What's The Difference Between An SRP and a SRP Professional Piston?

As much as we’d all love to have a custom set of pistons, sometimes the budget just doesn’t allow for it. So instead we opt for a shelf piston. In the past this usually meant a sacrifice in the overall output of the engine. But the folks at JE Pistons and SRP Pistons have worked over the past few years to change this very thinking.

In January of 2008 SRP debuted a new line of pistons called SRP Professional. The goal of this new line, as JE/SRP Product Manager Alan Stevenson explained, was to provide the market with an affordable high-performance forged piston, “This new line of SRP Pistons will change everything the industry knows about affordable forged pistons. The features you would normally find in a high quality set of JE Pistons can be found at the affordable price of SRP Pistons. There is nothing comparable on the market.”

So what are the main differences between a SRP piston and a SRP Professional piston? Well to keep it simple… A lot!

Piston Design

Advanced, lightweight FSR forging that eliminates stress concentrations for superior strength
Up to 20% lighter than traditional equivalent
High-silicon 4032 aluminum alloy for reduced piston-to-wall clearance and quiet operation
Accumulator grooves for improved ring seal
Designed for normally aspirated or moderate forced induction/nitrous applications

Rings Included

Lightweight, low friction metric ring package included
1.2mm top ring, 1.5mm Napier 2nd ring, 3.0mm standard tension oil ring
Napier 2nd ring for improved oil control
Standard fit rings, no filing required

Pins and Locks

High quality 2.250” pin further reduces reciprocating weight
Carbon steel wire locks included

So what does all the changes accumulate to? The combination of these features can reduce the piston assembly weight up to 81 grams when compared to traditional SRP Pistons!

The line of pistons were designed over the course of a year, and JE/SRP Pistons manufacture billet pistons from solid pucks of aluminum for dyno testing in actual engines prior to approving the final forging designs.“This gives us the opportunity to make small adjustments to the design to improve performance and strength prior to adding them to our catalog.” said Moises Romo, JE Pistons Design Engineer.