Piston woes

[TomMull]

I’m slowly progressing on my multi year Plus 2 S restoration. So far have replaced sills, installed new chassis, rebuilt suspension and differential as well as ordinary stuff like brakes ect.

I’m into the engine now with new valves, guides, seats and finally got the adjustment right thanks to a friend’s extensive shim kit.

Lower end was going well too, crank ground -.010 although it hardly needed it. Cylinders were nice and round with a couple of minor scratch lines that I’d hoped to hone out. Everything seemed to be going well until I started to clean the standard size pistons. On 3 of 4 I noticed cracks in the skirts. See the photo below. I went over the cracks with a marker for the photo but they would be obvious to the naked eye.

Ray at RD Enterprise has replacement forged pistons but all oversize starting at 020 and quite expensive to say the least.

So my questions: Are the cracked piston skirts common on these old engines? Has anyone got original pistons. (There was in the archives a note indicating that Miles Wilkins had a bunch but that was ten years ago.) I’d be interested in used ones without cracks too.

[wdb]

I acquired pistons among the multitudinous raft of stuff that came with my Elan. I can take a look at what's there and get back to you. I'm no expert on which engine has what piston but I'll use your photo as a starting point.

[joe7]

Forum member Greg Z (US) has a used set on eBay $40.00

[512BB]

I have never come across cracked piston skirts on original pistons and I have pulled apart many that had not been messed with.

I bought the last 8 standard size nos pistons that Wilkins had, about 8 years ago, or so he said. Several turned up with pieces missing from the skirts. That turned into ANOTHER legal battle, and he would not see sense until I stopped my credit card payment. I would never deal with him again, and people who sing his praises on here get on my nerves. They should come into the real world.

I have a good set of low mileage STD original pistons, with skirts intact, that I would sell. Obviously, they will need new rings, which I can get for you.

If of interest Tom, send a PM.

Leslie

[pianoderby]

I’ve seen a few sets of standard size pistons come up for sale. There are both new and used sets on eBay at the moment. As for rings Deves, who are here in the US, supply standard size rings for the Twin Cam.

[512BB]

Did Wilkins at any time mention that what he was selling me was only fit for the bin. No, he did not. Be very careful when dealing with him.

Leslie

[mark030358]

Did Wilkins at any time mention that what he was selling me was only fit for the bin. No, he did not. Be very careful when dealing with him.

Leslie

Shocking that....

[prezoom]

He should have gotten his roof fixed.

[2cams70]

The reason why there's a lot of cheap standard size nos pistons around is because nobody wants them. If you are resleeving an engine back to standard then great but generally speaking you are far better off reboring the engine and fitting oversize pistons. Pistons and cylinders wear together and furthermore they were selectively fitted to each other when the engine was first built. Whilst putting old pistons from one engine into another will work it is not ideal. I generally find engines where this has been done are noisier with increased piston slap noise particularly during warm up. If you don't have a trained ear you may not notice it however. Unless the engine has had very little use and the original hone marks are still visible on the bores I'd rebore the engine personally speaking. This doesn't seem to be the case with your engine if you have pistons that are cracked and also having to re-do the guides and grind the crankshaft. In any case you should be carefully measuring everything up and not just relying on eyesight to determine what exactly needs to be done.