K341 Piston Condition

[clueless 3,248]

Pick this 1977 C160 auto up a couple of month ago. Its in very nice condition. PO maintained it well. I decided to clean it up and use it. Being the curious ass that I am, I couldn't let it be. I took the head off and this is what I found. It looks pretty good, mostly carbon, but I noticed that the piston has a notch in it that is definitely from when it was made. Never seen one before. What do you guys think about the condition of the head and piston? 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 72,719]

I've seen those notches put into full size car Pistons to indicate the direction in which they are supposed to be installed.

 

As to yours, looks pretty good. Decarbon. Flatten out the head a bit. Put her back together.

[oliver2-44 10,734]

Looks good. I don't see any oily carbon area that might indicate blow by, so thats a good thing. 

[squonk 43,843]

I see the image of Cecil Pond in that piston. You're gonna have to leave it! 

[clueless 3,248]

51 minutes ago, squonk said:

I see the image of Cecil Pond in that piston. You're gonna have to leave it! 

Mike, I know you've had some surgery recently, you may need to back off the medication a little, just saying.

[WHX?? 51,778]

I'll have to second that Clueless ... me thinks he was huffing refrigerant .... again! Just my 

 

Back the piston down  and get us a pic of the bore. My might have to use a light or flash.

[520HC 208]

Notch is indicator of piston position. Toward flywheel.

[clueless 3,248]

So the piston with the notch may be the original or a replacement? Just trying to figure out if it's been replaced, I don't really have anything to measure the bore with. The oil pan gasket looks like it may have been replaced.

[clueless 3,248]

Here are the pictures of the bore. Best I could with a flash light and camera. There are faint cross hatch marks on the starboard and port and some small very faint vertical marks on the north and south. After cleaning the piston and flattening the head this is what it looks like. I am assuming that the piston with the notch in it is original, but may have been re-ringed at some point. The last picture is of the oil pan gasket which looks to have been replaced. Opinions please: 

[ZXT 2,401]

Head looks great cleaned up!

 

Could have been re-ringed, or even bored at one point. Have you measured the bore? The piston should be marked if it's oversize, but I've seen them not be marked before. I see some light scoring on the cylinder walls but that wouldn't keep me from running it. Someone might've gone through it at one point, or maybe just got tired of it leaking oil and changed the pan gasket. I wouldn't be concerned either way.

 

By the way, I see some carbon or maybe some chunks of something around the top of the piston. I'd blow it out good with an air hose before I spun it over much.. No reason to grind that into the cylinder wall.