Pelican Parts Forums

Pelican Parts Forums (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/)
-   911 Engine Rebuilding Forum (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-engine-rebuilding-forum/)
-   -   adding weight to piston? (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-engine-rebuilding-forum/902019-adding-weight-piston.html)

Alan L 02-10-2016 02:29 PM

adding weight to piston?
 
I've got 5 new P&Cs with pistons matched weight group and pin/piston all within 1 gm. I have a 6th new P/C which is 9gm lighter than the rest. Is there any way to add 9gm weight to the one piston/(pin) or do I have to find a way to take 9gm off the other 5.
Thanks
Alan

Alan L 02-10-2016 03:07 PM

Or, can I reduce 1 piston/pin by 9gm and place them at the fan end (1&4).
Alan

afterburn 549 02-10-2016 09:01 PM

Find the lightest and match it .
Thats what most do afaik , and what I always do.
It will not be hard to get rid of 9 gms.
I always shoot for zero, I sleep better.

Alan L 02-10-2016 09:09 PM

I got 5 'heavy' ones and one light one. The light one is the one I just received - at the bottom end of the lightest weight group. So do i have to lighten the other 5, or can I add weight to the light one?
Alan

0396 02-10-2016 09:34 PM

Reread post # 3.

afterburn 549 02-10-2016 09:34 PM

Go lighter is what would do in a heartbeat.
I made a mistake ( Imagine that LOL) -One time and took off weight on the lightest one.
My engine thankfully.
I had to rematch all of them to a EXTREAM light number.
It came out SUPER light .
I shaved from every known spot to man.
This engine has over 30K miles of Spirited driving on it and still purrs.

Alan L 02-11-2016 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_seven (Post 8993316)
One of the issues of uneven piston inertia is that the individual cylinder will decelerate at different rates within the cycle and this will cause a slight unevenness in the way the engine runs.

If you take a 500cm^3 single cylinder engine at 8000rpm it will change speed by around 80 rpm within a single revolution and this will need nearly 1kgm^2 of inertia as a flywheel to keep it running smoothly. If the friction is consistent then the torque which this generates will change the speed change within a revolution.

I spent some years manufacturing single cylinder engine test rigs used by several F1 engine suppliers and have seen these effects quite clearly demonstrated. At 20,000rpm which was the maximum speed of the test systems we supplied it all became a bit tricky and speed changes increased to around 250rpm within a single revolution.

If you reduce the weight of two pistons then this effect will be increased and could set up some high order torsional vibrations which could result in a reduction on fatigue life.

It would be possible to set up a mathematical model to try to analyse this but it would be much faster to just match the weights. :)

What I was suggesting was to reduce weight of 1 piston by 9gm to match the other (6th) , then pair them up - at the light end of the crank (since they would be the lightest pair). Each piston in 1-4 position would be balanced as would 2-5 and 3-6. Alternatively, is there no way to add weight to get them all the same? If I have to I guess I'll just have to pull 9 gm off 5, but it seems a cumbersome way to solve the problem. I ended up with a 6th piston at the light end of the lightest group weight.
regards
Alan

BYprodriver 02-11-2016 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan L (Post 8993325)
What I was suggesting was to reduce weight of 1 piston by 9gm to match the other (6th) , then pair them up - at the light end of the crank (since they would be the lightest pair). Each piston in 1-4 position would be balanced as would 2-5 and 3-6. Alternatively, is there no way to add weight to get them all the same? If I have to I guess I'll just have to pull 9 gm off 5, but it seems a cumbersome way to solve the problem. I ended up with a 6th piston at the light end of the lightest group weight.
regards
Alan

Rebuilding a engine is a "cumbersome" way to stop it from consuming to much oil, but in the long run much better than just pouring in STP oil treatment.

Do it nice or do it twice!

Alan L 02-11-2016 09:13 AM

OK, guess I better get my grinding gear out. Curse. Yes a rebuild is a bit cumbersome to rid an oil consumption issue - but I had just fitted a used set of P/Cs to replace my worn out set - beyond wear limit, but still working OK. But the rings on the 2nd set don't appear to have bedded in. I could have just gone thru the process again, hoping for better results with a new set of rings. But I had a part set (5) of new P/Cs - so decided to 'do it nice or do it twice'.
Regards
Alan

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 09:28 AM

With a 3 beam scale you will have it done inside 2 hours. EZ

Alan L 02-11-2016 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afterburn 549 (Post 8993770)
With a 3 beam scale you will have it done inside 2 hours. EZ

