Piston cracks

AndrewLinderman

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So I have taken apart my 7.3 idi that was rebuild 50,000 miles ago or so the guy I bought it from says. I believe him as the bearings all are in excellent condition. the problem is one of the pistons has a crack on the face of it. Seen in the image below. Other than that engine seems in great health. Wondering if that is a problem. The block is bored 30 over and if this is a problem and requires new pistons I will probably be sleeving the block. If you have any input it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 

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IDIBRONCO

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With the abuse that our pistons have to take, even on a N/A engine, that's not good. Put a turbo on it, and it only gets worse. I wouldn't take the chance at all. I would spend the money to get it fixed.
 

bulletpruf

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I would not run that. Had similar cracks in pistons from a 1994 IDI turbo. Tossed 'em in the scrap bin.
 

IDIBRONCO

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Maybe you have to buy the pistons from Mahle? I'm not sure. Rock Auto lists rings though. They list pistons and rings as a set, but they're Enginetech brand. I don't know about the quality of those.
 

bulletpruf

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Where should one get pistons from. I will probably be sleeving the block so I’m good with any size.

Rock Auto or Summit. If you're going to sleeve, it makes sense to sleeve to standard bore for 7.3. I'd go with Mahle/Clevite. RockAuto has them - https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...1126549,engine,piston+&+piston+ring+kit,14008 I suspect Enginetech would be fine, but I don't think these are the same tier as Sealed Power/Mahle/Clevite.

Second choice would be sleeving to 6.9 standard bore. Justin at R&D IDI has done this to address issues with cavitation in 7.3 blocks; pretty sure he did a YouTube video on the build.
 

bulletpruf

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Gotcha. Definitely different. I'm going with NA pistons/rods in my turbo 7.3 build; I have turbo rods, but I don't have the correct crank (casting ending in 2C or C2; forget which one) for a turbo rotating assembly.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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There's gotta be someone else around with turbo pistons willing to sell you one of them if you're on a budget. Why pull the engine apart in the first place if it was so new of a rebuild?
 

AndrewLinderman

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Well I didn’t know for sure it was and It was leaking like crazy out of the rear main seal so I was gonna do a seal kit. Then found a donor engine for $200 bucks and ended up putting that in to rebuild this one
 

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