When you’re pushing over 1,500hp on gasoline and 1,900hp on methanol with a inline 6 engine, you need to make sure every part of the rotating assembly is up to par for the course. In the past few years we’ve seen 2JZ development go to a level beyond what many would have imagined when many of the parts we use where originally developed. Through years of racing and pushing our engines to their limits we have found what once was considered “indestructible” now needs to be improved to hold up to the rigors of racing. We are fortunate to have great sponsors and technology partners who help us in our quest to create the best 2JZ engines available. One such partner is Sean Crawford and the gang at JE Pistons, whom I had the pleasure of visiting a few months ago on a trip to California for the Red Bull Drifting Championship. After a few discussions with Sean over dinner about advances in technology initially found through their partnership with many Nextel cup teams, we began talking about improvements to our current 2JZ pistons. We’ve made small improvements for the application along the way, but Sean felt it might be best to go back to the drawing board and see what we could come up with using the latest CNC and forging technology available at JE.

We’ve spent the past few weeks working closely with JE’s engineering department to create a pistons that is both strong, reliable and lightweight. The new JE Pistons are being custom engineered and manufactured specifically for our Titan 2JZ engine program, and include the following features and improvements :

• Custom Design: After receiving several years feedback and data from our drag engines, JE has been able to custom tailor our pistons designs to perform flawlessly in high horsepower 2JZ engines. Small changes such as top ring location, skirt shape, bottom band design, crown thickness and more have been adjusted to improve performance and durability. The wrist pin has also be moved up to be compatible with the longer stroke crankshaft.
• Lateral Gas Ports: These are the small holes that are drilled into the top of the top ring groove. Lateral gas ports allow combustion pressure to get behind the top ring and push it outward. This helps the top ring seal during the compression and power stroke, while does not significantly increasing drag during the intake and exhaust stroke.
• 3D Undercrown milling: Our new pistons feature a 3D CNC milling on the undercrown of the piston to remove any extra weight and make the piston crown a consistent thickness.
• Accumulator groove: When combustion pressure passes by the top ring, it can build pressure between the top and second ring. If this pressure gets too high, it can cause the top ring to loose seal. To help prevent this problem, our new pistons feature a accumulator groove below the top ring to provide more volume between the top and second rings.
• Scalloped valve reliefs: When the valve reliefs intersect the outside of the pistons, a thin spot can be created on the piston crown. JE removed these thin spots to prevent pre-ignition.
• Premium Wrist Pin: Our new pistons feature a .210″ thick wrist pin manufactured from premium 9310 steel. The extra thickness will reduce bending,flexing, and cracking in our high boost engine

After extensive testing with computer models, we received our first set of prototype pistons incorporating these improvements today. With weight being a key factor in the modifications we were very pleased to end up with a piston that is 79 grams lighter than our current 2Jz piston, and 41 grams lighter than the lightest 2JZ piston we’ve tested. Initial product testing will be completed in a test engine during the quest for new records. We also have other engines slated to receive these pistons in the near future for further testing. Like all of our developmental products if they prove to be as successful on the track as they are on paper, they will find their way into our Titan built to order engine programs that our customers can purchase to be the king of their street. This is just the first of many improvements being made using computer modeling, cell testing of every component within our already potent engine.   As we prove these components as we have in the past, our customers can expect the absolute best when it comes to parts from the 2JZ.   Keep an eye on the blog for more information on the latest releases and product development.