<VV> Reusing LM pistons

[Mark Durham]

The answer is definitely no. It may not have had the cam and crank
done, but since everything else can be removed, no. Take my car.
Bought it 3 years ago with 67K miles, a 1 owner. When I took it apart
this last winter due to three flat cam lobes, I found the top end,
including pistons, had been redone. The cylinders were so worn out I
was getting 60- 80 thousands end gap on the used rings and a oil
control ring just fell thru the cylinder when I took it off the piston
and slid it into the cylinder to check its end gap. It was using lots
of oil, too. And I had new pistons, EGGE brand, that had no wear. I
found it cheaper to get new pistons and .030 cyls than to get the new
full fin std cylinders, since I wanted to do recon rods, to make sure
the rod bearing bore is round.
But a good thing was the heads had also been done. All the valve
guides were in new tolerances. I replaced all the valves due to
corrosion at the tips where the rocker runs, but all I had to do was
lap the new tuftrided valves into the seats. Easy. Mark Durham

On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 4:28 PM,  <aeroned at aol.com> wrote:
>
> If the engine has never been out, can we assume it's never been rebuilt?
>
> Ned
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron <ronh at owt.com>
> To: Bryan Blackwell <bryan at skiblack.com>; AeroNed at aol.com
> Cc: virtualvairs at corvair.org
> Sent: Tue, Jul 26, 2011 10:04 am
> Subject: Re: <VV> Reusing LM pistons
>
>
> The original pistons are in my '66 sedan and it's still the most reliable Corvair I have. Actually, the engine has never been out.
> RonH
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bryan Blackwell" <bryan at skiblack.com>
> To: <AeroNed at aol.com>
> Cc: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 7:59 AM
> Subject: Re: <VV> Reusing LM pistons
>
>> If it's low mileage and has no signs of overheating or detonation, you > might get quite a bit of useful life out of the pistons. I think that > most Corvair piston failures can really be traced to the abuse they > suffered as "cheap cars", often run on crappy gas, with very little > maintenance. I personally wouldn't put stock pistons back in an engine > unless I was *very* certain of the use (and lack of abuse) they had > suffered at the hands of any previous owners. If the pistons pass that > hurdle, and especially if you saw the engine run prior to tear down, then > maybe a measure and re-ring will work out ok. With modern oil and decent > maintenance you could get quite a few miles out of it (say over 50k) > without any trouble.
>>
>> Having said all that, I wouldn't re-use stock pistons. Same thing with > valve seats, if the head needs other work I'm getting the seats done. > Just too much time and money if they fail, and too many unknowns out > there. Spread out over the course of several years, it's really not that > big an expense even if it's painful up front.
>>
>> --Bryan
>>
>> On Jul 25, 2011, at 10:41 PM, AeroNed at aol.com wrote:
>>
>>> I'd like to hear some opinions on reusing LM pistons. Consider that it's >> a low mileage engine and that I have honed the cylinders. What say you on >> how long before I top a piston?
>>
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