My Pete rebuild

[Nostalgic]

This is becoming a very aggravating experience in getting usable parts.

Warning, long winded, lotsa words rambling ahead.

Visual check of pistons show a half moon area in the center of the bowl (or whatever the little raised spot in the middle is called) of bare metal. I thought I saw this brought up by another member, but couldn't find the thread/post?

So far, all 8 pistons I've received look like this. Yeah, I had to buy 8 pistons to get 6 damage free ones. One, AND it's first replacement both had heavy marks on the outside of the crown in the APR area. Looked like it was dropped or dragged across concrete before they packaged it up.

Since I'm putting together what's ultimately going to end up being a pretty big chunk of $$$ and quality so far has been so bad, I decided to start checking things in a little more detail. Using my old postage scale, I weighed my pistons. Between the 6, theres a 1.4 ounce spread between the lightest and heaviest. Rods are even worse, with a 2.4 ounce spread. Even on a big clunky diesel, if the heavy piston was put on the heavy rod without checking, that's a huge imbalance in my eyes. I understand that dead weight on rods is only half the story, so I purchased a more accurate scale that reads to .1 grams and I'll dig into reciprocating/rotating weights later once I get a jig setup since I'm going down this rabbit hole.

I have 5 left over rod "cores" that I could possibly use, but the wrist pin bushing specs were tighter than my tools capabilities, so, I bought a new Mitutoyo dial bore gauge. I'm no machinist and now find myself trying to zero a .0001" bore gauge with .001" calipers is a little frustrating lol. The rabbit holes I find my head stuck in...

At least I can kind of sort of determine a go/no go for pin bushings? Cummins specs are 2.502" min -2.503" max. By my shaky hands, I'm reading 2.5025" on one of the recon rods. Even if I'm off by .0005", at least I can know not to consider using one of my used rods if it reads 2.5035" on the vertical measurement (horizontal was same reading as the new recon sample).

Not sure if I should just order 4-5 more rods and try to put together 6 with a closer range of weights or...? The return process with Hunter's is a pain, and it sucks having thousands tied up in returns. I know, I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

All of that said, I really am hesitant to remove material from the pistons. There's no real "good place" I can see, not to mention, what affect does removing the underside coating have? Even though it's very thin and I can already see some shiny metal on the edges of the valve recesses just from rubbing against the bubble wrap, doing so intentionally feels wrong lol. I'm tempted to match heavy pistons to light small ends of rods, and then try to balance the rotating weights of the rods...

You may be asking why I'm doing this. Best I can come up with is 'cause. I want an engine that doesn't shake my mirrors, produces moderate power and is happy and content to spin at higher rpms while doing both.