

So some Camaro pistons with Gen 2 rods will jump my compression and the stock bottom end is good too 7000rpm and 400hp?

If so I am liking that. What kind of tuning do I have to do to support that? What grind cam?

Do I need to get my rotating assembly balanced with a 60 degree?

[torq455]

you can't get much more over 300 n/a and that's barely streetable. to get more, you'll need boost. the rods in your 3.1 are good to 7000 rpm as are all 2.8/3.1/3x00's etc. you have not mentioned your HP goals, budget what you are looking for in your build--street, street/strip, or all out max drag only. that's helpful if we are going to give specific advice toward your build.

[Racing_Rush]

Sorry I am trying to get a reliable 200-250HP for as little money as possible. I can spend probley about $1000 on the short block. I plan on doing a hybrid with 3400/3500 stuff hopefully pnp.

I will also need to upgrade clutch, rebuild tranny (syncros starting to go), and probley install phantom grip lsd. So any money I can save somewhere without sacrificing reliability will give me more for the rest of the build.