piston design, development, & manufacturing

Services

Piston Experience

We provide piston design, development, and manufacturing services to racing organizations and various engine development and manufacturing organizations. We have experience and expertise in the design and manufacturing of high performance 2-stroke, 4-stroke, diesel, natural gas and compressor piston systems.  We specialize in highly loaded systems and can handle custom designs for any application old or new. 

Total System Optimization

The piston is truly the heart of the engine and its performance and durability are closely related to the performance of other engine systems. We work with our customers to optimize the systems that affect piston performance because highly loaded pistons always perform better when the systems around them provide a solid foundation to operate in. 

Our 2-stroke experience has taught us to take piston profile optimization to a whole new level and we’ve since learned that same attention to detail can generate significant improvements in power, fuel economy and hydrocarbon emissions in all piston systems. 

The piston is one of the few components that can cause a catastrophic engine failure if it is off by as little as one thousandth of an inch so this is a component where details count and our work on a wide variety of highly loaded applications gives us an opportunity to continuously expand our insight and knowledge of what counts and what doesn’t.

Your Success is Our success

We consider ourselves an extension of our customer’s engineering team.

Not all engineering organizations can justify a full time piston group and not all companies are large enough to leverage the required piston expertise from the supply base. We can fill that void by helping with early stage design decisions and supporting the power cylinder development phase of an engine program. We can produce engineering prototype pistons and we often machine castings from the customer’s piston supplier to optimize the piston profile before handing off the design to the supplier for production.

Testimonials

Leadfoot Engineering has a proven and enviable track record of success in the design and manufacture of pistons for high-performance engine applications. From initial design concept, selection of specialty alloys, full CAD-CAM capabilities, to fully finished prototype parts, Leadfoot has rapidly become a state-of-the-art piston specialist. I whole-heartedly recommend Leadfoot to any engine manufacturer requiring the highest standards in piston technology.

David Kirk
President, Kirk Engines

Steve has a unique ability to explain options and guide decision making and is more of a partner than a vendor. He delivers on time, on budget with the highest quality and integrity. It has been my pleasure to work with him over these many years.

Forrest Bowen
Chairman, XRDi

Leadfoot refined the piston design in our diesel aircraft engine. The project has concluded with a successful, marketable product. This was a difficult application, being a two-stroke diesel that highly stresses the piston thermally and mechanically. Leadfoot was the principal developer of the final piston profile, and we have been highly satisfied with their work to date.

Doug Doers
CTO, Deltahawk Engines

Request a Quote

This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.