Another potential weak area that I've seen pictures of cracked OEM pieces are the rod caps. I've seen a few crack right at the rod bolt holes. Just like the OEM mains and crank, the edges are extremely sharp and lead to stress risers. So, I spent some time filing and sanding the top and bottom rod caps.
Nice and smooth... Too bad I don't have a stock one to compare to:
Notice I'm still using the OEM rod bolts. I would have replaced them and performed a rod hone if the bolts were TTY, or Torque To Yield (like most European and modern domestic/foreign bolts now are). These are TTA, or Torque To Angle where you torque them to 14 ft-lbs and then rotate 90 degrees. The SM doesn't call for replacement, and my friend in the OEM metallurgical business says these can be used a good five times or so before you really need to replace them. I didn't want to use ARP 2000 rod bolts intentionally. Just my own judgement call.... For some reason, I did buy new rod bolt washers and nuts though....
Anyways, washed the pistons and rods in hot soapy Dawn detergent, cleaned the ring grooves, rinsed, dried with compressed air, WD40'd, and inspected:
Cleaned the rings real well and wiped them down with WD40 before installation:
Let the oldest daughter install the gapped rings, ring "N50" markings point to the piston top:
Do not over-expand the rings to put them in. As little as possible since you can damage them. Do not "twist" them on either (except for the weak oil rings).
Check the ring axial and lateral gap per manufacturer instructions. Make sure the oil expander ring is not overlapping itself and the ends are properly butted up:
Finally, put some lubricating oil on the wrist pins and work it in to the rod and piston to prevent galling on first startup for the full-floating design. The machinist had oiled them right after heating the rods, but it had all been removed during my final cleaning:
The pistons are done and ready for installation!
* OEM-spec 10.2:1 CR Wiseco pistons.
* Oil holes were cleaned out from the Wiseco machining process
* Xylan skirt coating
* Ceramic dome coating
* Set to 0.020" top ring gap, 0.024" 2nd ring gap, oil rings checked for my 3.564" (90.5mm) bore. Ends lightly chamfered.
* Rod caps radiused
* Weighed and balanced with the crank, clutch, and harmonic dampener.
I'll line up the rings just before inserting them in the bores later.