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What would cause scuffing on the piston skirts?

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Old 07-10-2013, 09:54 AM
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Default What would cause scuffing on the piston skirts?

Just tore down the ls2 short block I blew up a few months ago. When I picked it up, I did a basic rebuild.

New calico coated rod bearings/clevite mains
New stock replacement rings
New deglaze/hone job
Crank polished
Engine was a h/c ls2 that put down 454/425 with more left in it.

Motor has roughly 2,000 miles on the rebuild. The rods/pistons were installed. Back in the same hole they came from.

Upon tear down, all the mains/rods had significant scratches around the bearing, crank looked fine.

The piston side skirts had significant gauling/scuffing on them, and it was not there before.

What could have caused bothe these issues? Motor saw 7,000 regularly.
Old 07-10-2013, 10:14 AM
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Sounds like there was a lot of debris that got into the engine

Who rebuilt it, maybe they left it uncovered for a couple nights..
Old 07-10-2013, 10:19 AM
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I rebuilt it. I kept it covered/blown down and washed out.

But I did not blow out the oil galleys when I got it back from the machine shop. Possibly some **** in the oil galleys from the machining process?
Old 07-10-2013, 01:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Cwarta
I rebuilt it. I kept it covered/blown down and washed out.

But I did not blow out the oil galleys when I got it back from the machine shop. Possibly some **** in the oil galleys from the machining process?
well its one of those things that you might not ever know what happened now... debris or whatnot!
Old 07-12-2013, 12:28 PM
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ALWAYS clean out the every hole in the block with a barrel brush, some water and some compressed air. Most machine shops won't clean them out unless specified.
Old 07-12-2013, 12:51 PM
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That sucks bro! Sometimes the little free tasks will cost big $ down the road...hope you get her back up and running
Old 07-12-2013, 01:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Cwarta
But I did not blow out the oil galleys when I got it back from the machine shop. Possibly some **** in the oil galleys from the machining process?
Hell Yeah! Have you ever hung out in a machine shop? not the cleanest place on earth. Even some of the so called "clean rooms" in some machine shops are questionable at best. Always clean all the oil passages yourself after you get the block back from the machine shop.
Old 07-12-2013, 11:30 PM
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Yup, soooo were on engine # 3 in a year, so it's extra,extra carefull time
Old 07-13-2013, 07:15 AM
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"But I did not blow out the oil galleys when I got it back from the machine shop. Possibly some **** in the oil galleys from the machining process?"

I think you answered your own question...Honing dust "gotcha"...
Old 07-13-2013, 09:05 AM
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Ya I've come to the conclusion that's what it was. Lesson learned...
Old 07-13-2013, 03:33 PM
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Well, I puled the other pistons and this is the only 1 with ANY scuffing at all. The block was just deglazed, not bored. SO I don't think it was a machining issue. WTH would cause this on 1?

Old 07-13-2013, 03:37 PM
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Excessive piston to bore clearance can cause that...even a light hone job will remove some material, granted not much, but if it was on the loose side before it surely didnt help.
Old 07-13-2013, 04:20 PM
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How did you clean the cyl walls?
Old 07-13-2013, 04:25 PM
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Cleaned em with a lint free rag and carb cleaner :/
Old 07-14-2013, 08:14 AM
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Piston scuffing looks like the least of that engines problem.
Old 07-14-2013, 09:11 AM
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Just wondering on the initial condition of the block before rebuild. You don't hone a cylinder unless it's been rebored, has damage in it, or the new ring material specifically requires a hone and then the grit is typically very fine unless it's chrome rings. Do you know what grit was used for the hone? Cylinders don't glaze which is the deposit of material like you see in a glazed flywheel or glazed brake drum. You also don't clean a honed cylinder with carb cleaner or any other solvent.

Last edited by SSellers; 07-14-2013 at 09:24 AM.
Old 07-14-2013, 09:13 AM
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Question What I'm thinking..

Originally Posted by sreve
Piston scuffing looks like the least of that engines problem.
too.
When did the pan rail become MIA???
You said it was previously blown up, and now you are tearing it down? Was it the rod exiting, that you are referring to in the above comment?
Old 07-14-2013, 10:57 AM
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Yes, this engine dropped an exhaust valve on the ls3 heads. Kaboom, murder she wrote. So I'm waiting on the new block to be machined.

What would you recommend to clean the bores etc out with after machine work then?
Old 07-14-2013, 10:59 AM
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The block was a 80,000 mile stock short block when I got it. I put new rings in, all bearings etc with a fresh rehone for the rings. I take it that the rehone was a no no?
Old 07-14-2013, 11:18 AM
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Even after a machine shop calls a block clean and ready for assembly you
can always use a Dexron soaked rag or towel and get quite alot of honing
grit/dirt out of the crosshatching. Then you can wipe them several more
times with a dry towel and I really prefer the Total Seal quickseat powder to
smear on the cleaned bores then install the pistons dry. The powder helps to
seat the rings during assembly...good stuff. Also take a look at all the piston
skirts on the valley side....you will probably see consistently more scratches
than on the exhaust/outside skirt as too much timing/crappy gas/ and det-
onation causes the piston to rock in the bore...perhaps the primary ring gap
was not large enough for the power level/heat you were making...butted to-
gether then cracked off a small piece of piston material...tried to compress
said piston piece into .040" of quench then the piston and rod parted ways.
At high rpm the piston **** hitting the valve can bend it and the pushrod and
knock the valve locks off making you think that thats what happened first....
chicken or the egg sorta thing....really feel for ya sir !!!!


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