TheOther77stang

Hey,
so I have created a problem for myself out of sheer stupidity. I am in the process of fitting my 87 302 w/ a set of edelbrock heads with the 2.02 inch valves. Now, as I said, because of my own stupidity, in attempting to notch the piston for clearance like I knew I was supposed to...on one of the pistons, I removed quite a bit more than I should have because i'm an idiot. (of course I had to remove an equivalent ammount on the opposite piston for ballancing purposes...but that's another can of worms...) what I am concerned about is whether I removed enough to materially weaken the piston. I had a factory notched piston out of another 302, and I measured. my notch is 1/16 inch deeper than that notch. now my question is, should I just put it back together and give it a shot...or do I really need to just replace the pistons. obviously that's a lot more expensive than I really want...but I need an honest opinion. if replace...does anyone have suggestions for an affordable set of pistons that will come already notched? I'm not looking for SUPER high performance or anything... any advice would be helpful!

imnotmy77stang

your fine

TheOther77stang

you sure? and if so, why?

imnotmy77stang

yes, and because i am the great wazoo[8D]


seriously, 1/16" deeper than stock valve reliefs is not anything to be concerned at. they DID have reliefs to star with right?

TheOther77stang

no, there were originally no reliefs on these pistons. they were completely flat top. I'm saying I have a piston out of another 302 that DID have reliefs...and I compared them.

mjr46

did you not buy the jig to do them correctly to avoid such issues

TheOther77stang

wow, your signature is surprisingly accurate. no, obviously I did not. but that's irrelevant to my question.

TheOther77stang

sorry, didn't mean to sound pissed...I'm just kinda worried about this, as you can imagine. at the time i did not realize that a jig was available

mjr46

That's not the way to get help!! and I wasn't being sarcastic that's what the smiley face was for......but since your concerned a pic would help evaluate the situation much better.....but I really don't think it will hurt you to much just may have a tad lower compression on those cylinders but not enough to hurt things....

TheOther77stang

yeah...I'm not so worried about slightly lower compression...I know that's going to be the case, but since like I said I'm not really going for super high performance, as long as it doesn't cause the piston to fail, I'll count myself blessed. I'll see about a pick...though it's hard to see the actual size of the relief cause it is shiny and reflects the light while the rest of the piston doesn't...which is why I tried to measure it.