Recommended 496 pistons and rods?
 

Anyone have any recommendations for forged piston and rods for a 496 making 600+ HP? Looking for an option to upgrade the stock 496 HO with forged for up coming project. I know Raylar offers ther own forged skirt pistons and H-beam billet rod set with pins and rings for ~$1400. Looking for other options that may compare.

Scat 26385P - 6.385 in. Connecting Rods - I Beam Forged 4340 steel
Probe 13729 - 496 Dome Top +18.0cc - SRS Piston Set

I am pretty sure Raylars are Scat

JE pistons
Manley rods
Higher quality for about $1500.

Mahle pistons (flat top) and Scat rods is what I got from Raylar a couple of years ago.

oliver billet rods...put a 6.700 rod in for more trq since your getting pistons anyway,, and JE or CP pistons,,, thats what i use in the 496's... put your compr. at 8.5 -8.7 with a 2.3 whipple and some port work on the exhaust side of the steal factory heads... custom cam from bullet,,, ill give you the size if your interested ... will make 700 hp 800trq at 8lbs of boost... great little motor

We used to sell and use our own design Mahle forged pistons in our 496 (8.1L) sets but they switched over to a 1.5mm,1.5mm&3mm metric ring packages only and we don't feel the rings are wide enough and strong enough for marine supercharger and High Performance NA engines. Piston design and features on this engine have been engineered by Raylar specifically and are manufactured to our specs. We now have our pistons custom built to our special specs by both Wiseco and Race-Tec. The sets are available in +.010" and +.030" over sizes standard on shelf and come with rings, pins and our H-beam billet rods in a set. They are $1426 per set plus UPS S&H and they are stock in flat top and dished for supercharging applications. If we can help , let us know.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

You guys realize he's talking about a 496 Mag(8.1), not a 454 based engine. Totally different situation. To my knowledge there are no off the shelf parts available. Like Ray said, he has custom pistons made with the correct compression height for the stroke and rod length on this engine. Tyler Crockett sells some forged stock replacement pistons that work with the stock rods. Beyond that there are not a lot of (affordable) options.

Bob Lloyd
Full Throttle Marine

yes we realize its the 8.1 496HO motor that he is asking about....raylars package is a good one at a decent price,,, you can also use a standard rod since you would be buying a custom piston,,,most pistons are built to order anyway bc of so many factors,, bore size, deck height ,rod length,comp ratio etc

I used Protru Wiseco Kit PT075H3 (30thou over piston and ring kit), (Piston # 5075H3) with the standard rods. They were off the shelf in Australia ($850) but cheaper in US I guess. They are a flat top same as original but forged.

Cheers

Why don't we advise or use the stock 8.1L 496 forged rods with their big oversize diameter pins?? When you get a chance take one of these rods and put it down on a table and compare it to just the stock GM 502 or old dimple rods with 7/16" rod bolts. After a quick visual you will see the 8.1L 496 rod is way smaller in the beam just above the crank end journal and the bolts are only 10MM and not a very strong 10mm at that. That's why we use our special H-beam billet rods with the replacement forged pistons we sell.
You can use the stock rods with forged (heavier) pistons and when they part company, don't say I did not mention the differences.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar