I thought all FE's were floaters, but there are some 1.04" pin pistons out there. It's looking like some 360's are pressed. Anyone run into this?

everything I've ever seen, FEs and FTs are all full floaters. (Used to buy several at a time from local bone yard.)
KS

Richard.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120164402788

I emailed this seller to ask him to double check the specs. He replied by saying he copied them straight out of the Zollner catalog. We know FE floaters are .975. Is there a larger floater? Why would a company make this?

And, as if that weren't enough, look at the compression height. 1.725? What the heck is that? Maybe an attempt to bump up the 1.66 410 piston used in the later truck 360's?

The true flat top has potential, but the specs have me somewhat flummoxed. However, some quick math shows that if you used a 390 crank with a 360 rod, you'd come up just .015" shy of zero deck.

There is another set of the same pistons described for 390 use, at 9:1 instead of 8:1. At 1.725 CH, I don't think so. But at or near zero deck, I'm thinking 10.5 at least.

Zollner Pistons is where the Detroit Pistons came from, BTW. You can Google up a history of that story. Zollner is currently located in Indiana.

I had one that had pressed pins. A few replyied that they had seen a few as well. Mine had been rebuilt and a large rebuild shop.

pin OD? Piston maker? This is all just too wacky.

I stripped one out of a Ryder Rental truck, a 359 that had pressed pins., Still have the "105" block. It has a Brass rebuilders tag on it. don't recall who tho.
Kam

...it measured close to 1.037 ......



Richard.

A lot of the high volume rebuilders like AER and Jasper had special parts made so they could reclaim otherwise useless cores or reduce assembly time and cost. These might have allowed them to use the rods as press fits without servicing the bushings - just hone and go. Saves time and money when you're doing 300 engines a day....

Barry Rabotnick
Survivalmotorsports.com

if Zollner stuck this vendor with oddball pistons. It just doesn't make sense to market a 1.04 pin slug to the retail consumer. I'm going to try and contact Zollner directly. I've already got Badger on the stick and am awaiting further specs from them.

Look at his other auctions. I wager that he's either a "front" for one of the big rebuilders, or that he acquired a bunch of inventory from a rebuilder that went under or had a fire sale. Zollner does not sell to the retail service trade - heck - they might not be selling into the service aftermarket at all at this point.

Barry Rabotnick
Survivalmotorsports.com

In the meantime, Badger has stated to me that all their pistons are being made in the U.S., and that they will send me FE part numbers and specs. We shall see.

Sounds like they are using a piston especialy made for a 460 pin! I have seen production rebuilders press pins into bushings! SCARY !