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Installation Demo

Ceramic Coated Top Pistons

Ever wonder what it looks like rebuild a Ferrari 488 Challenge motor? Watch the installation of a ceramic coated piston and the beginning stages of our engine rebuild.

R3 Motorsports is the official Ferrari Challenge race team for Ferrari San Francisco and Boardwalk Dallas. We have been a challenge team for about twenty years now, specializing in challenge racing. What we’re doing today is rebuilding one of our 458 Challenge motors.

We’re actually adding some new technology that didn’t exist when the 458 came out; specifically, Ceramic Coated Top Pistons. We are the first team to do this in a Challenge engine. With the Heads ready, Heads readied and equipment prepped, we are going to put a piston back into the block and start the reassembly process.

What you see is a beautiful pneumatic piston, by motorsports model, which is being coated on top with a ceramic special coating. This is so it can support the more temperature and dissipate the heat of the chamber quickly so we can have the cooling system working better, oil pressure, and so on.

We then flip the engine upside down. Now you can see now we have all the rods on the same level, ready to get the crank fit in. We tighten the rods first. Once tightened, we are going put in the oil pan. This is a dry sun pan, and is the reason why we don’t have any main bearing caps.

Now we will check the back of the piston compared to how far out it is coming out of the block. The most important area of the combustion chamber is the squish, where you can compress all the air to the crown of the piston. It’s really important, especially when you rev up over 89,000 rpm. A lot of people get focused on the center of the piston. Actually, what is most important is the crown that goes from the outside in and burns as much as possible to create a good kinetic energy.

From there we put in the gasket. Silicon is used to seal the edge of the head gasket. when you put on the front cover, the seal will help with the remaining gap on the gasket. This will ensure that you doesn’t get a leak during your driving experience.

It’s ready to go!

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