I am currently in the process of re-building my GSR.. So far I have ITR rods and CTR pistons.. At first I was afraid of the pistons cuz all I ever heard about them were negative. Sayin cuz they were cast aluminum they were weak and blah blah blah.. But after seeing Jeff evan tune so many cars with em I figured whatever just try em out. I read a post stating they are safe as long as you run a big lobe cam to avoid pinging.. what cam would you recomend? Currently I have ITR cams but I am gonna sell em and get bigger...thanks for the input and advice

p.s. sorry if I didnt include any extra info that will help you make a choice.. if you need to know anything else bout the setup please let me know

 

What compression ratio are you trying to hit? Milled head? Decked block? Headgasket?

 

Ahh, you need to consult a Materials Engineering textbook... Cast aluminum is very weak... Anything cast is weak, cause it does not have any work hardening added to the material... Work hardened = FORGED

Work hardening makes the material harder by stressing it, reducing it's ductility, but at the same time raising it's strength... It's one of the ways that metals are made stronger for specific applications... Work hardening and alloying are just a couple of examples of how to increase a materials strength...

"pinging" is detonation, and if it occurs, your weak cast aluminum (is it pure Aluminum? If so it is VERY VERY weak... Most Aluminum is alloyed for strength) pistons will break their ringlands, and you will need to start over...

Forged is the way to go... You get what you pay for...

 

they suck because they have a high dome that doesnt promote good flame travel and depending on if the head has been milled and by how much, and the thickness of the headgasket, you're compression is going to be very high.

 

thanks for the input... I dont think my compression will be too high mid to high 12 compression maybe 12:1-12:5. give or take Here is more details I will be running standard compression valves (dish) not flat bottom, a slightly thicker the oem cometic head gasket, with ITR rods on a GSR crank in a GSR block with a b16 head.. I dont believe my compression will be too high. And yes I understand what cast aluminum is.. and am afraid of it.. but this motor wont be juiced or boosted.. gonna be running all motor.. i dont think it will put too much stress on em.. I have faith in em because I have seen a couple of setups tuned by Jeff Evans on pump gas running CTR pistons with no problems. I just want to know a good cam for this.. dont want to get to big or too little... thanks for you help

also the head wont be milled and block wont be decked unless they need to be...

 

jeff evans is an incredible tuner. if you trust whoever is tuning your car to tune a 12-13:1 street motor on pump gas, then by all means go ahead. here's something for you to think about though, you can make the same if not more power by going with 11-11.5:1 and running full timing instead of 12-13:1 and pulling out lots of timing.

 

With the particular set-up that you want to do you C/R is going to be close to 13.5:1 and thats with no milling, no decking, and using a oem 3layer headgasket. Jdm ITR pistons are the way to go if you are going to use a honda piston! in your set up with jdm itr's you can get 11.5:1 -11.8:1 with no decking, no milling, and an oem headgasket and 12.1:1 - 12.3:1 just by using a b series 2 layer headgasket and be a lot safer and cheaper than using the CTR's!

 

And to answer your original question Buddy club Spec III cams or spec IV(need to use Buddy club valve springs and retainers) or skunk2 stage 1 or 2 cams(stage 2 cams need to use ugrade valvetrain also)

 

12:1-12:5 compression is fine for pump gas just use 93, and tuning can be critical ive seen ppl get away with 12.5 compression with just a VAFC ... 13 or more compression requires race gas or better gas.. and as far as cams go... if your in the 12's with compression get buddy club spec 4's or 5''s (havent heard too many ppl with spec 5's but ive heard good things about the spec 4's).. if you dont get buddy club's get skunk2 stage 3.. i kno someone with 12.5 compression and skunk2 stage 2 was not enough cam for that compression..

 

why run 12:1 with timing pulled everywhere to prevent pinging when you can have a more powerful and reliable engine at 11:1 running full timing?