Marketing. They need to do something different to create sales. $$$

There are some bad experiences with the latest microcasted pistons, at some pistons it seems the side to the exhaust port is overheated, they have a very strange roughness.
I think the current marketing will say they have bettered the piston.

Friction and expansion is related but as mentioned some ingredients do make the specs.
Iron makes the strength but makes a lot of friction. Copper on the other hand makes it low friction but makes the material weak for higher temperatures.

The company that produces most of the billet material that a lot of the top Italian manufacturers is RSP Technologys based in the Netherlands. This is a technik that they developed them selves also quite expensive material compared with castings. This process involves a copper disc spinning and molten alloy being drizzled for want of a better word on to the disc and cooling at a phenominal rate, this produces a constant shard of cold alloy. The secret to this material is the rapid cooling. These shards are then chopped into small fragments and then compressed together at very high pressure as its forced through the relavent size die to form a bar. Material specs are
silicon iron+nicol copper thermal expantion
30% 2.7 1.5 14.8 i believe this best suited to AAC
30% 1.0 1.4 15.4
24% 1.0 1.4 16.8
21% 4.3 4.1 16.3 Regards Martin.

Ment to add to give comparison to other materials ie brass liner, Thermal expansion = 19. So you can see what going on with different materials used, Its def not just an alloy piston. The expansion for common aluminium is 23 this gives an idea of what different elements added to piston material makes. Regards Martin.

Hello guy's and gal's, I have just opened my 353 09 for the first time since running the car last summer. I found that when turning the crank by hand it seamed a bit notchy, so I tore it completely apart. I found there was a large amount of orange residue on the conrod and at the top of the piston along with a black center on the piston, it also seems that the front bearing is a bit gritty, can I clean the front bearing with brake clear or something to that degree to get the grit out? or is this a sign that a new front bearing is needed? the main bearing still seams smooth with no roughness to it at all. I have pics and will post but the battery on my camera just died LOL.(Charging now) I run the engine with Byrons 20% Race 2000 Gen2 fuel and keep the temp between 240 deg and 280 deg when racing. I did not find there to be any slop in the conrod to crank bushing but I am just a bit worried about the orange colour.

Thanks guy's

Sean

So just to update, I have fully cleaned everything. The orange residue wiped right off as did the top of the piston with some brake cleaner. I have reassembled using after run fluid on everything and it is very smooth now. For this season I will be running Morgan Sidewinder fuel so we shale see how it goes.

Sean

is not the fuel dude, after each race or practice you need to open you engine like you did on the pics and clean all, check everithing and put it back with aferrun oil.no matter what fuel you use if you don't open and tear apart your engine after every use of it you will see that orange thing.and in time you can loose an engine so allways do the maintenance on your engine! thats the key for a happy engine! like my teamate say's "all the love you give to your engine at your table on home hi will return to you on the track!"

+1,
Man that is a dirty engine

kerosene and an ultrasonic tank for everything except the crank. just clean the crank by hand as you don't want to vibrate the silicon loose.

and Mobil 1 (5W-30), or MMO work great as after-run oil.

The orange residue doesn't bother me but that grit sure does. I would put a set of bearings in it just to be sure and switch fuels or something. That's weird.

There are some scratches on the piston, I think you have to take better care of the airfilter.

Thanks for the advice guy's, I will start doing this now. I am also thinking to start using an INS box this year, I have been cleaning my filter everyweek and using 4-5 filters when at the track as they look dirty. This was the first time opening the engine from my buying it last summer, I ran about 5 gallons threw it so I am very happy with this engine for what I am seeing in these pics.

Sean


Just a thought but I have been using a slow cooker with pure coolant to clean my exhaust parts, would it be a good idea to do this same practice for the engine parts? minus the crack ofcourse.

5 gallons? Did you buy it new and have you changed the rod or bearings?

Yes I bought it new and like I stated in the earlier posts I have not opened this engine till now.

You are looking at a very low running cost for this engine here. Other drivers would have changed their conrod three times (every 1,5 gallon) and the bearings once. Total price for the spareparts would have been around 250$.
On the other hand, you are a lucky guy. If your rod would have snapped, your engine would have been transformed into a paper weight...