Im starting to gather parts for my ld9 build and have a few questions. Nothing serious, just gona build the bottom end and do the 2.3 oil pump swap. Heres a quick rundown of what Im going to be doing:

secret intake cam
HO exhaust cam
stock head/valvetrain
cometic .074" hg
wiseco 9:1 pistons
eagle rods
2.3 oil pump swap
modded oil pan
New bearings, timing components,water pump, gaskets etc etc

I have a bare block lined up Im supposed to be getting that is already modified for the pump swap but the cylinders are .030" over. Would I be able to have pistons made in this bore or would I have to have the cylinders taken to .040" and order pistons in that size? If so, how have ld9's liked going that much larger?

Also is todd miller still doing the 2.3 pump swap pans?

Im pretty sure you can get .030 pistons. how big a bore can be taken has to do with how much material is left in the block, no 2 engines are axactly the same. Just curious....if your putting the better flowing cams why not port and polish the head and get the most out of them?

Who would I contact about getting the pistons made and would they be wiseco or someone else?

And I actualy have a bare ported head sitting around, but I know that I would wana spend another $500 or soo on good valvetrain parts, and being Im at just about 100k on my stock boosted motor I wana get this done sooner before something lets go. Thats why Im only doing the secret intake and drop in ho exhaust cam, nothing too aggressive for the stock valvetrain. And I can always upgrade the head/valvetrain down the road as I do expect to do bigger cams someday. Until then Ill just use more boost to make up for the power

Yo Icemike...How many miles out of the 100K has your motor been boosted...

Got the car with 76k miles on it, sc'd at 88k I believe, then added nitrous with the sc, and went turbo at I think almost 95k.

only thing i dont like is using the ho exhaust cam and the secret intake cam...

remember? or did i not tell you? lol but i can get the ho intake cam modded to drop right in for you.



I'm tired of wasting my time... now I'm breakin' free.

Yea I know Brad, I actualy have an ho intake cam know exactly what needs to be done for it to drop in. But I just want to keep the valvetrain mild until later on when I put on a ported head and do ss valves,bronze guides,2.3 springs and what not, then Ill go bigger on the cams. Main goal is just to get the bottom end forged and do the pump swap. Forgot to add Ill be picking up arp head studs for the build too, that'll help down the road when I do redo the top end

I am running HO cams with stock valve springs on my dd. Works well. Skilz also did it on his turbo car. Just dont take it over 7k rpms and you should be good!

Yea Ill prolly just save it for down the road and just do the entire top end then. Just realy dont feel like dumping another $500 into the top end, need to get this done sooner to handle more boost

Anyone have any ideas about getting .030" pistons made? Who to contact?

I swear I saw .030 over pistons somewhere but I cant for the life of me find them. Im sure Karo at car customs can help you out. Ive read he gets a lot of people their custom pistons on this site.

While your building why not get the head done?

HO cams are the best mod ive done so far

Clevite makes the valve springs for fairly cheap

Contact Karo im sure he can get you everything you need

if your building this for the 2.4 charger you better not run 9:1 comp pistons or ur gonna punch urself in the dick later. that blower sucks so bad you might as well up the comp to 11:1

D-mac, turbo and then youll realize cams arent that big a deal when it comes to building an n/a vs. boosted motor lol. Like said I will upgrade down the road, but the car will most likely still be my dd for a while and I want to get the main ld9 issues fixed so it can handle some power. The biggest being the oiling system.

And nope gmanz, gave up on the sc a while ago, turbo now. I thought about maybe going 9.5:1 since Im using a thicker hg gasket but idk. Id rather be on the safe side since I do plan to go up to about 15psi on this build from my t3 super 60, eventualy run a holset, or a garrett gt series if I wana spend the money.

How much do you guys think I could handle with 650cc injectors? Think the idc would still be pretty safe at say around 300-320whp?

Well with 750's we are running 437 hp to the wheels, and we had plenty more fuel if we needed it. So you should be fine there.

As for the pistons, i would talk to karo or turbo tech. They know who to call to get just about anything you need. I know karo has the same pistons that are in our turbo motor. He would give you a pretty good deal on them. They are .040 over. I would get those and take the block to the machine shop and have them punch it out to match when you get everything else done. Also custom pistons will cost about 150-200 more.

Cool, I thought you guys were running larger injectors than that. Those numbers are awesome btw!

How close was it going .040 over? The block is already bored .030, so paying extra for custom pistons would be about same as paying a shop to go larger. Plus my original plans for size were .020 over pistons, like said this will still be daily driven for a bit