I am not a proponent of quick and dirty, but your situation requires action. If you have a bore gauge hone out the hole as much as you can, get some oversize rings a decent piston. Knurl the piston, gap the rings accordingly. You should be fine. Its a moon shiners tanker rebuild.

I'm on board with both of you. I'm not really sure why I felt the need to ask that I'm working on sourcing a replacement piston.


1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

If those hammer marks are anywhere near the edge of the piston top, then there’s a good chance that the top ring land is damaged.  I would be extremely wary in using any piston that has been beat upon as any hammer marks would be a fracture point or source for failure down the road.  If the piston looks questionable, then find a replacement.  Besides the expense of the basic parts in just getting this engine back on the road, the time involved in doing it over as well as the repeat in expenses is also a big consideration.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Wondering if / when that piston might come unglued would drive me nuts. If possible go with a known good one.

that purple power is good degreaser, BUT I think I would check on the web and see if it does have an effect on the bearings . Some one will know. It might be etching the surfaces, but I can't tell you. Hopefully it's not done any damage.

As other have sad here, It sounds like in your case fixing the one cylinder is the best stop gap solution.

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Well, I'm decided on taking the quick & dirty route. I may be losing my garage space to work on the car pretty soon and it would be hugely advantageous if the car could be driven.



As for the stuck piston, I haven't tried to remove the rings from it yet, but the damage from the hammer doesn't look as bad as I was thinking. You can tell it has been struck, but there is no evidence of cracking or deformation. Think it might be usable?



Also: I have been cleaning the engine block up with purple power degreaser. I let the block soak in the stuff for hours at a time. It can have a curious effect on aluminum; might I have compromised the cam bearings by exposing them to the cleaner?

1954 Crestline Victoria 312 4-bbl, 3-speed overdrive

Most of the advice you have received is good but if I understood your question what you are trying to do is get the engine running and back in the car at a very cheap cost ( keep the old bearings and hone the cylinders and using the old pistons.

Since having a running car to work on is such an advantage that is what I would probably do. And remember, in the day that is exactly what we all did. The cars of the 1940s and 50s were anything but high tech close tolerance machines. We knurled the pistons and the valve guides and used cast iron rings and if the did not seal we used Bon Ami cleanser.

Get the car running and then go from there. Pete

I would have to agree with the earlier posts, if you want an immediate driver and not going to run it too hard you could give a whirl to honing, rings and the minimal blowby can be monitored. That said, if you spend now to get it bored, and set straight it is one less thing you need to deal with. Tearing it down is the roughest part, why do it twice? It gives you a chance to deal with cam, bearings etc. The worst would be to do the band aid fix and then have something else to tear down. I once chucked a mustang project because I tried to get to the fun part too quick and neglected the foundation. I convinced myself that the burning oil was just a bad valve, a spun bearing and lost piston later it was a boulder again.




Mike Rizzo

1963 F100 "Rudy"

Daniel Island, SC

If you need a used a standard bore 312 piston let me know more than likely i have one Carl

For the used piston, post in Classifieds.. To late but you might have saved the piston if you had soaked it & used a wooden block to hammer on...

Paul