Chevs C60 and C15

[Allan L]

Gee. Haven't they come up a treat!

[Rod Salter]

Progress [on the chev]
Block on stand, polished surfaces, ran taps through every thread
all cleaned ready fror the wobbly part

[Rod Salter]

Disaster
A few days later
I have soaked these pistons in molasses for months
Tried ATF and acetone, WD spray, Inox
Managed to free the rings on 5 pistons
But No2 stubbornly refused to come loose
So I decided to break the rings out as getting so close to reassembly
I was down to the last inch of ring when "bugger and blast"
a section came away from the piston
so close now, a disaster, good mind to take it all to the scrappy
Or anybody got a 30 thou oversized 3 ring piston to sell

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Rod Salter

Disaster
A few days later
I have soaked these pistons in molasses for months
Tried ATF and acetone, WD spray, Inox
Managed to free the rings on 5 pistons
But No2 stubbornly refused to come loose
So I decided to break the rings out as getting so close to reassembly
I was down to the last inch of ring when "bugger and blast"
a section came away from the piston
so close now, a disaster, good mind to take it all to the scrappy
Or anybody got a 30 thou oversized 3 ring piston to sell

Maybe 20 over.

Silly question, but if you buffed out the rough edges of that chip and put in new rings, how bad would it be? There's little extra load surface that chip gives the ring and but for a little (maybe) loss of compression, is it all bad?

[Mike K]

Just my thoughts. The original wartime GM 216 cast iron pistons are somewhat crude , they are heavy and are prone to problems , I have had loose wrist pin bushes and even heard of the top breaking off - they don't like excessive revs ( over 3000 ) for a extended period. Many restorers use the modern Alloy lighter pistons but reading the reports these can cause issues too, it seems that the older brands are more reliable than the modern examples.

I have some NOS wartime pistons and they do look a little rough , the casting of the skirts is not 100%. I will try to take a pic if I can find them.

Some opinions here: https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/...m-pistons.html

With that broken piston , I have some .030" over NOS wartime pistons in sets but I'd hate to part with one piston and leave 5 orphans. First thing to do is measure the bores for wear with a bore gauge.

This might help, or maybe it won't ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSWZ5aOCPkM I noticed he is using a fibre timing gear, these gears can strip the teeth at any time, leading to a uncertain feeling each time you leave your driveway. I also wish he had not sped up the bit where he is measuring the conrod bores, it's impossible to work out what he is doing.