I purchased a '68 1600 that wasn't running. The previous owner turned it
over, and even briefly got it going, but it was obvious that it had a blown
head gasket. The car had been professionally rebuilt 10,000 miles ago, but
had been parked for the last five years.
I thought no -problem - I'll just throw in a new head gasket and be on the
road.
When putting on the head gasket, I inspected the bores. At 0.030" over
(0.75mm). They still had the cross-hatch on them, with virtually no ridge.
The head and block were flat.
However, when I finally started the car, it only had about 85 lbs compression
in three of the cylinders, the fourth was about 140.
I took it apart again, this time pulling the pistons - the landings were all
cracked or broken between the compression rings!
I don't know for sure what could have caused this - poor quality aftermarket
pistons, pre-detonation, excessive RPM or poor start-up procedure after five
years of sitting - whatever; doesn't matter now, they're shot.
I hate to re-bore the engine to 0.040" and buy new pistons at $400/set, so I
thought I would put the question out to the group first:
Anyone happen to have any new or used 0.030" pistons (in good shape) they want
to part with?
Thanks in Advance,
'68 SPL
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