[Tigers] piston sizes

[Teepen, Jere]

 In 1999 I had my virgin 260 rebuilt and the engine shop used off the
shelf Keith Black .030 pistons made specifically for Ford 260 engines.
I do not have part numbers or any information about current
availability.  I suspect they were not expensive as the entire rebuild
(shot peened rods, all new bearings, ported heads, new cam, etc.) only
cost $1800.00.  I have since sold that car but have contact with the
current owners and it is still running strong.

Jere

-----Original Message-----
From: tigers-bounces+jteepen=usatoday.com at autox.team.net
[mailto:tigers-bounces+jteepen=usatoday.com at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of
Bob Dixon
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:43 PM
To: Rollright at aol.com; mark.rense at ge.com
Cc: tigers at Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: [Tigers] piston sizes

I have been looking at this a lot lately.  Looks like off-the-shelf for
Ford 2.3L you can get compression distances of 1.585, 1.590, and 1.610
(the 260 is 1.60).  Bore sizes in 3.81, 3.82, 3.83 and some others.  The
pistons are not all that cheap though, but better than custom.

Seems like finding off-the-shelf pistons specifically for a 260 is about
impossible these days.

Here is the goofiest scheme I have so far:
5.7" rods
1.090" compression height pistons from a 2.3L Ford Compressed gasket of
.030 2cc valve relief on the piston top 55cc combustion chamber
.016 deck height clearance (assuming the deck hasn't been milled) = 10:1
compression (pump gas)

The pistons would stick out of the block by .019" at TDC :-o

The piston and valve clearance would probably be too small, but it's fun
to think about.

Bob


> My rebuild this year, took the engine .030 over.
>
> I think the gating item is availability of oversize pistons. You might

> do a search on 260 pistons to see what you come up with. On the other
> hand, maybe you  can go higher and use pistons that will work from
> some other application (for  instance, when rebuilding an Aston DB 2
> engine, people use Dodge Dart slant six  valves, supposedly better and

> much cheaper. And mine runs
> fine!)