Tempo Pistons!!!!! Whats the deal??????

Natestang

Well-known member
Whats the deal with the tempo pistons. Do you all mean that piece of crap 4 banger that i see all the time? Whats so good about the pistons in those. Also where could i get them and how much would they cost. Would any more engine modifications need to be made to make them fit.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Natestang":347uclii said:
Whats the deal with the tempo pistons. Do you all mean that piece of crap 4 banger that i see all the time? Whats so good about the pistons in those. Also where could i get them and how much would they cost. Would any more engine modifications need to be made to make them fit.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

8) the tempo pistons from the 2.3 are virtually identical to the pistons in a 200. they need no mods to use.
 
Howdy:

The Ford Tempo HSC pistons are identical, except for the fact that they are a flat-top design, where as the 200/250 pistons are dished- either large or small dish. The flat-top pistons are a way to raise the compression ratio with no machining.

They are available from most major engine parts supplers. The KB -Silvolite Piston part # is 1185. Last time I checked they were around $17 per.

All things being equal, a dished piston will make more power in a wedge shaped combustion chamber engine. You'd be better off decking the block to a zero deck height and using a small dish piston in a rebuild.

Adios, David
 
As a former owner of a Tempo, I must say that that the little piece of crap four banger gave me 106K trouble-free miles..... And it was the best car I have ever owned for driving in the snow.
 
Natestang,
Better than the Tempo pistins are Ford 255-V8 pistons. They have the same bore as the 200/250, but are about .070" taller from the pin up, which can raise the compression over 1.0 point without milling the block or head. They are also "flat" which will also raise the compression. And they cost about $25 each vs over $100 for custom pistons.
Hope this helps, Hotrod bill
 
Bill,
The 255 pistons work fine for a 250 (the CD is 1.585 vs. 1.50) but will not work on a 200. Too tall for that application.

Deck height on a stock 200 is anywhere from .020" to .030". If you used the 255 pistons on a 200, they would stick out of the engine by about .060".
 
flat top pistons are available from sealed power the specs match the dish pistons for the 200 engine. the # 's are 489p in standard .020,.030,.040 & .060 these pistons are for the 1984 tempo engine hsc. the wb site for ordering them is: http://www.pickproparts.com/PartsList.a ... oryID=5620 . according from sealed power the weight is 585 grams for the flat tops, the stock dished piston is 635 grams. so an engine balance is necessary. hope this helps a lot of folks looking for more compression. good luck on your engine. william
 
255 pistons are flat top with 4 valve reliefs (so that they can be used on either side of a V8).

I used them on the old 250 I had. In hindsight, a better solution would have been to use the stock pistons with 2.5 HSC rods instead. The slightly longer rod would have improved the rod/stroke ratio and my CR would not have been so high. At 9.8:1 it was hard to control knock in that 250.
 
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