Sloppy piston pin?

[isaaccarlson]

I'm putting my ported 350 back together and noticed that the piston pin is loose in the (hyway) piston. It has some up/down movement (about .004") and looks like the pin has pressed up into the bore a little. It has about an hour of run time. 2 strokes always push down, so maybe it's not a big deal, but I wanted to ask just in case. I never noticed this much play in a pin before, but I have never really paid much attention before because they always felt snug.

I tore it down because of an air leak. The lower case was warped, so I got a new one. It has gobs of power and revs to the moon. Is the hyway piston not hard enough? I have an oem piston I could modify to match the current one and swap them out, but that piston has a matching cylinder (not ported) and I would like to keep them as a pair for any future replacement or if I find another 350.

 

[Stump Shot]

In my opinion, it's not worth risking your port job to a crunky piston. I would do whatever necessary to get it replaced with a good one and consider yourself lucky to have found it when you did and remember the lesson you learned.

P.S. Yes a lot of AM pistons are made of a softer aluminum than OEM or a good replacement piston from an actual piston manufacturer.

 

[isaaccarlson]

In my opinion, it's not worth risking your port job to a crunky piston. I would do whatever necessary to get it replaced with a good one and consider yourself lucky to have found it when you did and remember the lesson you learned.

P.S. Yes a lot of AM pistons are made of a softer aluminum than OEM or a good replacement piston from an actual piston manufacturer.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I just modified the oem piston to match my port work and the pin holes are vertically off by .004" from side to side. One is higher than the other, at least in relation to the piston crown.

Am I just worrying myself over nothing? The worn hyway was closer than this one.

 

[isaaccarlson]

Never mind. I forgot about the ring that keeps the pin from going in the wrong way. The new piston is fine.