Help! What compression are my 3.2L Pistons?

[Determined]

Please accept my apologies right now, I'm new on this forum. My compliments to Wayne and the administrators..great site!

My project involves a 76 911 Targa with a 3.2l. I'm heavy into it and have purchased almost every one of Wayne's books and others out there. Before I dropped the engine I purchased a set of Euro 3.2L pistons to obtain a higher compression. After dropping the engine and tearing it down I realized that I may already have them in the car...could be a good thing? Can someone please help me identify them. The piston and cylinders I bought are marked as follows: Piston~Mahle 95P36++/Cylinder~95ZN1++ W12; The ones I pulled from the car are: Piston~Mahle 95P36+/Cylinder~95ZN1++ W8

Other stuff: This engine had a very serious engine failure..the intermediate shaft came apart! I found a loose gear in the front of the engine near the intermediate shaft. It was identical to the distributor gear...could someone have dropped it in there?
Thank you all, I love this site!

[snowman]

Please post pictures.

TNX

[Determined]

Thanks for your help, here are some pictures.

Alex

[Determined]

Left is the pistons out of my car, the right is the confirmed Euro high compression. Is there a way to identify by the Mahle numbers?

Thanks for your time.

Alex

[Determined]

Look at my case damage, it's being repaired by a local shop here.

[snowman]

I have never seen anyt hing like this. Was there any evidence of something in the oil, ie glass beads, no oil, anything else?

[Determined]

Jack,

Thanks for your reply, I too was surprised with what happened. I found nothing in the oil coolers (front or engine mounting), it was all concentrated near the timing chains. I just picked up my repaired case today, very nice job...only minor adjustments on my end needed. It looks like my case was saved after all $$$! Can you help with my piston identification problem, I think I had Euro high compression already in the engine, what do you think?

Thanks for you time,

Alex

[snowman]

I can't help directly on the pistons. You might try the Mahle site for specs. I found all the specs for my euro M635 pistons there.

[RSupdate]

Is it the lighting and/or shadowing or does it look like there is a dramatic diffeence in the dome shape b'tween the USA & Euro pistons?

would it be possible to see a couple more pic's i.e. side to side (to detect if any dome height diff.) and a couple of different shots from different angles around the dome?

also as just a curiosity point, it appears that your original USA 3.2 piston (on left) cosmetically at least, looks like it's in a lot better shape... when compared to the "new" Euro piston - again could it be the lighting?

Reason I ask is that this last summer I switched over to the Mahle Euro 10.3:1 p/c and when I took the new pistons out of the sealed Mahle box (bought fm SSF) I had one hell of a time detecting any difference in the dome shapes b'tween the two, finally after over 30 min of staring at the two from every possible angle I was able to detect some minor increase in my "new" Mahle euro piston dome hgt.....but it was small to say the least..........I even had SSF called to verify the part number on the box was indeed the "Euro" and not the USA 3.2 pistons.....

Now I am worried that perhaps there is a possiblity that SSF mis-labeled the box and I had new USA 3.2 p/c's reinstalled

So in closing alot of my worry stems from what I think I am seeing in your pic's....specifically a dramatic difference in dome volume b'tween the USA & Euro....

any add'l pic's to help put me at ease would certianly be appreciated !!!!!!