Response to UTG and the comment section on Piston Knurling @UncleTonysGarage
- Thread starter A56
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A56
Street Survivor
not any better, but thanks
A56
Street Survivor
you and your boyfriend? Wrong forum
A56
Street Survivor
Can anyone give me a brief synopsis of this whole thing? I really don’t want to watch a video or videos on piston knurling.
It seems it’s been a bit a controversy.
It seems it’s been a bit a controversy.
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
MMissile
Well-Known Member
The only knurled pistons I've ever had, were in the early 70's, from an old S/S racer. They were all from his worn-out max-wedge engines. He trying to get more life out of the worn-out bores. He had oversized rings, also.
uncle tony strikes again...
we touched on it already-- and i don't know why people feel the need to start a NEW topic on it, instead of, ya know, just adding to the one already in motion.
anyway here's that thread:
reader's digest version: youboob content generator posts up a vid-ya about "back in the day speed secrets" and then all the other content creators and channel jockeys grab it to generate more content with rebuttals, comments, et al. and then the gray beards that can't remember what they had for breakfast all post about how they had heard that done that in their bothers best friends girlfriends cousin's 500 cube stage VII pro stock hemi back in the day and it totally worked, etc, etc, etc.
it's like watching a series of people just vomiting into each other's mouths and then complimenting everybody on it.
TL;DR you didn't miss nuthin' on nuthin'
Inertia
Well-Known Member
Back then 60s 70s knurling was kinda the norm on over the fender overhauls.
If the pistons were a bit loose, knurling was pretty std.
Folks couldn't afford "real" overhauls.
It was normal to do a valve grind between 60 to 80,000 miles, and re-ring around 110k+ miles.
With or without knurl.
The 12.5 Arias pistons in my 340 Dart are +0.60, been trimmed a few times down to 10ish now.
Those pistons were knurled on the second or 3rd trim, 30 ish yrs ago.
Still in there, driving it daily right now.
That car ran 2/10s off the Nat record in 70's .
If the pistons were a bit loose, knurling was pretty std.
Folks couldn't afford "real" overhauls.
It was normal to do a valve grind between 60 to 80,000 miles, and re-ring around 110k+ miles.
With or without knurl.
The 12.5 Arias pistons in my 340 Dart are +0.60, been trimmed a few times down to 10ish now.
Those pistons were knurled on the second or 3rd trim, 30 ish yrs ago.
Still in there, driving it daily right now.
That car ran 2/10s off the Nat record in 70's .
Professor Fate
Push the button, Max...
Yes, knurling (both pistons and valve guides) was kind of the norm "back in the day". Not so much as a performance mod, just a regular service ritual on higher mileage engines to eke out some more miles out of an aging, but otherwise good condition motor without a lot of taper. Remember, these things were VERY lucky to hit 100K miles back then- not the 2-300K engines now. VERY common on marine/industrial/AG engines.
For its intended purpose, it worked fine. The issue today is finding a shop that even does it.
For its intended purpose, it worked fine. The issue today is finding a shop that even does it.
YewToobe is just like the old TV various series. Something would happen on some cowboy show, I don't know, "Bonanza". Next think ya know, one of the Bonanza charactors had to travel to "Gunsmoke" in Dodge city, "for some reason."
Or sitcoms. Sitcoms were big on visiting characters from other sitcoms, and of course, "spin offs."
And, YeweToobe is just like the old TV in that "fake drama." More of it, all of the time.
Tony is not my uncle
Or sitcoms. Sitcoms were big on visiting characters from other sitcoms, and of course, "spin offs."
And, YeweToobe is just like the old TV in that "fake drama." More of it, all of the time.
Tony is not my uncle
19DART66
Well-Known Member
Newbomb Turk, What it all came down to is UTG put out a video about an article that Smokey Yunick wrote about knurling piston skirts to free up horse power. But UTG said in the video that he has never done the piston knurling thing, but Smokey said it worked. So all the UTG haters came out in full force hating on him for repeating it. I will say this about all of these haters on this forum, if Smokey was still alive and all of these haters were sitting in the same room with him and he brought up the subject not one of the UTG haters would would tell Smokey he's an idiot. Now I never paid attention to a lot of what Smokey said or did because he was a Chevy man, but I new a lot of Chevy guys that considered him a god.
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Exactly. This has gotten beyond old and way beyond ghey.
Got it. Thanks.
I don’t remember the year but I think it was 1987 or so I bought the tooling and a ton (200 IIRC) of teflon buttons to install in the skirts.
I used the last of them on one of my engines in 1991.
It was along those same lines of thinking.
What I found was the loading was so high it would wear the bores where they had contact. You could see it was polishing the hone off when you riches up the bores.
You could see three lines right down the bores. It was fascinating to look at and if I had a profilometer I would have loved to measure the bores.
It would take .0008-.0012ish just to get a hone back on those six vertical lines down the bores.
So essentially there were six long vertical lines in the bores where there was no hone to retain oil.
Luckily you could get by with it because moly rings held enough oil that it wasn’t an issue.
The funny thing is I sold the tooling to a guy at a swap meet in 2001. I have no clue if he ever found the buttons though.
Far as I understand UTG mentioned in passing while talking about pistons, that he read a long time ago that Smokey said Knurling pistons picks up power, then the internet is now debating it, if it would or not.
All this scuttlebutt about piston knurling is good for You Tube business. Stir the pot and sit back and count the cash.
You just have to breathe to stir the pot on the internet, no matter what you say there's someone (one's) that disagree.
You got that right. ......and for those comparing it to valve guide knurling I have this to add. Valve guide knurling is an accepted practice in OTR truck engine repairs and can also still be a good practice for automotive applications. Before your heads explode, I'll tell yall something most of yall may not know. A knurling tool is nothing more than a thread cutter. I'm sure most of you know that. The knurler is run through first, threads are cut in the guides and then a reamer is run through to get the final size. Here's where the fun stuff is. Just like taps and fasteners, there are fine thread and coarse thread knurling tools. Using the fine thread tool removes too much metal and doesn't leave a lot of support. Those are the knurled guides that wear quickly. If you use a coarse threader, that will last a long time. Usually close to what a new guide lasts. Ask any machine shop that does OTR and industrial or railroad engine work and they'll tell you real quick not only does knurling save a lot of money, but it also works well. All this talk about piston knurling is for the birds.
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