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How do you clean the old pistons if you want to reuse them? How do you get the crud out of the ring grooves? What do you do if the deck has been milled more than .008? Toss the engine?

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I would wash them in the parts washer with mineral spirits and use a nylon toothbrush. Stubborn deposits might be removed with a little Berryman B-12, but it's not really necessary to get them looking like new - just clean with no obvious deposits - after all, they're gonna get dirty as soon as the cylinder lights off the first time. Some shops thermo clean them.... some shops air blast them with shell particles, but I don't think that's a good idea since particulate can lodge in the grooves and corners - later to cause trouble. The ring grooves can be cleaned with a groove tool, followed by a toothbrush:
tool

Never use a wire brush on a piston.

If the deck has been milled past the service limit, some would use a head shim:
shim

Frank

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'89 G-Raider Supercharged 3.0L, MegaSquirt 2, lockup A/T, 2.5" exhaust, 155k, Cibie H4s/Oscar SCs, Hella Micro DE fogs, Cobra CB, Superwinch hubs, LSD rear/Aussie Locker front, Bilsteins, 165A alt., Lifeline AGM, Rust-Oleum

Edited by FrankR (08/29/06 09:54 PM)

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