Piston movement.

[Hairball II]

My valves hit my pistons and i have pulled the head and checked the pistons. The pistons have the usual marks in them that i am going to file out. No cracks and no knocked in pieces. The pistons have some side to side movement... only a tiny bit. I was wondering if this was normal. Some people have told me its normal and some have told me its bad. When the car ran it did not smoke so i personally do not believe the rings are bad.

So, should the pisons have a tiny bit of side to side movement or not?

 

[4BangR-x]

How else would oil get around it??? How much are we talking...like hundredths?

 

[Hairball II]

How else would oil get around it??? How much are we talking...like hundredths?

Yes... just the slightest bit. If i put my palm on the piston and shake it back and forth it will just barely move. I figured that since all of them do it that it was normal.

 

[perley03]

take a feeler guage, put in 1 piston at a time in respecting bores (#1 piston in #1 cylinder, #2 piston in #2 cylinder...etc) and put them about half way down. take a feeler guage and measure the gap inbetween the piston and cylinder wall. the piston-to-bore clearance should be no less than 0.0012" and no more than 0.0020" if it is more than the limit the bores should be bored out to the next size and new oversized pistons MUST be used.

 

[perley03]

also make sure you measure the piston itself, not the rings....it may help to put the pistons upside down in the cylinder so you can measure the piston skirts.