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Reusing pistons?


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This might be a dbl. but I think I forgot to post the last one, I'm thinking, as I can't find it.

Anyway, is it wrong to reuse low hour pistons when haveing a motor ported? Cheetah pistons are expensive, actually the cost of shipping the motor both ways, expensive. So I'm wondering if reusing the low hour pistons with fresh rings is something other guys would do? Personally I'm thinking I should just put fresh pistons in it, but if it's just waiting my $, well I'm not into that!

Also would a builder even port the motor, put it back together and tune it, with a used set of pistons in it?

Wondering opinions on this.

If this is a dbl sorry, I thought I posted this, but I went looking to see if anyone replied yet and can't even find the post? So I'm guessing I didn't.

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man if you have low hours on it, just make sure the pistons go back in the same way if your on a budget .  your just porting it . clean reassemble.  shouldn't be a prob at all. you don't have to put new pistons in every time you take the jugs off.  but I do not know if you should put new rings in. mabey someone else can answer that one.  id say fresh bore/plate for new rings. idk

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This is who I've been using. http://www.line2linecoatings.com I've had great results on two motors with it. They actually prefer coating pistons that have been broken in so they can build up your skirts after they begin to collapse slightly after break in. Take a peek. Helps with lubricity and aids in defense against tuning error. They can work off suggested tolerances but prefer to have actual cylinder measurements.

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I would prefer to keep the old pistons as a spare and use new but have reused pistons after porting or cha ges to the motor many times. I have changed base gasket thickness as well as domes , changed porting and use the same pistons with no problems. The shape of the bore and the piston break in is important and using a broke in set of rings is safer with new porting than new ones if you ask me.

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coating is one of them things that its the owners preference. i havent had much luck with that stuff but i never tried the line2line stuff. got a few wisecos sitting around with that armorglide crap they put on. first thing i noticed is the thickness is never consistent. box says you should have about .0025" clearance but ive measured several new ones and theres .001 difference between coating thickeness. other thing i noticed is it dont last that long before it wears down. so if you have .003 wall clearance out of the box, it wont be long before you have .005 or more clearance when the stuff wears down. seems like the last cr500 i tore down had .006 wall clearance and the engine didnt have many hrs on it, maybe 20hrs im guessing. pretty sure it had about .003 when i put it together if i recall correct. for experiment im gonna take one of the old wisecos i have and see if i can remove that coating somehow. maybe with wire wheel or whatever. because i have new project and honestly dont want that wiseco armor glide crap on it so im hoping i can remove it before i install the piston. couple years ago i tried swaintech on a old piston to bring the clearance back to acceptable range but never ran the engine long enough to know if it holds up or not. it may offer a buffer against tuning error but i only seized 1 engine in my life so ill be fine without it

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