What's Wrong With This Picture?

I recently got started on my next dyno engine and was checking and prepping various parts for it tonight.

Who can tell me what is wrong with this picture?

Ha! The wrist pin is 90 degrees out.

No way! The lettering on the top is 90 out.

Looks to me like the dishing is off center, but it could be the camera angle.

Just curious Sean, who made that piston?

Sean, I'm not sure if it's what you're talking about but those stamped letters have a high ridge that I'd surely knock down before they become a hot spot. Basil

All pistons want to be in a No. 1 bore...

its a piston for a transverse engine:D

It's an ashtray made to look like a piston with a handle! :devil:

I'm with Paul. Probably stamped wrong. Makes ya wonder what else they messed up?

Yep, there's no way "front" could be the front with the way it's stamped. Somebody messed up.

Didn't the Austin Marina mount the 1800 engine transverse for FWD? That would orient the stamp correctly. (As would drifting an MGB sideways) :)

Just thinking of it, may be it is OK to mark the pistons this way when they were made for the Landcrab Austin 1800 Maxi, that shared the B-Series engine in a E-W installation.
Bore&strok are identical, as are the crank and con-rods.

Not the Marina Greg they where RWD. but the follow up was the Maestro and that was FWD.

There is a good chance you can find a connecting rod to work with that piston if you go to the SCCA end of season runoffs at Road America. (Look in the trash bins!)

What, y'all never heard of the "Sidestroke"? Now maybe I can also find some pic of the "Breaststroke "to go with that for ya!

Pete

This piston was stamped just after happy hour.

I think you guys got the idea. It's a good thing I know which way it really is supposed to go!

The piston is a County piston and yes, I'll be checking every other aspect of the set (ring grooves, etc.).

Phil DeRuiter.....PM sent.

Too Clean!

I have also seen piston sets stamped .040" over, when they weren't - and in one case the owner had the engine bored without the pistons (although I would think no reputable shop would attack a block without pistons in hand) and found out too late.

I always mike my pistons and bearings (seen them marked wrong too!) before using them. I suspect that the factory foreman at AE/Hepolite had a useless nephew that they figured was good only for wielding a set of stamps because they thought it would keep him out of real trouble....

It is amazing what one sees over the years. I've even seen a set of used pistons that the 'mechanic' had enough smarts to remove from an engine, and to realize that you should mark them, but his sense fell a bit short when he chose a centre punch to mark them with, and he whaled away at them with an obviously heavy hammer, punching a divot in the crown that made them look like they'd been attacked by a wildcat driller.

The Indian that stamped it probably doesn't know what "front" means. Just got a set of .030s in. This sure isn't very reassureing. Talking to my machine shop yesterday, I was lamenting where all this stuff comes from. Valves from Argentina for example. He said they make lots of valves. SBC ones even.

OK I'll ask. In a situation like this how do you determine the front and rear of the piston? If they can make a mistake like this it might be worth double checking to make sure the front is really marked correctly .My engine is at the machine shop at the moment with County pistons. Yikes!

Argentina makes good valves. Many of the higher quality valves and valve blanks are made down there, so don't be scared of that.

When viewing the engine from the front (water pump end) the piston pin should be offset to the left, away from the camshaft. The oil hole in the rod is on the same side as well (away from the camshaft).

Let's hope it is not for a vintage racing motor.:hot:

This has come up a few times.

It makes sense now if that piston has been made for the austin 1800 land crab.

I think the radiator was on the left side. (Yank driver's side).

So in the pic, if this piston was to be used in an MGB, the front would be at 3 o/clock.

It's a big Mary Jane pipe turned upside down. I said at least one lid.

Blueottie

LOL I like that...high quality crap or low quality crap...at least you were offered a choice.
tc

I've seen this before. In fact I have a set marked like that installed in my MGB right now. I believe that they were marked for the transverse mount application because when lined up correctly the "front" marking would indeed be to the front in that application. This was verified by checking the wrist pin offset. So in the B the "front" marking goes to the distributor side.