Not here - haven't been down this track before. Alays a bit nervous before attacking parts. I think within a day and I would consider myself lucky. :-) Have to feel my way with this.
Alan

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 10:20 AM

There is really no magic involved .
Just make sure you leave NO burrs!
I have not ever had a piston comeback because I took too much weight off.
Like I said, I screwed my own up one time really bad.
It came out with pistons that were lighter than RSR stuff.
It would SCREAM!
I talk to the guy that bought it from time to time.
No problems .
We shoot for pirrrfection.......that makes at least hit the target.

keynsham1 02-11-2016 10:35 AM

What weight difference actually matters? There must be a point where it doesn't make any difference as things such as friction etc override any minimal weight differences?

KTL 02-11-2016 10:39 AM

Wait until you start removing material from the piston. It's slow going when removing 9g. You keep milling material away, weigh it, remove some more, weight it again, still not even close, remove more, STILL a long way to go............ etc.

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 10:42 AM

You can take some off the pin too.

Alan L 02-11-2016 11:21 AM

I planned to start on the pins - figured that was where the bulk surplus weight was (and I have a lathe which may/or may not help). Was going to see how far I could get with the pins, then finish on pistons.
Alan

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 12:17 PM

You will do just fine.

Alan L 02-11-2016 01:00 PM

Waynes book says 'the machinist will remove weight from the pin' as per pic. How would they do this? I have spent about an hour with dremel and stone, and have not removed a gm. I still got 45gm to go. It is too hard for my lathe tools.
Regards
Alan

Ronnie's.930 02-11-2016 03:21 PM

Alan, here is how Jim did his by hand - looks pretty sweet (post #4 for pistons/pins) -

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-930-turbo-super-charging-forum/800923-connecting-rods-balanced.html

Alan L 02-11-2016 03:37 PM

Hi there Ron. That is mainly about balancing the rods. Jim had another post - which I read, on doing the pistons and pins. He said he used a die grinder bit on the pins. I'm not sure exactly what sort of bit he used - but I have tried a metal fluted bit I used on my intake manifold and I tried a grinding stone. Both suggest i will be here til Xmas before I can reassemble. There must be a more effective way to remove 45 gm of tough metal. Ideally I would like to use the lathe - since I got one.
Thanks
Alan

Alan L 02-11-2016 04:01 PM

I cannot for the life of me see how I can remove 9gm of material off this piston. I can see maybe a gm. So I think I am stuck with working the pins.
The other reason for posting the pic - note the ring gap positions. This is how they came out of the new cylinder. I guess it may be debatable whether to bother orienting them. The ones I pulled after 2 or 3 track sessions had the compression rings moving quite a bit - the gaps converging a bit like this one. The oil ring was still where I put it.
Regards
Alan http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1455238899.jpg

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 04:39 PM

Send them over to me

Alan L 02-11-2016 09:44 PM

Thanks for the offer. But I just spent $200 freighting 1 P&C here. The cost of getting 6 pistons to and from US won't be cheap. If I have to I will hunt out a shop here. But hopefully I can find the right cutting tool. I should have enough gear - as long as I know what I need.
Thanks
Alan

safe 02-11-2016 10:09 PM

I had 4g difference on my 3.6 pistons. I remember that was quite easy to remove from the pins with a stone on a Dremel.

afterburn 549 02-11-2016 10:40 PM

My handy dandy Dremel would find all sorts of places .
You will have to be brave and adventurous .
I guarantee you will not hurt the piston if you pretty up the skirts ,( Radius ), counter sink the pin a little bit.
Engineers tell me a radius is let prone to failure than sq edges .
I have had pistons that I even shortened the pins .
Do not let it scare ya .
You should not ever install a piston without a deburr anyway.
9 gm is not difficult.
Dont make it a religion.
Just do it.

KTL 02-12-2016 06:23 AM

To give you some reassurance, take a look at the last page of this pdf. It shows where JE removes material from their forgings to lighten the piston. You can easily remove it from under the crown and around the pin boss where it's REALLY fat.

http://www.jepistons.com/PDFs/TechCorner/SCPDrawings/JE_Piston_terminology_and_features.pdf

I did this on a set of 3.3L turbo pistons and it was surprising how much material was removed to get the weight I needed out of it.

Speedy Squirrel 02-12-2016 07:25 AM

Just for perspective, Porsche specifies 8 grams as the tolerance for replacement pistons. The weight classes themselves are 4 grams wide.

