The only cast piston failures I've seen have been under nitrous/boost and a poor tune. It's all in the tune. Forged stuff just takes a little more abuse before it goes through the hood because of your poor tune. Detonation will kill any piston period. I think for a warmed up street motor with no power adders cast would be perfect. A street motor has no need spinning high rpms anyway because it's not making power up there. If you want to build a motor that makes huge power up high you're definately not gonna wanna drive it on the street it will be more of a pain the ass than anything.
I see absolutely no reason why you couldn't use good cast pistons for this application. Combine them with GOOD piston rings- like a top moly ductile iron ring/cast second set from Sealed Power, with the recommended bore finish; set them at the minimum bore clearance & avoid severely beating on it for a few miles after break-in, and you'll have a 100,000 mile + engine.
The Jalopy Journal
