Nice! My piston wasn't that bad, but these pistons can crack and brake easily. That is the price to pay for lightweight pistons.

 

ever see a tool that attches to a drill motor, looks like a round toilet brush but has little round surfaces on the end of each bristle. is for cleaning off the glaze in cylinders so the new rings seat. a couple minutes in each cylinder and the glase is gone. i would at least do that to insure the rings seat well. Maybe your mech has on in his shop. I used to restore old Triumph motorcycles and always used that method when a bore was not needed.........just a thought...

 

He has one of those somewhere, I just have to wait for his son to come over with the tools and so he can inspect the damage. We are hoping that's all it was ya know just the piston.

 

Well I'm giving up on rebuilding this motor, all the parts I ordered for this motor are not fitting because the motor and the truck are different years, and the junk yard I got the motor from said the motor was pulled from a 1996 Dodge Dakota. The pistons I got from Napa are oversized (if it was just that I'd bore the block), the main bearings are oversized, by a good 1/4 or 1/2. Now I'm at the point where I'm about to call Jasper or some other place and get a rebuilt or new motor. This way I know the parts are going to fit. I ran the numbers on the block and to my surprise the block numbers are going back as far as 1991 to 1997, the crank is wrong, the piston arms are wrong. I cannot win with this truck.

 

Ya junk yards are not the best for telling the truth.

 

So I noticed and about the only engine rebuilder I know that mass rebuilds them is Jasper and with the garage discount they want $1986 with the core. So I'm at the point where I'm scratching my head. I know it is a 2.5 but if it's a Jeep or Dodge I don't know. I have been doing research and supposedly all I can find out is that the Crank is the same all across the board, why is mine smaller???? If I knew I'd tell ya, but at this point I'm left guessing.

 

jasper does a wonderful job doing rebuilds gary and shawn deal with them all the time and my old fords engine went there after ben seized the motor and it never gave me a lick of trouble

 

Well while going threw the garage, I came across my old engine with the correct parts I need, but it's blown (still ran too just smoked like hell) but I'm going to take the parts I need to make my engine a 1996 lol. But I am bringing the block to a machine shop by my house who's highly recommended going to have the block bored out .020 over and start from square one. Found a engine rebuild kit for about $550 with everything I'll need to do a full rebuild, gonna take the block, crank shaft, and head to the machine shop and let them do the cutting. And what did I learn today??? If at first you don't get it, get the parts you need to make it right LMAO! So I'm gonna say 3 days for the engine rebuild to come (maybe less, praying lol) 3 hours in the machine shop, and a night of rebuilding, total build cost maybe $1,000 I'll let you know the full price when I look at all the receipts.

 

Well I know one company I will never be doing business with again, cause all they did was lie like a rug. On Friday of last week I called RPM Machine in Utah because they had one of the best prices for a complete engine rebuild kit, $515 for everything I needed minus the Crank Shaft but came complete with a Cam Shaft, ok good deal right? That's what I thought. They said on Friday that shipping was going to be 3 to 5 business days GREAT and it was going to be shipped on Saturday and suppose to be at my job for today, because the machine shop wasn't cutting the block until Friday (tomorrow). Well today is Thursday, only part that came was the Cam, I called RPM Machine for the tracking numbers because the machine shop wanted the pistons BEFORE they cut the block to make sure it was right. Well I called they sent over the tracking numbers like I asked, come to find out they didn't ship the parts until Wednesday. It could be that the company is lazy? Dumb? But I know when I was on the phone with the women from RPM that I told her I needed the parts by tomorrow 11am EST because of the machine shop. They expected delivery date on all the parts I need (3 box's 2 different delivery company's) is Wednesday June 2nd. But they guarantee the package in my hands for 3-5 business days what a crock of crap. I do apologize about the language, but this company needs to get a brain and keep there word. I was hoping to have the truck running by Saturday night, but thanks to them not gonna happen.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I hope it all works out for ya!