Installing Pistons

Installing pistons is simple when everything is prepared correctly. With a good ring compressor that's correctly squared with the block's deck, all it takes is a nudge from the hammer's handle. I always put the crank's rod journals "down" when installing pistons.

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wd40 On Rings

I use WD40 on the piston skirts and rings prior to installing them in the block. This provides an adequate degree of early lubrication, while still permitting enough friction for a fast ring break-in. Not the scissors-style ring compressor that we use. It's not terribly expensive and it sure beats the hell out of the band-style compressors.

Piston Pin Clips

When assembling the pistons to the rods, I always make sure the ends of the pin-retaining clips are on either side of the notch in the pin bore. This insures that they have maximum surface area to "bite". Note that I've also wiped all traces of moly-lube from the sides of the pin bores in an attempt to insure than none will reach the cylinder walls, possibly impeding early ring seating.

Rods Pistons

As you can see, we've assembled the rods to the pistons. The bearings that were fitted and labeled will be inserted next.

Piston Skirt Ceramic

Here's a view of the skirts on the pistons. As discussed in the article, the piston to wall clearance was too large, so we coated the skirts with a high-pressure ceramic coating and block-sanded it to achieve the correct contact patch and clearance we desired. This coating also has a high coefficient of lubricity, so not only did it "save" our block and pistons, but it should help out by reducing friction a bit.

Development Piston Dome

Here's a view of the dome on the pistons I'm using. This was a set of "development" pistons from early-on in of the strutted skirt program. Note the stake marks, which show the centerline of the valves. You can also see that the scribed valve circumference is well inboard of the edges of the valve reliefs, causing me to lose about a full CC of dome displacement. The boss always gets the throw-away pieces!