i have a 56 buick 322. its been bored .030 over stock. now for my question. pistons! were and why. i contacted ross but im looking at $1000+ for the set of slugs. any one else make a good set. im not building a blown motor. if any thing id prob go with a mild cam but most likely a stock unit will be fine. how is egge in the piston dep? i contacted a know nailhead builder with a good rep out here in cali and told me he did not like the egge units cuz there machined. as for stock cam, is egge any good in that area with what they sell?
check wisco and probe . why s block already +.030 without pistons and rings on hand ? maybe a differant piston with more common ring pack would work out cheaper, check evilbay, some new old stock pops up , I got a set of 330 olds pistons once for $40 may find cam there also , you could have yours reground if your wanting something with more ummfff
What's the compressed height on the stock piston? taperformance.com claims to be able to get anything you need for a 322.
I take it you mean the compression height, which is referring to the location of the wrist pin in relation to the flat of the top of the piston. You're right, this measurement may help to cross over a piston from another application, but you also need the wrist pin size and the bore desired. Also, too long of a skirt may contact the crank.
Egge is fine for a mild engine. The Ross's are forged instead of cast, hence the price difference. Not many manufacturers of them out there. Carmen Faso has some *****in' cams for that thing as well.
Federal Mogul still makes Nailhead piston! My shop just orderd a set of .030 over for my 401. also EGGE has them for $277 and $323 for a set of 8.
If you are wanting something other than stock compression then a forged piston, as in custom, is your only option. We are set to ink a new WD deal with a new forged piston mfgr and may be able to beat the Ross price by several hundred dollars. Although we deal primarily with the Mopes the mfgr doesn't care what the application is. We will have our first Hemi piston after the first of the year and can give some detailed feedback then. .
What's a mope? Is it like a Chebby? Just pulling you leg. Where are these pistons gonna be made? Are you going to do the other Nailheads? It seems that 401/425 pistons would come before making 322's.
Of very questionable quality. I do not like my parts to arrive in cheap little plain white boxes with no idea of manufacturer or origin. The last bearing I got from them went right back when they couldn't/wouldn't even tell me where they were made. Not something I'm gonna take a chance on.
I have purchased several sets of Egge pistons for semi stock/mild rebuilds and have no complaints. I do find some need more material removed than others to bring them to matched weight, but they otherwise looked good and were reasonably priced. I also discovered that some other suppliers source their stuff from Egge, although it is not generally acknowledged, and it the instance I know of, Egge's price was significantly lower then the other vendor. One other thought. You need to determine what the actual bore size is if your block has already been bored. If it's an unfinished bore, that is not honed to a final size, you may be okay with a set of 30 overs, but the whole idea is to fit pistons to each individual bore and that is done by honimg. If you get accurate measures of the existing bores first, then your supplier should be able to supply a set of pistons that won't be too small when you get them.
i will have the machinist give me measurements of the cylinder bore and ill work from there. as for performance. i dont want a racing engine. it will be powered by a dynaslush for a while so a stock cam might will be my best bet. i was thinking of a mild cam since im going to buy a new cam might as well. the original cam is good just low in comp. its a chevy tuck block and there lower in compresion that the actual units that buick used in ther cars. the reason i ask bout egge is that i heard there pistons giving people problems..heck, i even sen a few pics of them breaking up. i would like to buy theres but dont want to break down in the middle of no were. they give me shop discount as well.. as for kanter. i been warned bout there products. i bought a front end rebuld kit from then once and it fit like ****. so kanter is out the pic. are the federal moguls any good? were are these found.
As for Federal Moguls......I don't know what there current product line offers, but if they made pistons for the 322 previously, I'd check with an old line parts house.....not the new style chains that need a year make and model for a 10 cent screw........the old line parts houses can check with their warehouse distributors and often find NOS parts that will solve a problem. Feberal Mogul stuff was, may still be, high quality. Curious about your comment about it being a "Chev truck block".....I have heard that GMC used Buick 322's and maybe even Olds V8's in some heavy duty applications, but never had heard that Chevy did the same. Are you saying your Buick 322 was original equipment in a Chevy truck? If that's the case, was it pre '55?
I believe it was Buick and Pontiac motors they used and not Olds. Though it wouldn't surprise me. There was a thread awhile ago about trucks that had a great discussion about 322's making it into both GMC and Chevy trucks. And I believe it went all the way to 58 or 59.
yes in deed. both chevy and gmc trucks came with a 56 block. of course, when they made the block they changed the serial number. they also came with a lower comp than the ones issued to buick cars.if you go to buicks.net youll find more info there. they only used 56 blocks to what i know and seen. as for the pontiac engines..etc, dont know much bout those
These pistons are made right here in the US. When I called today to ask about some Poly 318 pieces I also asked about the Buicks...they have the necessary info on hand for several, including the 401, and can make them, no problem! I'll post some pics of our first order (276 DeSoto) when they arrive, sometime early January. The holidays are really messing with the production schedules. Gary .
I am aware of the use of Pontiac based engines in the GMC trucks starting with the '55 models. That's why I asked about being pre-'55. Considering that Olds intro'd the V8 in '49 and Buick the 322's in '53, I was surprised to hear of a Buick in a Chev truck after the '55 intro of the 265 cu in.
what zman said... i also heard from a few members that the chevy truck 322 was prefered for top notch racing application for the low comp..this is comming from an ole timmer. i looked all over google for federal mogul pistons and found nothing. might just end up getting some cast pistons from russell martin in centerville.
OK boys and girls, I finally have the new forged pistons (276 DeSoto) in hand and they are nice! Here are a couple of pics: sorry about the glare on top... although it is difficult (impossible?) to see (above), each piston has ID info etched into the area under the pin boss. and there is no mistake who the manufacturer is... One last pic; Wrist pins in the box, each pin wrapped in a plastic sleeve. The level of shipping protection is the best I have seen. As offered before, if anyone has a forged piston need I will be happy to call the manufacturer and check your application and offer a quote. Gary
Chev used the 322 Buick in their 10 series trucks and school busses from '56 to '59. You can use a late window dist from a '57 up nail head in the 322 also. You need to specify early or late for 322 pistons, early had clamp type small ends on the rods late had press fit. '56 should all be late type. You can use 327 Chev piston rings on the 322, my '56 motor has been running them for 15 years with no problems. Also, the '56 used a different cam and lifters than '55 and earlier, the '56 is a lot harder. You can use 401/425 aluminum rocker arms and gain a little valve lift with a stock cam, 1.5 ratio versis 1.6 ratio. Another thing, the Buick likes extra carberation, mine has tri-power. Good luck with your project. JRL
Those look NICE. If you call 'em back, please find availability and cost for '56 322. Not just "322 Buick" as the pistons changed three times from '53 to '56. Thanks, -Brad
Wow, 3 changes? does anyone have a oem piston they would like to donate so we get it right the first time? If so, send a PM. .
try egge, i rebuilt a 46' chevy 6 cyl out of a 1 ton truck and they sent me new aftermarket pistons that were made in the late 40's. they were in the original boxes and were in a larger box stuffed with 1949 newspaper...so they must have bought out an old speed shop or something...good place i had no problems
Sorry to hijack the thread, but 73RR, what about pistons for a MoPar 218 flathead 6? The stock pistons tend to eat ring lands and I have always wondered if the standard replacement pistons don't suffer from the same problem (probably not the best aluminum alloy).
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