Stocker pistons...

[Alan Roehrich]

You'll do fine with JE, I use them in my Stock Eliminator engines, with Total Seal rings (I buy my oil rings direct from Speed Pro) and Trend wrist pins, with Kramm-Lox wire pin locks. My JE rep is Rick Leininger. I do buy from CP as well, they did my Super Stock pistons for the 396, they're good people, my rep there is Ed Urcis. H.M. Elliott coats all of my piston skirts, and my bearings, regardless of brand.

By the way, before placing an order on pistons, speak with your ring supplier and get the exact groove sizes they want for their ring package. I have Keith at Total Seal give me the dimensions he wants, and copy my piston rep on the emails so everyone is on the same page.

[brent flynn]

Thanks for the info, Alan... much appreciated...

[Jeff Lee]

My take is that JE took TRW pistons and copied them with some design improvements. So if TRW got the valve notches in the right place, then your OK. Unfortunately that is not always true.
CP came along and used factory OEM blueprints. CP found that TRW pistons were sometimes off. Being that P/V clearance is critical, that could be a big deal. And when CP started, they had the latest and greatest ring groove cutting fixtures. I do not know if JE has invested in the latest machinery for that operation but as you know, ring clearance is crucial to performance.
The bottom line, and this is just my opinion, there is a reason why you are seeing a 50% price difference. Ask these questions when you call them back.
You might also call Diamond or even Weisco. I have experience with Diamond but not with Weisco.

[brent flynn]

Thanks Jeff.... alot to learn, building a Stocker engine... some of you guys have been at it awhile... I turn 44, in a few months, and this is my 1st attempt. Gonna see what i can do, on a fairly tight budget... Hope to be at 2014 Indy points meet...i only live an hour from there! Shortblock goin to machine shop in a couple weeks... Tryin' to research pistons, dont wanna waste any money on the bottom end...

[Dave Ribeiro]

Brent,

As you are finding out everything cost motor for Pontiac's ... They don't make that many & that drives up the price ... I would shop around for a used shortblock to start & go from there .. Good Luck with your project.

[Grant Eldridge]

My experience was that switching from TRW pistons on my first stocker engine to CP piston technology made a world of difference! We had flogged the TRW engine extensively to a best of 11.39 on the then 12.00 index in E/SA. Cal Method advised me to ditch the old school TRW's, and get CP pistons with new technology and a stocker ring package, modern skirt design and extremely accurate ring land machining. After the changes, we eventually got to a best of 10.73. Not saying it was all in the pistons/rings, but they improved the ring seal and lowered drag so much that we could then rpm higher, tune differently, gear differently and the engine became tuneable and responsive to other changes. In my opinion, optimal ring seal is crucial. If you are building to go fast, you need the best parts and machine work here to make everything else effective. If you are building this engine wanting to go a long way under the index, start with the good piston/ring combination and optimize the short block. Later you can build on that good foundation, it's only $500. difference! When you consider all the other machine work, parts and labor you will need this is money well spent.
Otherwise, you may be limited in how far you can get and have to either be satisfied with slower times or building another better short block later, as we had to do. Cheaper in the end to do it once using the best parts. Not knocking the JE or other new piston brands, but the CP are definitely an excellent piston, just my two cents....

Grant Eldridge
E/SA 6650
National Record Holder 2006/2011

[brent flynn]

Thanks Grant... i hear what you are sayin... I want to do the best shortblock that i can... i may have to save a couple more bucks and go with CP... I just want to know what most of the guys are running... im definitely leaning toward CP... Hard to believe, that Venolia or JE, wouldnt have it together, like CP... considering how long theyve been in business.