bent piston skirt

My best friend decided to put a wiseco 1015 kit in his 76ltd. While installing jugs he somehow bent the piston skirt:angry: . Instead of buying a new piston he bent it back best he could then sanded it with 600 till she fit again:ohmy: . My concern is once aluminum is bent it hardens cauusing it to expand and contract different from heat, I'm worried the piston will warp out of round and cause all kinds of bad things "BOOM". Anyone want to chime in and tell him its a bad idea to use that piston.

Nah, it's not going to warp, it's going to break instead.

I'm surprised that he was able to bend it back without breaking it.

He does know he can buy a single piston from Wiseco, right?

When it breaks, at the minimum it will probably screw up the cylinder wall, and the most it will do is totally trash the motor to the point it can't be rebuilt.

Seems like an awful big chance to take to save $100 or less.

Act with haste, regret at leisure (or something like that)

Yah thats exactly what I said "how did you bend it back without it breakin?" anyhow I went to show him he could get a single piston direct from Wiseco and they are out till 7/7/2008...damn. Anyhow he is gonna wait till he can find one...I won't let him put it back like that its crazy.

I would be willing to bet it won't be a problem.

Jay

Jay are you saying you think it will be fine to run it? It is all back together and he is reluctant to pull apart. If it was yours what would you do?

Don't think I will argue with Jay, I'd just lose anyway because he pretty much knows what he's talking about

It did just occur to me that all the pistons I have seen broken or cracked were cast, and Wiseco's are forged. And forged aluminium will bend where cast would crack/break under the same conditions.

So, in the face of overwhelming opposition, I retract my previous statement :blush:

I wonder if it will still fit the bore right. The pots on mine (and I think all) are tapered top to bottom and the widest part is the skirt. The machinist who bored mine said they sized the bore to be about .001" over the widest point which is the skirt. He said that was the critical fit. They bore each cylinder based on the measurement of the piston for that hole (they marked them left and right after they did mine).

Forged pistons are definitely better, I remember way back when that Tru-Forged pistons were the cat's pajamas.

RedneckSamurai wrote:

Jay are you saying you think it will be fine to run it? It is all back together and he is reluctant to pull apart. If it was yours what would you do?

OK, understand I am not telling you or your friend what to do, but if it was mine and I got it bent back and dressed down with emery, I would not be afraid to run it,

If we were setting this up for a customer and we bent the skirt, we would definately replace the piston, only because we charge for good parts, and that is what we ship.

Then again, I drag raced for so long, you would be surprised what we put back in our own motors.

Jay

Thanks Jay, I myself have done some pretty odd things to keep my bikes on the road, nothing that I thought might cause catastophic failure. I will leave it up to him. I understand he wants to ride her not pull it all apart. All he did was bend it back and sanded it with 600 grit paper untill the skirt would just fit back in on the top end of the cylinder . Is there any chance of a cleareance problem?