2G Question about pistons

[LSM]

So I have some Eagle Rods and Manley Pistons that were in my car when I bought it, but I have already bought new pistons and rods to do a 2.3L stroker. Iwas going to sell the rods and pistons that I pulled out of the block because they have very few miles on them! I wanted to clean them up a little bit before taking the pics to post when selling them, and I made the mistake of letting a friend of mine "help" me with cleaning them up!! I have a wire wheel hooked up to a bench grinder, and I told him to be very careful with everything and not hit things too hard woth the wire wheel......and of course, he didnt listen. I now have some minor pitting on the outer sides of the pistons where the rings go. My question is, if somebody was putting new rings on the pistons anyways, would the minor pitting cause any problems at all, or would it not really matter?? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[97egl]

The pistons are probably trash. Without seeing pictures it's hard to say 100% but aluminum is too soft to be using a wire wheel on. The ring grooves need to be "flat" for the rings to sit on and the wire wheel will round off the edges of the grooves. If the rings were still on the pistons they might not have done much damage but if it looks like there is pitting most likely the wire wheel galled the aluminum pretty badly and they would be unusable.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Pictures of said pistons please.

 

[jdxnc]

brake clean/parts wash/mineral spirits and nylon brush is the only thing you should use on them.

 

[Dericsh]

I know this doesn’t help you now, but maybe someone else in the future.

When I was doing piston ring jobs at Honda, we would cut one side of a coolant jug open and fill it with throttle body cleaner, leave the pistons sitting in it face down for about 30 minutes (or however long we went to lunch for), and they would brush off like new with a nylon brush very easily.

 

[LSM]

The pistons are probably trash. Without seeing pictures it's hard to say 100% but aluminum is too soft to be using a wire wheel on. The ring grooves need to be "flat" for the rings to sit on and the wire wheel will round off the edges of the grooves. If the rings were still on the pistons they might not have done much damage but if it looks like there is pitting most likely the wire wheel galled the aluminum pretty badly and they would be unusable.

Well actually it only pitted the very top part of the side of the pistons....the ring grooves are fine on all of them....I think! I'll double check. But yeah, from what I saw, it was just that top like 1/4" of the pistons that make the side edges. If the ring grooves are in fact good, and it is just the top parts, would they be OK still?

 

[LSM]

I know this doesn’t help you now, but maybe someone else in the future.

When I was doing piston ring jobs at Honda, we would cut one side of a coolant jug open and fill it with throttle body cleaner, leave the pistons sitting in it face down for about 30 minutes (or however long we went to lunch for), and they would brush off like new with a nylon brush very easily.

Damn.....I don't know why I didn't think of doing that! I have done similar things with a wore wheel and just being very careful, and never had any issues. I guess I just thought of what I had done before and went with it. It would have been fine if I hadn't let my friend do it.....I should have known better! So yeah.....I screwed up twice on that cleaning! Haha!

 

[curt-s]

So, no pictures?

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

Pictures aren’t needed, you took a wire wheel to aluminum pistons, they now belong in a trash can or aluminum scrap bin. You might not be able to see it by eye but I can assure you it took a significant enough amount of material off. Save those for a friend who’s willing to take the risk on them for free or toss them, don’t clean those up and try to sell them on here.

 

[curt-s]

I disagree. Pictures are needed.
They aren't going to change the outcome because, as you say, wire wheel +aluminum = no


But I still say pictures.

 

[donniekak]

This thread is worthless without detailed pictures.

There are several places on a piston where you can definitely brush them clean. But there are also places where a little high spot from a micro-dent can wreck things.

 

[danl]

I know this doesn’t help you now, but maybe someone else in the future.

When I was doing piston ring jobs at Honda, we would cut one side of a coolant jug open and fill it with throttle body cleaner, leave the pistons sitting in it face down for about 30 minutes (or however long we went to lunch for), and they would brush off like new with a nylon brush very easily.

Anything with P.E.A. (polyether-amine) works fantastic. I spray piston tops with crc di cleaner, let it soak 30 mins, and the carbon wipes off with a soft towel.

 

[LSM]

Pictures aren’t needed, you took a wire wheel to aluminum pistons, they now belong in a trash can or aluminum scrap bin. You might not be able to see it by eye but I can assure you it took a significant enough amount of material off. Save those for a friend who’s willing to take the risk on them for free or toss them, don’t clean those up and try to sell them on here.

Exactly. Like I said, I have managed to be super careful and use a wire wheel on aluminum parts before without any issues, but I was stuid and let my friend mess with it and he obviously didn't understand what I meant by "be effin gentle with them"! I went back over them looking at every square inch meticulously, and even the ring grooves got pitted.They're done for unfortunately, Ive already tossed them in the garbage. I seriously hate some of my friends sometimes.....thank all of you for your help tho, I do apprecaite it.

 

[LSM]

This thread is worthless without detailed pictures.

There are several places on a piston where you can definitely brush them clean. But there are also places where a little high spot from a micro-dent can wreck things.

It's not worth wasting everybody's time to be honest. I guess I should have also specified that the wore wheel I was using was very soft.....but it didn't matter.....I made the mistake of letting a friend try and clean them up and he managed to destroy all but one of the pistons, even with the soft wire wheel. It's my fault for not taking the time to clean them up myself. I'm pretty pissed off about it, but I'm not gonna dwell on it....they're garbage now, and I just lost some money that I could have really used!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Lesson learned.....don't have HELP when YOU are building the engine. Man I'm sorry. The correct technique would have worked out and not cost you a set of pistons. My condolences.
In the end, this will just make the engine BETTER than it was going to be, so lets be optimistic.

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

Don’t feel bad, one of my buddys didn’t tighten down the bolts that hold the turbine housing on on my hx35 when I had it, thing was making great power on the dyno until suddenly we didn’t have any boost. Shit happens, mistakes (expensive ones) get made, we all move on.

 

[LSM]

Don’t feel bad, one of my buddys didn’t tighten down the bolts that hold the turbine housing on on my hx35 when I had it, thing was making great power on the dyno until suddenly we didn’t have any boost. Shit happens, mistakes (expensive ones) get made, we all move on.

Oh damn, I'm sorry to hear that! Yeah exactly......mistakes are made, shot happens, thats life! As horrible as it may be, it's really not worth dwelling on!