Ultrasonic bath

[Anonymous]

I brought my pistons in to work today and washed them in the degreasing tank. It wouldn't really shift the caked on carbon/burnt oil so I put them in a small ultrasonic cleaning bath.
WOW!
I never knew old pistons could get so clean! It's a matt finish but the ultrasound dissolves all the small bits of crap in the microscopic pores that other cleaners leave behind. It even gets in those hrd to reach places, such as inside the piston and ring grooves.
I don't know how much the baths cost but I thoroughly recommend using ultrasound to clean engine bits! I bet it would be possible to get a standalone ultrasound generator of sufficient power and connect it to a stainless steel kitchen sink.

Are the gudgeon/wrist pins supposed to be a press fit in the con-rod and sliding fit in the piston?

 

[Anlushac11]

8)

Yes. One of the only things Im not crazy about Fords is the press fit pins. I really like the spiralock keepers rather than the press fit pins.

I have had several occasions where the pins were pressed in and the piston was hard to move by hand on the rod.

Last set I had mounted was on the 69 351W my dad and I rebuilt for my Capri. I found a place that uses a rod furnace. They heat the small end of the rod, slide the piston over it and drop the pin in.

The pistons moved on the rod ends with no binding or resistance at all.

But try a place that knows how to use a rod furnace. They can overheat the ends of the rods.

 

[66200i6]

A trick we use to use when building the early Air Cooled VW, was to put the part to be pressed in the freezer. It has the same effect but in the opposite direction. In most cases the part can be pressed in by hand or with a little tap from a rubber mallet.

Just a thought, Ric.