Quote:
Originally Posted by blykins
I'd say that's probably pretty close in most examples, give or take a few percent. From what I've seen, going from around 9.5 to 10.5 is negligible. When you go from 10.5 to 12.5-13, the gain is substantial, like 40-45 hp on a 680-700 hp engine.
Ed, many companies offer billet pistons. They are getting to be pretty commonplace. When you order a custom from any piston company, you can also get them in .001" increments.
Not trying to knock Gibtec, but just saying that there are others that offer the same options.
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I am in complete agreement Brent. The big difference for me was the price and willingness to make a piston that was not a current product offering. When I first began using Gibtec the price for competitive billet versions was a whisker over $300 per piston for just the piston, no rings or pins.
Gibtec was willing to not only make a piston they had not previously made but do it for essentially the same price as the forged pistons I had been buying from the usual suspects. Even more attractive (to me) was that they would work with Solidworks models of the piston and turn the design process into a genuinely collaborative effort — no one else would even consider this sort of a development process with me.
Although the billet pistons can be had from many different sources today, the Gibtec guys were the only ones who would even consider working with me several years ago. It was their collaborative business model, willingness to model the piston before making any chips, ease of communication and also a stunningly competitive price when everything else was said and done.
Almost everyone of the other providers had a chance to do business (before Gibtec) in a similar fashion and each one of them declined or put the price so high they were effectively saying we are not interested in your business.
The Gibtec experience was very different, when it did not have to be. I both appreciated and respected them for their willingness to work through a new product design with a complete stranger producing a truly custom piston design for me.
I have sent many racers their way since that original design we collaborated on and they treated everyone I steered to them with the same care and respect they provided to me. I place a high value on that sort of business behavior.
While there are multiple other billet piston providers, in the end none of them engaged the opportunity or behaved like Gibtec did, so Gibtec got my business and that of a number of others I have steered to them.
Ed