I finally unpacked the pistons, cylinders, and connecting rods. I decided to go all new, given how bad the original pistons were. I probably could have just rebushed the original connecting rods but I opted to go with brand new stock aftermarket ones for this build.
Following a pretty standard methodology, I weighed everything multiple times. Unfortunately, my scale is just a basic kitchen scale and didn’t go to tenths or anything so I had to round off to the nearest whole gram.
The supposedly “balanced” rods were way off. Perhaps within some mass production level of “tolerance” but definitely not the same. They ranged from 635 g all the way down to 629 g.
Using the dremel and a sizable burr tip, I slowly removed material off the areas that can be used to lighten and got them all down to consistently measuring 629 g.
| Rods Before | Rods After | Pistons Before | Pistons After | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 635 g | 629 g | 564 g | 564 g |
| 2 | 632 g | 629 g | 564 g | 564 g |
| 3 | 629 g | 629 g | 564 g | 564 g |
| 4 | 631 g | 629 g | 564 g | 564 g |
Now shockingly, the piston heads with pins all weighed exactly the same at 564 g! I didn’t have to do a single thing to them. Way to go AA Performance Products! That’s the kind of thing I like to see!
I will say this… you may think it wouldn’t take long to get a few grams of metal off but it did. And it is quite a messy affair.