Lost phone with disassembly pics, don't remember piston order

[martsink]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

Hello martsink,

if you don't know the original positions you definitely have to use new piston rings. The other problem is the rods and the rod bearings. These wear differently. So every rod bearing has to be replaced.

If you have to interchange the pistons you should clean the pistons and heads as good as you can, because the deposits on top of the pistons and in the heads fit together.

Also it is not uncommon that cylinders are not 100% round in diameter over the whole length of the cylinder. Depends on wear. If that is the case it is not a good idea to use a piston in a cylinder that didn't belong there. But in that case it is always better to overbore the cylinders and use new pistons.

If the engine previously was fine balanced than an interchange of pistons can cause problems. There are several methods for fine balancing. The most common is to balance the crankshaft and then to bring the wight of the piston and rods to equal. The other is to do that and after that fine balance the crankshaft with installed rods and pistons, which gives an excellent result but means from that on nothing is interchangeable.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Markus

Thanks for the input. I've already done most of the above. Boring out these blocks is not an option, the only thing you can do is resleeve, and that's definitely not in my budget. I guess that next question is, are M96 engines balanced?

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by martsink

Thanks for the input. I've already done most of the above. Boring out these blocks is not an option, the only thing you can do is resleeve, and that's definitely not in my budget. I guess that next question is, are M96 engines balanced?

Hi martsink,

well, the common way if you must overbore the cylinders is to use steel sleeves. There are a very few engine builders over here in Germany that offer overbores in combination with a new Nikasil or nickel / ceramic coating. It's not a very common solution, but it's possible and it is much more expensive than steel sleeves. That is why most people prefer the steel sleeves. Problem with the steel sleeves seems to be that they loose the hone pattern over time. Also if you use steel sleeves you also should use forged pistons, because of the thermal expansion. So there are pros and cons.

Regards, Markus