New pistons

[Force Fed Mopar]

I didn't see any pistons listed on TUs website, FWDP only shows the venolias. I wasn't asking for best piston, just best place to buy from, as in, cheapest. On a tight budget. I have JE SRP pistons in my truck.

Where did he say off-the-shelf or from a vendor?

Cheap and on a tight budget does not scream custom made piston to me

[Force Fed Mopar]

The Wiseco TIII pistons we just got recommend .0030 PTW clearance, pretty sure that's gonna be a 4032 alloy. Same goes for the Wiseco 2.5 8v pistons that have been in my car for 4 years now.

[acannell]

I didn't see any pistons listed on TUs website, FWDP only shows the venolias. I wasn't asking for best piston, just best place to buy from, as in, cheapest. On a tight budget. I have JE SRP pistons in my truck.

Cheap and on a tight budget does not scream custom made piston to me

The difference between "custom made"/"special order" and "off-the-shelf" with regards to forged pistons for our engines isn't the usual one. Venolia and Wiseco both told me that they do not stock pistons for our cars. So 100% of them are made to order. Making changes to the basic piston design for our cars doesn't change the price. The pricing I got was for a one-off piston design. I would send them one of my pistons, and they could make a forged design based on it and their expertise, along with my desired changes. So really, any forged pistons for our cars are essentially "custom made" or "special order". There isn't an alternative. FWDP or TU are simply buying several sets at a time and also offering a great deal on a combo package.

Both Venolia and Wiseco actually answer the phone and have great customer service for technical questions. Just google "Sue at wiseco" and you will see how often she gets mentioned when people are talking about forged pistons. Anyone can call them up and get answers to questions like this immediately. There really is no reason to continue with the same misconceptions about clearances, alloys, and "custom" versus "off the shelf". Just ask them.

Forged pistons have more of an advantage than just strength, and thats the design changes you can make without any penalty in cost or lead time, since they are all made on demand. Two common ones that come to mind would be valve relief and compression changes.

So to the OP: if you cant find what you want from FWDP or TU (since its TIII pistons you're looking for), then call up Sue at Wiseco and Doug at Venolia and ask them what I did. I would imagine they will tell you to just send in one of your old pistons and they will make a forged version for you. Just like they said they would do for the 2.5 8V.

Also you might try Mike at FM. Im not sure if he sells TIII pistons or not. His prices were pretty high but I was only checking for a 2.5 8V.

[acannell]

From Wiseco's site:

"WPF forges Aluminum alloys, Aluminum MMC’s, Lithium Aluminum, and dispersion strengthened alloys. Common alloys are 2618, 4032, 2024, 6061, 7075, and other non-ferrous alloys. Wiseco purchases large quantities 4032 and 2618 and can pass the savings on to you. Processes for customer owned material are available.."

From Venolias site:

"Venolia's forged racing pistons are made of tried and proven 2618 T61 or 4032 T62 alloy. The billet is heated to 800°F and forged with a 3,000 ton high-speed mechanical forge press - this produces a fine grain structure in the aluminum which yields the strongest possible blank."

Alloy is a choice. You can pick whatever manufacturer you want, and then pick whatever alloy you want from that manufacturer. Wiseco, Venolia, etc.. do not have some strange allegiance with one alloy or another. Same with clearance, its up to you. The power of getting forged pistons is not just strength, its that you get to make all the design choices you want because they are all made on-demand. You get all the control and the responsibility.

[4 l-bodies]

Last time we checked with Venolia they only offered a standard Chevy (.927") or Ford (.912") pin. They were not willing to make the .901 pin which is why we sell more forged Wiseco pistons. The additional machining was to machine the weak end of the rod for the larger wrist pin.
Chris-TU

Chris next time you check into pistons, look into a .905 pin size. It is a very common size. That is what I always order if using a custom piston and rebuilt 2.5 TI/TII/TIII/TIV rods. No rebushing is required. A slight hone of the factory bushing while getting rods resized and your good to go. Of course I also drill the small end for better oiling. That way your not making the small end of the rod any weaker, and user doesn't pay the expense of rebushing his/her factory rods.
I often wondered why vendors never did offer a .905 pin (at least as an option). It seems like such a logical choice when you are getting the rods resized.
Todd