[Cyclone Joe]

I wondered if it was a good idea to put the left side pistons on the right side, and the right side pistons on the left side. I've heard of chrysler guys doing this on their 440's and I read in a recent HOT ROD that a guy does this for his race motors and gains about 5hp. Is it worth it? or more importantly can I do this safely with like an FE motor? What are the draw-backs? I knew a guy who like I said did this to a 440 motor, and he said it smoked like a sonofabitch becasue of the piston rearragnement. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[mustangboy]

I saw this in a magazine on a small block ford. The guy simply put the pistons in backwards(with the notch on top to the rear of the engine)because the piston pin was offset .060 to one side to make the engine run quieter on cold startups.Turning the piston around reduced the angle of the connecting rod and makes the engine behave as if it had a .300 inch longer rod.He says it is worth 15-30 hp.I don't know if this would work on FEs etc, I guess it would depend on if the rod is offset in the piston like these ones were.You'd also have to have pistons with both sets of valve reliefs on top(basic flat top design)and make sure your connecting rods are turned the right way on the crank.I don't think I would swap the pistons to different cylinders unless the engine was very fresh as the pistons and cylinders would be a matching pair so to speak,Sounds like cheap horsepower if everything works but there are a lot of variables to consider, different piston manufacturers, type of pistons ,block decking etc.The shop who did the buildup on the 302 was JOE SHERMAN Racing Engines in CA. phone-714/542-0515.Hope this helps.

 

[CougarKid]

Funny, I've heard of this before but always thout this was just one of thoes easy HP tricks people always talk about, but would never really work.

 

[windsoreight]

That sound interesting. I am wondering how these motors would hold up especially with street use. Anyone have more info on this.

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: windsoreight on 1/31/02 7:39am ]</font>