I have a bunch of loose parts from at least two engines.  The rod part number is ECZ6205A.  I think they may be from a 56 Merc. 312...but I'm not sure.  Are these the same as the 57 C1TE6200's?   Three of 8 of these with pistons attached are sort of frozen on the rods.  I sprayed WD40 on the piston pins and got 1 separated.  Are piston pins usually replaced in an overhaul or reused?  Is anything done with the piston end of the rod?  Are the bronze bushings pressed out and replaced, resurfaced or reused? 

Paul J. - '57 E Code

The pistons I bought came with new pins fitted.The small end bushings can be replaced and honed to size of the pins.

  

I can only speak from my experience, but I would NOT reuse a piston in an engine rebuild. Depending on the application you can re-work the rods and re-use them. Sometimes the cost comes out to about what you would pay for aftermarket/new rods (depending on the build).

Heber City, UT (15 mins outside of Park City- basically it's in the mountains)

55 Effie

ecz are 312 rods.cite rods came out in 61 in h.d. trucks.i never had a problem with used y block pistons.

As stated the C1TE rods are from a HD truck engine, but they are a good choice to replace the ECZ in a 312 or too use if using a 312 crank in a 292 block.

Glen Henderson



Freedom is not Free

Letohatchee, AL

Thanks Guys,

I do not plan on using the old pistons.  They are rough and I am going  .060 over.  I'm not sure if I am going to use the rods, but they are worth saving.

Paul J. - '57 E Code

New pistons normally come with new wrist pins.

 

The bushings in the small end of the rods are a press fit and replaceable.  There is special tooling that ‘swedges’ the new bushing in place once it’s pressed back in that insures it is secure in the rod so this is something to ask of the machine shop doing the work.  Not all shops are properly equipped to change out the wrist pin bushings in the rods even though they may be able to resize the big ends okay.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Of the eight rods i will be using, one has noticeable wear in the bushing, the others are a nice sliding fit with the new pins.

I have changed out one of the original rods as the wrist pin bore was machined too close to the edge of the rod for my liking, but the bush in that rod is also a nice sliding fit.

My plan was to heat the rods and change over the bushings, but from what Ted says, this may not be feasible.

Anyone done this?

.

South Australia

As Ted stated, the bushings should be swedged into the rod. After you take the bushing out, you will see a very rough bore in the small end. When you swedge the bushing in, it is forced into all the grooves in the bore, securely locking the bushing in the rod. If it is not swedged, it is subject to pounding the bushing into those grooves, resulting in a loose fitting pin after a few miles of operation. If it doesn't "pound in", the grooves will have sheared material off the OD of the bushing while pressing it in, and the bushing may work its way partially out of the small end, at least until it contacts the piston boss.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Two things...

1) I do not believe that heat should be necessary or used when pressing out the existing small end bronze bushings in a y-block connecting rod.

2) CAUTION!
- C1TE and ECZ connecting rods have the same center to center dimension.
however...
- the C1TE rods weigh 663 grams while the ECZs weigh 638 grams (source - John Mummert’s web site)

Personally, I would not mix C1TE and ECZ connecting rods in an engine build.

Hope this helps.

NoShortcuts
a.k.a. Charlie Brown
near Syracuse, New York