Are there 'marine' style pistons aval for the 617?

[JDmills]

I was just wondering if there were marine pistons for the 617. I have heard that reducing the CR, will allow one to increase the amount of boost/fuel with out destroying the engine. Not that I am in a hurry to rebuild anything, just curious..

[rg2098]

I don't know but there is a shop around here (Diamond Piston) who will custom make them. A friend of mine is having 12 (2 sets of 6) made for his 300SL. I believe its costing around $10,000.

[TheDon]

Originally Posted by rg2098

I don't know but there is a shop around here (Diamond Piston) who will custom make them. A friend of mine is having 12 (2 sets of 6) made for his 300SL. I believe its costing around $10,000.

damn

[Brian Carlton]

Originally Posted by TheDon

damn

.......too bad you can only buy one set........heh.........

[rg2098]

He races his car out at Bonneville and I'm on his crew. So far he has over $100,000 into the engine alone but he is getting over 400 hp out of the stock block and head.

[TheDon]

i wish i had rich friends

[Wes Bender]

If he's running it on the salt flats at Bonneville, you should be able to buy that car pretty cheaply in about ten years or so.

Sounds interesting though. With 400 hp and the right gears, what speed does he think he can achieve?

[rg2098]

Originally Posted by Wes Bender

If he's running it on the salt flats at Bonneville, you should be able to buy that car pretty cheaply in about ten years or so.

Sounds interesting though. With 400 hp and the right gears, what speed does he think he can achieve?

Cheap is relative. It's still a silver / red gullwing. Plus it will have a speed record. The car was restored about 10 years ago and he has the original dash, seats, engine block is perfect condition. The body doesn't need much work at all. The paint is flawless and the underside just needs a coat of fresh paint. I spend the entire year disassembling the car, cleaning / painting the entire car.

I can't remember what the actual HP is, but on the stock trans he is trying to push 173 mph. Which is a record for a 3 liter engine at Bonneville.

http://www.racesafety.com/bonneville_record_2003.html

He has John Fitch driving for him, those of you who don;t know who he is, research him. Amongst many many things, he drove the Millie Miglia in a stock 300SL and it was his car that crashed at the 55 LeMan that killed 90 people.

[Wes Bender]

I was referring to the salt corrosion that will occur if every last bit of it isn't cleaned out after the runs. More than one record-breaking car from Bonneville has been scrapped due to that problem.

Know about John Fitch. He's done more for motor sports in the US than many will ever know. Developed the Corvair Sprint, flew P-51s in WWII, developed Lime Rock Park, factory driver for Mercedes, drove D-type Jags for Briggs Cunningham, etc. etc. etc.

Obviously, he was the co-driver in the Mercedes that went into the crowd. Levegh was the driver who at very high speed bounced off of Lance Macklin's Healey (who was trying to avoid Mike Hawthorn who cut in front of him to get in the pits). The Mercedes team withdrew well before the race was over. The incident nearly killed road racing.

Anyway, Bonneville is a great experience. Was there in my high school hotrod days, but not since. Hope you are part of the team that's going.

Wes

[JDmills]

guess I will hold off ordering a set... I suppose they are not that necessary, the car runs good with out them.

From what I've seen, most of the Finns are running their "Superturbo's" on the stock 21:1 compression ratio. IMO, 15-20 is fine as-is, 20-30 is stressing the headgasket pretty hard, and anything above that is running on pure luck.