Was about to put rings on this morning and noticed a HOLE in a piston. (235 bored .030 over) Would it be OK to go ahead and use it? Lay it on me. Might as well get the bad news out of the way first.
If not, the critical issue is what to do now. Do you think Egge or any other vendor would sell ONE piston? That's who I bought them from.
If I have to buy a whole new set of a different brand or style, would it be ok to run one mis-matched or should all six be identical?
Not sure how it happened. I've got an idea, but it's irrelevant now and I'm not assigning blame. (Dont think it came from Egge that way.)
Hopefully the pics give an accurate idea. It's not quite as deep as it is wide.
Matthew 6:33
1952 Chevy 1/2-ton 3100 Late '55 235/SM420/torque tube 3.55 Dalton Highway survivor (using original 216) www.truckwithaheart.com
If it doesn't go all the way through, it'll probably be OK to use. Looks like a casting defect that should have been caught in machining. Bad QC. You could weigh each piston and see if it's close to the rest of them.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truck Follow this saga in Project Journal Photos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together.
How deep is the defect? That ring land carries a lot of the thrust on the piston from compression and combustion pressure, and it's stressed 60 times per second at 2K RPM. I would use it, but only as a paperweight. There's no way I'd put that piston in an engine. When we built up John's 261 a few years ago, we ended up buying two individual pistons from Rock Auto. One had a broken ring land, and another had a crack in the skirt that was discovered during the cleanup job. If you match the weight of all the pistons down to within a couple of grams (which should be done anyway) the engine won't care if an off brand piston is used. A dollar bill weighs one gram, and the race engines we built had all the moving parts weight matched to within 1/10 of a gram.
Just checked the Rock Auto website- - - - -they list a "single piston" price for both Silv-O-Lite and Engine Tech, but when the item is selected, it adds six to the shopping cart. You might want to give them a call and see if they'll ship a single. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
...but the text in the eBay listing says the 235 +30 piston is sold.
'57 GMC 102, Original 347 V8, HydraMatic, 3.08 rear gear, added A/C, disk front brakes, HEI, AFB carb, '98 Honda Black Currant paint. T-boned and totaled 10/12 '52 GMC 152 Stake Bed, Original 228, SM420, added A/C, HEI, disk front brakes, '67 Chev 3.55 rear gear. Gets used as a real truck.
Got the ebay piston and unfortunately it's 14g heavier than those in the Egge set. Also a different design. Looks very similar to the Silvolite or Enginetech available from Rockauto (which are cheaper than the Egge's).
So called Egge yesterday and much to my delight YES they will sell me ONE piston. Due to arrive tomorrow morning via FedEx. They also match by weight, which I didn't know till the Egge guy asked how much mine weigh.
If Egge hadn't been able to sell one my only options would've been six of the heavier cheaper ones from Rock Auto or six of the more expensive lighter ones from Egge. The Egge's look the same as pictured in the shop manual, and are presumably duplicated from the original design. So I'm glad to have the full Egge set again without having to buy two complete sets. That woulda been nuts!
Matthew 6:33
1952 Chevy 1/2-ton 3100 Late '55 235/SM420/torque tube 3.55 Dalton Highway survivor (using original 216) www.truckwithaheart.com
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
Seriously I kinda wondered that myself. First saw the flaw on Saturday and did the only thing that could be done at the time...ordered a replacement on ebay. Waited for it to arrive (late Wed) to verify whether usable. Then after seeing it wasn't, called Egge the next day (Thurs).
Last edited by Skooter; 05/27/20231:05 AM.
Matthew 6:33
1952 Chevy 1/2-ton 3100 Late '55 235/SM420/torque tube 3.55 Dalton Highway survivor (using original 216) www.truckwithaheart.com
I can probably use that extra piston- - - -I've got a set of triple beam scales and a lathe for weight matching. I match weights down to a 1/10 G. tolerance on pistons and rods. Find the lightest weight item and whittle the rest down. Drop me a pm with a price including shipping, and let's do some business! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Not to belabor the issue but wasn't the set of Egge pistons purchased from them new? I would have thought they would have been able to tell immediately whether the damage to the ring groove was a manufacturing defect or not. If it was a factory defect the new piston should be free.
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
No they were perfect from Egge and definitely not a manuf defect. I've got an idea how it may have happened, but as stated, it's irrelevant at this point. I'm just elated not to have to dump another $400 (almost) into a full set!
Matthew 6:33
1952 Chevy 1/2-ton 3100 Late '55 235/SM420/torque tube 3.55 Dalton Highway survivor (using original 216) www.truckwithaheart.com
Had already searched ebay with every word other than "single." Was turning up entire sets.Thanks for finding! 
First saw the flaw on Saturday and did the only thing that could be done at the time...ordered a replacement on ebay. Waited for it to arrive (late Wed) to verify whether usable. Then after seeing it wasn't, called Egge the next day (Thurs).