[whales]

Will be getting my freshly machined block and heads back this week. I was wondering if it is necessary to weigh the rods and pistons to see how close the weights are to each other. Can i balance the pistons and rods together ( rod attached to piston). I have also heard of guys polishing the tops of the piston domes. is this really necessary.

 

[Hottarod]

I think it would be best to have your stuff balanced at a balance shop. This is not a step that you want to short cut on. I had my crank turned and my pistons flycut this last go around so I had my assembly precision computer balanced for $150.

Polishing the piston tops is definitely not necessary. However, I've read that doing that helps make horsepower and some of the claims are significant like up in the 15 horse range. I would think that if the combustion chambers are polished and that helps them then polishing the piston tops should help too. You definitely want to sand smooth any sharp edges caused by flycutting.


You can see my 65 fastback at: http://hottarod.stangnet.com/
http://members.aol.com/macstang/Gifs/macstang3.jpg

 

[onetrickpony]

I agree with Hottarod, balancing is something best left to professionals. The pistons are balanced without the rods attached. The rods are balanced on a special fixture that allows the big end and the small end to be weighed and balanced separately. Then those figures are used to correctly balance the crank, damper, and flywheel assembly.

In other words, balancing pistons and rods without doing the crank can get you into trouble quickly if you end up outside the factory allowable tolerance.

Dave J

My wife says if I buy another Mustang, she's gonna divorce me. I'm sure gonna miss her....