piston removal
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piston removal
I am rebuilding my first engine A Ford 460 I thought I had done everything right but now I think I might have made a costly mistake. My pistons were fine to reuse, I laid them out in order of cylinder removed from, However I did not take into consideration that I might have flopped them 360 when I laid them down I took extra caution to be sure which cylinder they came from but didn't realize that it was important not to rotate them Did I just cost myself a cylinder hone and piston replacement PLEASE HELP !!!
Posting Legend
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There should be a mark on the top of each piston indicating the front side of the piston. You may have to clean the top of the piston well to find it. Most rebuilds do however require a new set of pistons. Have a machinist measure your cylinder bores. Someone in the 385 series forum may have the allowable wear limits listed for that engine.
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2003
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From: Northeast LA
I don't know about a 460 but when I did my 302 the pistons did have little notches in them that are supposed to point toward the front of the engine. I hope you get it worked out.
Jason
77 f100
Jason
77 f100
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I found the notch so I should be okay I was lucky enough to get the pistons in order but I panicked when I was not sure of the rotation good thing for those notches. I did this rebuild on a rig that sat more than ran so it looked real nice inside except that bent pushrod probably caused from a stuck valve from too much sitting
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What if a piston went into the wrong cylinder could it be all that bad when they virtually ride on the rings anyway.
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It is late and I have worked alot of hours this week, but am I missing somthing here? 
If your pistons are still on your rods, the rods should be numbered and the numbers always face out.
Good luck.
If your pistons are still on your rods, the rods should be numbered and the numbers always face out.
Good luck.
Playing in the Dirt
Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Southwest Georgia
Sounds like his first time and he did not know to number stamp each rod and rod cap before removing them from the crank and block. Swapping the piston is not a problem, the problem is swapping the rods to different location. Depending on the engine and the balance method this could cause major vibration and damage. All piston have some type of orientation mark on them, but some marks wear off over time. In some applications we have installed pistons backwards on the rods to raise compression slightly, it changes the geometry on the wrist pins.
Posting Guru
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From: Northeast LA
The numbers wouldn't have done me much good if I had gotten them mixed up on my 302 I put in my truck from a grand marquis because It had already been rebuilt once and had two rods marked #3 and two marked #5. But I was so worried about this being my first time taking an engine apart I marked everything and put everything in a certain spot. Any way I just said that incase the engine had been messed with by someone else before he got it. The numbers may have already been out of order or missing some all together.
But you had said in your first post that you made sure you kept them order to put them back you were just worried about which way they face.
Jason
77 f100
But you had said in your first post that you made sure you kept them order to put them back you were just worried about which way they face.
Jason
77 f100
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thanks for the imput
thanks everyone this is my first rebuild I do have alot of auto experience and tried my damnest to be perfect with marking everything I did place each piston in order {except the rotation} however once I took everything to the machine shop I got a little nervous about the possibility that my son or even a buddy out there might have picked up a piston and set it down wrong, nerves get to ya a bit!!! its alot of work and money so you just want to do a great job so I asked the worst case scenario question before I proceeded thanks again