Ok, here's the deal. I bought everything needed for a built block from 2gnt member. I got a reman. crank, new JE 8.6:1 pistons, eagle rods, melling oil pump, clevite main bearings, and a block that has already been bored 20 over, honed, decked and hot tanked. I was planning on assembling everything myself, but there are a few major problems.

Problem #1- All 4 pistons are scored (gouged) on opposite sides. They look like they were in a vise or something. Either that or its from shipping them without proper packing, but I highly doubt that because of how the scoring is on exact opposite sides of the pistons, and it's on every one. I can post pics later if it would help. Are these salvageable?

Problem #2- All of the pistons were shipped in one box, and the block in another. I dont know which piston goes to what cylinder, or if he just gave them one piston when the machining was done. I don't even know if the machining was done right. It looks normal(good cross hatching), and the pistons fit in the cylinders alright as far as I can tell.

Do I order new pistons, or try to file the high spots off of these? If I do get new pistons, will I have to go 40 over, and get the block re-machined? This really pisses me off, cuz I paid $1500 for all this shit, and now I feel like I got hosed. When I contacted the member and told him the pistons were gouged, he said "what do you mean there gouged, they're brand new. I explained the situation to him, and never got a reply after that.

WHAT SHOULD I DO? PLEASE HELP ME, I NEED OPINIONS ASAP!
Thanks in advance, Mike.

Originally posted by fresh95
Do I order new pistons, or try to file the high spots off of these? If I do get new pistons, will I have to go 40 over, and get the block re-machined? This really pisses me off, cuz I paid $1500 for all this shit, and now I feel like I got hosed. When I contacted hiphop615 and told him the pistons were gouged, he said "what do you mean there gouged, they're brand new. I explained the situation to him, and never got a reply after that. WHAT SHOULD I DO? PLEASE HELP ME, I NEED OPINIONS ASAP! Thanks in advance, Mike.

Without seeing pictures of the pistons, there's no way to speculate other than to say that, if they are, in fact, gouged or damaged, then you would need to replace them. As for the rest of it, do some reading on Google about how to measure taper and bore in the cylinders. Honing, if done incorrectly, can affect cylinder sealing, however I doubt this is the case.

For $1500, you still got a good deal, although I have to say it, if you're unable to assume the risk of getting less than flawless parts for something as critical as your engine internals, then you shouldn't be buying them from a stranger online.

Odds are good that you don't need a reman'd crank. There is no need for replacement unless your current crank is damaged beyond repair. Proper research would have told you that. New oil pump, bearings, and a block that has been cleaned, bored, and honed make that price a bit more reasonable. Hell, here's what you would have spent, had you bought it all new from a vendor:

$1000+ - crank
$450 - pistons/rings
$450 - rods
$150? - oil pump
$100? - water pump
$100 - bearings

So you've got $2250 worth of parts. If you got all of that for $1500, then you got one hell of a deal. Post up pictures before you proceed to crucify a long-standing member.

I knew I didn't need a crank. He wanted to get rid of all of the stuff together, so I took it. I didn't need the block either, but it was included. I know he is a long standing member, but that doesn't stop the truth from coming out. I will try to post pics in a bit, but my camera is shit. If it doesn't work, I'll post them later, with a better camera.

Here's the pics for now, I'll get some better ones later or tomorrow.
First one is a good spot on the piston, second one is a gouged part.





You can kind of see how the edge of the piston is nice and smooth in the first pic, and in the second one, the spot just to the right of the valve indent is where the gouges are.

As promised, better pics.
http://imageshack.us>

http://imageshack.us>

This is how I recieved the pistons. They were already assembled on the rod, with no sign of assembly lube.

What should I do???

OK, first off, I took the liberty of deleting the member's name (I know that the "cat is already out of the bag" but...). I'm not comfortable with the thought of it being there in this forum. Otherwise, it would go into the, more appropriate, good guy/bad guy forum and you would not necessarily get the advice you are looking for :wary

Looking at those pistons and your description those could easily be signs of wrist pin install damage.

My advice would be to see a machinist and get those checked out. The skirt damage is not an issue. That can be worked around. The top of the piston issue, I would be concerned with.

With the limited info that I have right now (being miles away), I would suspect that the bore is probably good and it was just an error in wrist pin install. If that is the case (again machinist can tell for sure), then, worst case scenario, you will need another set of pistons. Just get the same manufacturer (and size) and you won't need rings or any bore changes.

Thanks Bullett, that's the kind of answer I was looking for.
I am having trouble finding a machinist that will do the job. I live near Milwaukee, WI, and I called all the shops I could find, and since I have all the parts seperate, they wont do the job. I think it's just because they're not tearing it down to know how to build it back up. Anyone know a good shop around Milwaukee?

Alright, here's the deal. I got some new JE 8.8:1 pistons off egay.
Brand new for $325 shipped! What a steal! They come with the wrist pins, spiro-locks, and rings. If anyone feels comfortable using the pistons with the nicks, hit me up, and I'll give you a deal.

I thought about it, mike.

Shoot me a price. I'm sure i can find a machine shop that can do a taper or something to give me peace of mind. Does anybody thing tapering the piston tops to account for those nicks is a bad idea?

It would be a downward taper from the piston top around the dish to where it meets the cylinder wall. Does anybody think that would cause a crazy combustion pattern that would fuck shit up?

I think if you had the machine shop just take off the high spots, they would work just fine. That's what I was going to do, but I am known to be quite anal about things (not just my car). I get shit for it all the time at work. I think $250 shipped is decent. The knicks aren't that bad, in fact, I had a really hard time even getting them to show up in pics. They will come with new pro seal rings, wrist pins, and spiro locks. Let me know if that sounds fair.