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3.0 build up pistons

M

myconsvt

CEG'er
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
34
Location
somewere, michigan
i just recieved a free 99 taurus with the duratec 3.0 and i was planning on doing a 3.0 turbo for the tour, but i was wondering what pistons i should use and were i could get some at? the turbo is a modified 16g and i am shooting for about 325-375 hp. any help would be greatly appericiated. and also i was wondering if anyone could help me out with what oil gally i have to block off on the 3.0 in order to use the svt heads.
 
pretty sure anything thats not 01+ will need more modification than anything. might wanna search or others will help out....
 
If you are planning a turbo with your 3L it is not recommended that you use SVT heads due to the higher compression ratio. The 3L heads flow very well and I believe they are used on all the 400+ fwhp Contours.
 
i was planning on fabing my own turbo kit.
could anyone help me out with what all needs to be done to the 99 block to get it ready for svt heads
 
DyComet said:
If you are planning a turbo with your 3L it is not recommended that you use SVT heads due to the higher compression ratio. The 3L heads flow very well and I believe they are used on all the 400+ fwhp Contours.
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high compression ratio + boost = toasted motor

Diamond makes pistons for these motors.
 
myconsvt said:
i was planning on fabing my own turbo kit.
could anyone help me out with what all needs to be done to the 99 block to get it ready for svt heads
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Maybe you're not understanding what we're saying here. If you use the SVT heads on the 3L block you are much more likely to blow your engine under any considerable amount of boost. If you are going to do this, do it right and find some 3L heads. SVT heads work very well for non-boosted applications but will not work well at all with boost.

Edit: If you are going to go with Diamond pistons make sure that they are low compression like 8.5:1 if you want to have any chance of your motor surviving. Even with that, you are still better off finding the 3L heads due to the better oil return and the lower compression than the SVT heads.
 
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i have a set of 3 litre heads but i am not sure if i want to use them. mainly b/c the car was free from a buddy of mine and it had a lifter tick in it. but anyways i drove it home like 2 miles. well i went inside of my house for like 10- 15 mins and i walked outside to go somewere and the car was up in flames the whole thing burned to the ground. but i managed to pull the engine out but the timing cover and valve cover gaskets were all melted so i still have to take the heads to my work and see if they are salvegable. i wasnt even going to bother with them but if they are more reliable for a turbo application then i will..... and also can anyone tell me what site i can get the diamond pistons from.. thanks for all of the help ypu guys have provided me with.
( i have some videos of the car burning i will try to post them for some entertainment if i get a chance.)
 
Sell the engine and buy an 01+ oval port.

The 99 can not use the cam driven W/P (you're hosed), does not have the revised piston (bye bye ring lands), needs all the lower end revisions (more $$$), doesn't have the oval heads (drop in performance), et cetera...

An 01+ engine can make over 400 wheels safely with nothing more then the right tuning and proper piping setup. (60-1 turbo) You would most likely spends thousands to get an earlier engine to do the same thing. :shrug:
 
does anyone have some pricing for the diamond pistons for a 3.0l i found there site online but it does not have any prices and also doesnt show the 3.0 pistons.
 
yea i just got mine today. i believe the were close to $875 with rings , wrist pins, oil ring supports, and for .30 over bore. top notch except i guess i got the pissed off sales person. i called about my pistons to verify that everything was right, and he started to yell at me. that guy was so rude.
 
shavedsvt said:
yea i just got mine today. i believe the were close to $875 with rings , wrist pins, oil ring supports, and for .30 over bore. top notch except i guess i got the pissed off sales person. i called about my pistons to verify that everything was right, and he started to yell at me. that guy was so rude.
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Damn that's what I call POOR customer service. If you spend that kind of cash on pistons especially....

I wish I could afford to get the forged but don't have the money now. I got a set of .040" Speed Pro pistons and Hastings (chrome) rings for $120!

Then again I'll probably be okay even if I go turbo later. In the 90s they tried to move the top ring up as far as they could for emissionsl.....

So with a better piston I will not probably run into any problems (the OE pistons are probably made by Silvolite).

I've seen blown alcohol engines have forged pistons and then an IMCA car runs the same pistons. The IMCA car doesn't last one race and the alcohol engine runs all season but makes twice the power.

Even stock pistons are pretty strong. It's when you run into timing issues that really tends to break stuff. At that point forged pistons have no guarantee either.
 
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giddyup306 said:
Damn that's what I call POOR customer service. If you spend that kind of cash on pistons especially....
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Once they got your money they have no incentive to be nice anymore. Sad, but probably true.

Cant remember what i payed for my Ross Pistons. $800 I think. Of course, they sent me the wrong rings twice and they had to be remachined due to the wrong skirt design.
 
timing, extreme fuel curve issues, and hard hit (nitrous!) are what hurts cast pistons. one thing that is nice about them, as many have said, is they are low variation. which means they expand and contract much less than a forged piston, so the tolerances can be tighter (more consistant compression readings, less skirt slap in high mileage engines) (less oil consumption)

however in a high stress situation, the cast pistons are going to be the weak point. if you are running moderate boost levels on a 3L engine, you can get away with a cast piston. if you are going to run high boost levels, nitrous, or dangerous fuel/ignition curves, just invest in the pistons.
 
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