Why are they so cheap? I was looking at new pistons for the 302 I'm getting and noticed that the summit pistons are like $90 for a set of 8. That seems alittle too cheap for nice parts.

thats cause there not nice parts. just remember you get what you pay for. go to dougherbert.com and get a free catalog. same to way better stuff than summit and pretty cheap. thats where i get my parts from. just an idea for ya

there's a reason srp pistons are $500 and those are $90

Alright. I'll probably go with Keith Black pistons cause I've heard good things about them.

i wouldnt do that either. well what are you looking to do?

keith blacks are hypereutectic, wouldn't recomend that ck with precision racing engines in dighton i sold them my last set used srp's there mint i just went bigger, he'll probably have something reasonable

Well I'm getting an 86 302 and they apparently have flat pistons so I won't be able to put a new cam in the motor without risking the pistons hitting the valves. So pretty much I'm looking to get new pistons with valve reliefs. I'm not planning on boosting it though.

i would go with a je or srp's. which srp's are just cheaper je's but i have seen srp pistons get spray'd into the 9's without any problem. i built a big block with a stroker kit from herbert for like 1300 bucks and was easily in the tens. it also had an eagle rods and srp pistons

Coulsd also look into Wesico also don't know if Eagle just does rods only or they have also pistons

what about speed pro pistons?

cheap. still not kb's but still a cheap set

Well it seems like the only pistons I can find in the stock 4.000 bore are keith Black, Summit, Speed pro, and Federal Mogul. So do you think that for my setup a set of Forged Speed pro pistons would be fine? I'm not looking to be pushing a ton of power through this engine, just something so I can throw in a new cam.

KB pistons are fine, I had them in my 355 and mad 430hp with themm theyre still in the motor 2 years later. SRP, speed pro, and JE are all really good pistons.

Those speedpros are fine, I plan to run a set of Speeds once I go boost.

i just like buying parts once so when i build something i build it with all good parts yhe first time around so it wont cost you more in the end. just my .02

Nothing wrong with KB pistons, theyre not the greatest piston in the world but theyre fine for his usage. It's a street car 302 with no boost, they would work fine. If he was going to boost it I would say forged SRP or JE. Lunati makes top notch stuff if yu want to pay the money.

For all intents and purposes there really are no more cast pistons made. Depending on his engine build, there's nothing wrong with hypers. My Cougar has hypers. Hypers are perfectly fine for a street car with no boost. Forged are also usually more forgiving to a bad tune, as they absorb detonation a bit better.. They aren't as 'brittle' as a hyper piston is. Forged pistons usually require larger clearances due to the thermal expansion of the piston in the bore though. Almost all the OEMs use hypers for longevity. Some do use forged, but even they have issues with customer complaints over piston noise (Sorry Mrs. Jones, your Tundra really is supposed to sound like a diesel on startup.)

In laymans terms, you'll hear some knocking on startup, which is "normal", and you'll use more oil. If you are building for nitrous or boost, that's another story.

Hell yeah Paul, My car has forged guts and it is loud ass hell in the mourning but at least I know it won't self destruct once mass quantities of boost is applied.

valve reliefs are needed if u swap heads if its a 86 block it has flat tops i have heard they suck with cams from josh