Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:20:59 -0800
From: Mike West <mwest@CDSNET.NET>
Subject: More on balancing Pistons

 Just when I think I have a line on something it reaches out and
bites me.

 I did another set of pistons, just a balance, for a guy with $20.

 These were Mahles, the same as mine.

 Got John to lend me his balance beam scale and weighed them up.

 Two were close and the other two were real heavy, as in one was

 1-1/2 pennies and the other was 2 pennies and a dime heavy.

 So I cleaned up the easy one and went to the next heaviest.

 Skimmimg away with my little dremel tool and checking, and checking.

 Finally losing patience I went for the rasp, gnaw, gnaw.

 Then I got bored and broke out the drill with the carbide burr.

 Finished that one up and headed into the last one.Most of the nubs
were gone.

 Two pennies and a dimes worth is all the weight nubs and then some
creative mining further down.

 My powder scale says 131 grains, thats over 1/4 ounce.

 I spent so much time on these, I ended up working for about $3.50/hr.

 How'd you like to have those puppies in there unbalanced?

 Anyway, it's not always a kitchen knife scrape job unless you have
 a lot of time on your hands.

 Over five hours on four pistons with the tools I had.

 The difference can't be in the castings as such. I suspect the
 gudgeon pins.

 I might have done better if I'd swapped them around some but then
 I'd need to mike all them and all the bores and get the best fit
 and probably end up back where I started.

 A comment on the pins and the bores: cold, these pins are not  moveable
with out more force than my fingers.

 Set them on the heater for a few minutes and they slip right out.

 Says something about what the fit's like till the pins get warm
 in your car.

 west