View Single Post
9FF 9FF is offline
Registered
 
9FF's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,949
Quote:
The pistons themselves are not alusil. Only the block is alusil.



As stated above, there is an iron oxide coating on the skirts to protect them from the silicon in the block.



I had my pistons done by Swain Tech. When I got my pistons back the additional thickness from the coating made them too large to fit into the cylinders. Yes, it's only a few thousandths thick, but the piston to cylinder clearance on these engines is very small to begin with. I had to hone my cylinders out a couple thousandths to get the proper clearance then finish with the Sunnen compound. After all that was done I discovered that standard piston rings were too small and had way to big of an end gap. Luckilly Lindsey Racing makes oversized rings for exactly this purpose.



BTW, both Swain Tech and Lindsey say coatings are compatible with Alusil blocks.
Thanks cjpacitto. Yes I know about them not being Alusil, these are KS pistons so they are for alusil blocks unlike the factory Mahle pistons which are for nickasil blocks. I'll be doing the swain coating on the tops and skirts, they recommended their PC9 coating for the skirts and TBC for the tops, both are Alusil compatible. I read the an-30 honing thread, good info there and good to know about the Lindsey oversize rings. Will post pics when done.
Old 09-24-2011, 06:18 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #9 (permalink)