New Info on the 400D Cylinder Gouges

400D Guy · Nov 29, 2011

I removed the piston today and saw this on the cylinder wall:

The picture isn't real good, but the scratches are pretty deep, and go all the way to the bottom.

The piston looked like this:

The bottom two rings had two pretty minor (to my inexperienced eye) vertical scratches, and the top ring had two small nicks out of the bottom side.

I don't know the compression on the cylinder - don't have equipment to check. I'll get a proper feeler gauge and measure the clearance as suggested. If OK, I think I'll just get a new sleeve and rings and call it a day. Suggestions are appreciated, and thanks.

rustred · Nov 29, 2011

looks like carbon scratches.those comp. rings look like they were seating poorly in the second pic. are those 2 oil rings in the same groove? piston should be ok if ring land clearance is ok.what is that shiny in the btm. of cyl.?

400D Guy · Nov 29, 2011

(quoted from post at 16:22:13 11/29/11) looks like carbon scratches.those comp. rings look like they were seating poorly in the second pic. are those 2 oil rings in the same groove? piston should be ok if ring land clearance is ok.what is that shiny in the btm. of cyl.?

Carbon scratches, sounds interesting. The two scratches on the cylinder match exactly with two 11 o'clock scratches on the piston (backside of piston in picture).

The compression rings move around in their grooves, but seem to stick if pushed in -- don't know if that's to be expected.

The two sets of oil rings are separated and not in the same groove.

I'm off to Harbor Freight tomorrow to get a feeler gauge and ring compressor, so will know the land clearance tomorrow.

The shiny area in the picture is a drop light shining up through the bottom of the engine.

Thanks for your reply. I'm sure learning a lot. When I first looked at removing the cap bolts, I thought there was no way I could pull this off, but after removing the piston, thought, well, this is kinda fun. The rod bearings were slick and smooth without a hint of damage. Guess the antifreeze, at least, didn't hurt this bearing.

I'm contemplating just putting the piston back without changing rings or sleeve, after finding out the cost for both from IH ($250), and listening to another poster.

Janicholson · Nov 29, 2011

You will not be putting a reliable engine together
with that sleeve. If the piston is good, and cleans
up, the scores in it are Ok. If the ring lands are
good, with new rings and .0005-.001" between the
ring and land, all is well there. Be sure to clean
carbon out of the ring grooves to the bottom to
assure the new rings do not get held out and seize!
LA Sleeve will make a duplicate of the cylinder if
you cannot find one! Jim

rustred · Nov 30, 2011

no, it needs attention! that sleeve is only about 67.00 from klevite , and rings arnt that much either. better do it right. those old rings are toast. this is the patch jobs that scare me when someone says " i just o/h it". it would be ok to put it together as is if you wanted to drive it to the scrap yard though.

sflem849 · Dec 1, 2011

(quoted from post at 10:22:38 11/30/11) no, it needs attention! that sleeve is only about 67.00 from klevite , and rings arnt that much either. better do it right. those old rings are toast. this is the patch jobs that scare me when someone says " i just o/h it". it would be ok to put it together as is if you wanted to drive it to the scrap yard though.

That's why I don't take much faith in an OH unless I see the slip from the machine shop. Even then you can't totally trust it because they will only do what you authorize.

New Info on the 400D Cylinder Gouges

400D Guy

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rustred

Well-known Member

400D Guy

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Janicholson

Well-known Member

rustred

Well-known Member

sflem849

Well-known Member

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