Does 'F' mean forged?

[NitrousVa]

I'm breaking down a 351w that I got off Craigslist; it's been rebuilt at on time or another. During disassembly I noticed that the pistons have an 'F' on them, I'm hoping that's for forged and not some sort of foundry mark. Theres also a cast number inside the piston 'B747'.

Anyone know if these are forged?

TIA

Robert

 

[Kit Sullivan]

"Front"?

"Ford"?

 

[Paul of MO]

I'm breaking down a 351w that I got off Craigslist; it's been rebuilt at on time or another. During disassembly I noticed that the pistons have an 'F' on them, I'm hoping that's for forged and not some sort of foundry mark. Theres also a cast number inside the piston 'B747'.

Anyone know if these are forged?

TIA

Robert

Looks like a Badger piston - #747 is a low compression non forged part.

Does it have a deep dish on the the top side?

For a street motor cast pistons actually make a little more power because they are lighter and dissipate heat better than a forged one.

If a block can be cleaned up with only a light hone job then nothing is better than reusing the factory pistons. Well seasoned and heat cycled, proven that they were not flawed from the get go and best of all free.

Toss in some good rods bolts, quality rings, and life is good.

Today everyone seems to over engineer street engine building.

How many of you have seen a piston knurler?

Old school rebuilds had knurled piston skirts to take up the slack along with slightly over sized rings instead of boring the block. Works really well if done right. I would not sell my old Atlas piston knurler for anything.

These rings are getting hard to find - only a few manufactures still make them and most of the time they are special order. These are a great option for a thin wall block casting like our Clevelands.

Good luck trying to find someone who knows how to do this correctly.

Most of us are well into the "get off my lawn" stage of life.

I just knurled and refitted a set of factory pistons for a 1926 McKormick Fire Engine. 4 cylinder - Air cooled - 8 inch bore - 9 inch stroke - 95 horse power of pure fire fighting fun.

Want to talk about babbiting connecting rod bearings with molten lead alloy? (That was even before my time but I can still do it - LOL)

- Paul of MO

 

[NitrousVa]

Looks like a Badger piston - #747 is a low compression non forged part.

Does it have a deep dish on the the top side?

Yep, it's gotta deep dish, bummer, oh well I'm looking at a stroker kit from Probe and it has forged pistons, rod and crank. I'll scrap the rest of this engine and just use the block.

 

[4Vforever]

How many of you have seen a piston knurler?

Old school rebuilds had knurled piston skirts to take up the slack along with slightly over sized rings instead of boring the block. Works really well if done right. I would not sell my old Atlas piston knurler for anything.

These rings are getting hard to find - only a few manufactures still make them and most of the time they are special order. These are a great option for a thin wall block casting like our Clevelands.

Good luck trying to find someone who knows how to do this correctly.

Most of us are well into the "get off my lawn" stage of life.

I just knurled and refitted a set of factory pistons for a 1926 McKormick Fire Engine. 4 cylinder - Air cooled - 8 inch bore - 9 inch stroke - 95 horse power of pure fire fighting fun.

Want to talk about babbiting connecting rod bearings with molten lead alloy? (That was even before my time but I can still do it - LOL)

- Paul of MO

OMG Knurling equipment. Hi Paul I know exactly what a piston knurler is and looks like as well as valve guide knurlers etc. Geez when I saw that written up, that takes me back to my apprenticeship days. The shop that I did my apprenticeship and my first few years in the trade was a shop that the guy I did my time under, he purchased from an old guy in his 70s back then in the late 80s. The place was full of all this old gear that was there when bought it, and modern equipment that my boss had purchased. It was just mind blowing seeing what they were using back then, compared to what we were using then. He knew what it all was and showed me how to use and operate the older equipment as well as the modern (at the time) stuff. He said it was important for me to know how it all worked in case there was things that parts were not available for and I had to repair or make things to get it operating again. I very rarely used these things, but it was great to learn. There would be very few people such as yourself that would be able to do such things these days. Even when I was still doing it and worked in other shops, I would talk to people who had done their time around the same time as me, and nearly all had no idea what I was on about such equipment. I think today's people coming through the trade would have absolutely no idea what any of those old tools and equipment were for or what they did. Equipment changed a fair bit from when I started in the late 80s until I left the trade in 2003 and today's machinery is just so far advanced again. As I've said many times before I'm so glad I learnt my trade when I did, as I had to use my brain and work things out for myself. Now days you speak to one of the younger guys working in an engine shop, and it's like, if it's not shown to you or written down for you, or you can't buy one, then it's to hard and it can't be done. Because thinking for yourself and doing it or making it yourself is too hard. Thanks again Paul for the trip down memory lane.