If you read the list of New Product Award Winners at the 2024 SEMA Show, you likely noticed the name JE Pistons under the “Best New Performance (Racing) Product” category.

The JE Pistons folks took home the award thanks to their new patent-pending dual velocity gas port design. And to learn more about it, we made a beeline to their booth at the 2024 SEMA Show for all the details.

top of a piston on display
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

They told us that the initial design was literally sketched out on the back of a napkin and, after two years of research and development, it’s been proven to increase horsepower.

The main goal was to create a gas port that can provide a positive gas pressure charge to the backside of the ring to help ring seal—but wouldn’t clog like a traditional vertical gas port.

If you’ve ever run a circle track or other race engine with vertical gas ported pistons, you know that over time, carbon buildup clogs up the ports and mitigates the effectiveness of the port.

The new JE Pistons dual velocity design corrects that.

piston on display at trade show
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

While the JE Piston folks explain that these ports aren’t as effective as a traditional vertical port, they’re pretty darn close—and again, the upside is, since the ports won’t clog, you don’t have to tear down your engine after every race season.

So yeah, that’s a pretty big upside.

And you’ll still get the other advantages of a gas ported piston too, namely reduced blow-by.

close up of a piston head at a trade show display
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

Now, let’s talk performance.

The JE Pistons team tells us that, when tested on its own in-house dyno machine, the design offered a 1.5 to 2 percent increase in horsepower.

As an added bonus, this piston design features strut lightening holes to remove mass and improve windage—which also means these pistons are extremely lightweight.

Each piston is made and machined in the USA and you can get pretty much any piston JE Piston offers with these dual velocity gas ports in a wide range of bore sizing.

They’re set up to accommodate a 0.043″ top ring, a 0.043″ Napier second, and a 3mm oil ring.

You can check out all of our 2024 SEMA Show coverage here.

engine piston on a display stand
(Image/OnAllCylinders)
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Author: Paul Sakalas

Paul is the editor of OnAllCylinders. When he's not writing, you'll probably find him fixing oil leaks in a Jeep CJ-5 or roof leaks in an old Corvette ragtop. Thanks to a penchant for vintage Honda motorcycles, he spends the rest of his time fiddling with carburetors and cleaning chain lube off his left pant leg.