We’re making plodding progress with our project 1968 Javelin that we’ve named Attila after the legendary warrior that scared the pants off the Romans way back in the day. Attila was kinda ugly, crude, and by all accounts, one mean dude. The Jav fits all those traits to the letter.

The guy even knew how to go out in style as the warrior died on his wedding night according to history, getting busy with his bride. We’ve read that his ticker went out.

Luckily for us, the chances of our mechanical ticker, the 360ci AMC mill that will be powering the car going out just got a lot smaller due to the fine people of K1 Technologies and The Wiseco Piston Company. Those guys have seen fit to supply us with their new forged piston and H-beam rod combo which has recently hit the market and is creating quite a stirr amongst AMC fans.

Since they’re going to be all hidden inside the block once we get the motor together we want to show you their goodness out in the open and share some info on them before they reach their final destination.

First off, both the pistons and rods are available for 360 and 401ci applications. For our 360 we had the option of choosing either a .030 overbore or .045. We went with the .030. The other option you have to choose from is either going with a flat top or 21cc dished slug. We went with the flat top as we plan to bumping the compression and don’t plan on forced induction down the line. This was a factory 8.4:1 compression engine so we plan on decking the block as well to get the squeeze to the level we want, which frankly, we’re still deciding on.

The compression height on these pistons is 1.59 inches. The guys at Wiseco settled on this slightly raised number because through their research they found many guys used cut their blocks .010 to bump the compression some and achieve better quench. So long as the block has a factory deck height of 9.208 you’ll get that .010 from the piston and not have to chop the block. We’re going to hack at it anyway because that’s how we roll, but if you are looking to save some money at the machine shop, this is good stuff.

For 401s you can order the pistons .030 over currently (more options may become available) and can spec a flat top or 27cc dish.

The 360 connecting rods are stock length 5.875″ H-beam pieces made from 4340 steel and come equipped with ARP 2000 bolts. 401 rods are forged of the same 4340 steel and are stock length at 5.85 inches and come with the same ARP 2000 fasteners.

We were jumping around like a kid on Christmas morning when we arrived home to see this wonderful sight on our porch. The Wiseco Forged Piston Kit comes with wrist pins and piston rings, it’s all ready to go.

Here’s what you’ll need for numbers if you want to duplicate what we’re doing with our 360.

Gak! We wanted to do a little compare and contast on the stock stuff versus our new killer Wiseco/K1 parts. Aside being heavy enough to be used for driving railroad spikes, the huge dish in these factory pistons reduced the compression ratio to a weak 8.4:1. Combined with a mosquito bite sized cam, the result was a 140hp V8.

This is a wonderful upgrade over the cast billy club connecting rod. The ARP 2000 bolts are great insurance and set these pieces apart from the rest.

The pistons all come within 1 gram of each other. Six came in at 504 grams and two came in at 503. The quality of the forging appears to be top notch and the anti-friction coating on the skirts is a nice touch.

To say we’re excited to move this project to the next step is a massive understatement. Stay tuned as we get ready to put these pieces where they belong…in the block!