Aurel 02-12-2016 03:22 PM

If you can find a wrist pin that is 9 grams lighter than the others, you will not have to hack into your piston. That is the way I did when I had similar issue in my rebuild.

porterdog 02-12-2016 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_seven (Post 8993316)
It would be possible to set up a mathematical model to try to analyse this but it would be much faster to just match the weights. :)

I am an engineer and I find this statement enormously funny even after several readings.

afterburn 549 02-12-2016 04:52 PM

You win, I want to see this .
I will go with the zero grams scenario (everytime ) and hope the Porsche fairy forgives all else.

Henry Schmidt 02-12-2016 05:06 PM

Nine grams is more than I would tackle but if you must, find a heavier wrist pin or 5 lighter pins.
Pins are inexpensive and vary greatly in weight.
Send me the pins , your weight measurements and I'll work it out for you.

Alan L 02-13-2016 09:00 AM

I have 3 sets of pins. All the ones I have weighed weighs the same to the gm, (136gm) . Apparently the pistons all now come out in 1 gp weight too. So perhaps all the pins come out the same now too. No good having one gp weight pistons and varying pin weights. I will check some more pin weights - but I am not expecting any variance on 136 - if I could find lighter ones that would help.
9gm I am sure, would add up to a LOT of Aluminium dust. I am sure I need to pull as much as possible out of the pins. And that will add up to quite a lot of steel dust I am sure.
Regards
Alan

afterburn 549 02-13-2016 09:52 AM

Alan
You are over thinking this and working too hard.
All of us have said we can whack 9 GM off for ya. LOL
Lighter is better.
If you were inept and took the whole 9 grams off one spot you might create a problem,
but a smart guy ( Like you ) will be able to take some off everywhere under the piston , make a nice radius on the structure .
( 9 grams will be EZ )

0396 02-13-2016 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by afterburn 549 (Post 8996441)
Alan
You are over thinking this and working too hard.
All of us have said we can whack 9 GM off for ya. LOL
Lighter is better.
If you were inept and took the whole 9 grams off one spot you might create a problem,
but a smart guy ( Like you ) will be able to take some off everywhere under the piston , make a nice radius on the structure .
( grams will be EZ )

SmileWavy

Alan L 02-13-2016 08:14 PM

OK, I 'm going to have a crack at getting as much off the pins as possible, and then finish on the pistons. It would be useful if anyone has a pic of a piston that has had a decent amount removed.
I take the point that 9gm can probably come off the piston - after all I have 2 pistons that are 9gm different and I can't see where the xtra weight is.
Odd that I read several threads and Waynes book about mixing pin weights to balance, and all my 18 pins i have to choose from are 136 gm. (my balance only goes to 1 gm).
Thanks
Alan

afterburn 549 02-13-2016 08:26 PM

I will side with, - this is not like unsprung weight, or the pin is, or is not part of the rod.
Smarter people than me will have to- ahem "weigh in" -on that. LOL
I think you have broached F1 science.
Focus on the job at hand.
I bet if you make each piston with pin weigh as close to each other as you possibly can, you will be blessed by the Porsche gods.

Alan L 02-14-2016 08:42 PM

OK, progress. Started at a rate of about 1gm /hr with the dremel on the pins. At that rate it would take a week. Changed that approach to putting the stone in my power drill and the pin in the lathe with a slow counter rotation - to keep the grinding even. Should be finished tomorrow:-) I have taken 6gm out of the pins. That will leave me with 2-3 gm to take out of the pistons.
Two Q's;
What is the best tool to lighten the pistons - I am guessing the grinding stone will clog up?
I have marked my first targets in the 2nd pic - remove the ridge on the pin boss (#1), and take a chunk out of the boss corners (#2) and then start at the base of the crown (#3) if I need more?
Thanks
Alanhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1455514925.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1455514940.jpg

afterburn 549 02-15-2016 10:23 AM

I usually use a Dremel .
There are a 1000 types of stones, cutters, and wheels available .
The round type sanding drums I use a lot.
Radius your sharp edges , you will have it done EZ

Alan L 02-15-2016 12:31 PM

Oh, I got lotsa dremel tools :-). Had to buy 3 boxes of them to get the 1/2 doz stones I wanted for the pins. They weren't avail individually - not local anyway.
Alanhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1455571852.jpg

afterburn 549 02-15-2016 12:53 PM

The only difference between you and a professional is the so called professional gets paid.
However you will reap the dividends .
Once you do this you will have the confidence to help others .


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 01:10 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2025 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website


DTO Garage Plus vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.