Bought a used set of pistons on this forum recently (looking for a set for a rebuild i'm preparing for) and learned a couple things and i have a question. What i learned:
1) before you buy pistons ask that they be cleaned up with good pics faces and skirts
2) before you buy ask that all the rings be removed and get pics of the ring lands
Three of the pistons looked good, rings i could get off, no excessive carbon deposits, etc. etc. The fourth, however, clearly the offending piston which is why they were removed from the donor engine, had frozen rings, and lots of carbon on the face. Well, after a bunch of soaking w/ PB Blaster i've gotten 2 of the three rings out (the middle ring is still being stubborn), but more importantly, the carbon on the face came off and this defect, divot, (see below) was exposed. the question: is this piston usable in any way? the knick's clearly been there a while, notice the embedded carbon deposit in the interior of the divot matching the surrounding piston.
This is my first rebuild, but i'm thinking this is a goner. Too bad cuz new pistons seem expensive. But if this is bad, this is my second bad set that i've bought on the forum. the first set was good but got banged up in shipping (lots of skirt scuffs due to insecure packaging rendering them useless. Thankfully the seller refunded me the base cost on the first set.
any other solutions? do people sell single pistons? I called IE and they said minimum order was 4.... so i could buy 5 but not one.
thanks!
Random advice. I’ve taken two tries at buying used pistons. Things to consider. Have seller remove rings and remove any random carbon. Have them take pics of all sides. nothing against Dionk above, i previously bought a set that had carbon on top and when cleaned there was a chunk missing, one of the rings was essentially welded in place, and the upper side of the piston looks to be wrecked, my guess is because of detonation. So, be wise on the tails of me getting smarter! that said, what kind of compression ratio do you think these are?
PM on the way
If they are what guest-anonymous is saying then i think they are exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll PM you. thanks!
Sold for $800.
