46:

Putting chev pins in a Ford piston is no big deal.  They only need honed .015, and the pin lock grooves are already in the pistons.  The chev pins are too long, but you can even grind them by hand on a bench grinder if you have to.  When I did mine I was still working, so I used the company's wet chop saw with the adjustable stop.  The rods need to be narrowed on the big end to Y width also, can be done in a lathe, mill, or on a surface grinder.  Clevite even makes a sbc rod bearing that is narrower than stock to clear a larger radius, so you don't have to narrow the bearings to fit the Y journal.  You're right, too much custom machining if you can't do it yourself.  How about a set of Mummert's replacement steel Y rods? 

Charlie, as I said above, the chev is only .015 bigger, so a bushing in the chev rod would only have .0075 wall, I don't think it would hold up.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

[quote]charliemccraney (10/19/2009)

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I did have to cut about .015 off of my probe flat tops, which are about .200" to begin with. So far, so good. If I'm not mistaken, Hoosier is using the same pistons with more cut off the top in his supercharged race car and it is doing great.[quote]

Charlie: I'm puzzled why you needed to trim your pistons. They should have been .020-.025" in the hole.

Mike, another issue is the 292 piston skirt length. They will hit the crank counterweights. 292 pistons will hit a 312 crank with 312 rods.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

What I mean is to press the bushing out of a floating chevy rod and install a new bushing which is .015 smaller on the id.







I had the deck cut for zero during the first build but never actually checked it. I blame that.


Lawrenceville, GA

Joh, your description of piston mods makes it sound more feasible.  My mechanic could do the rod narrowing and pin shortening on his big vertical grinder at little cost.  for the honing I would feel better finding a machine shop.

Thought about Charlies busing approach, using a thicker bushnig to press in and then hoing to fit.  But such a bushing probably doesnt exist.

DID NOT KNOW of the skirt interference John M.  It must be in the area of the eliptical cut out.  I took a new 312 std piston & set it beside 2 .40 and a .060 OS 292.  The 292s were approx. .043 taller at the bottom of cutout compared to the 312.  Then the same comparison done with a .060 os 292 which has some design differences, and found it was shorter than the 312.  Too bad there are only 7 312 std and one .060 oddball.  But the odd ball could be weight matched to the others (it is 6 gms heavier than the lightest standard), & put under a chamber that  cc's the largest.

John's replacement 312 rods would be preferrable to rebuilding, but that would bring back "heavy decking", which made me pretty gunshy the first time.

Sorry about all the typos.  Typing with the left hand only while filled up with narcotoc is a chllenge.

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Mike, you say you have 7 std 312 pistons. I have 3 NOS Ford 312 standard pistons if that helps.

Yes, the 292 pistons hit in the curved portion at the bottom of skirt. I have used a 7" diameter cutter with piston on its side to make them fit but it is a little scary. Since it's Halloween that might be okay.

http://ford-y-block.com 

20 miles east of San Diego, 20 miles north of Mexico

That would help a lot.  i'll give a call Mon.  Do you know if 312 pistons will interfere with a 312 crank stroked to 3.50?

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.

Talked with John M. today and found his 312 standard pistons are Ford, mine DynaFlyte, and therefore a significant diff. in compression height results.  So, I dont have the proper pistons available on hand to make it work, and since they will have to be purchased, have decided to scrap the idea.  But it would work for someone else I think.

I'll buy a set of John's 312 rods, and save for the pistons.  Found that his forged pistons are something like .015 taller which is GOOD.  The domes give a world of options on CR too.

Thanks to all you guys.

Mike 

Mike, located in the Siskiyou mountains, Southern, OR 292 powered 1946 Ford 1/2 ton, '62 Mercury Meteor, '55 Country Squire (parting out), '64 Falcon, '54 Ford 600 tractor.