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MAKING PISTONS
FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND
RESTORATION ENGINES
By Steve Chastain

Here's the inside info on casting aluminum pistons in your backyard as good as any commercial foundry will produce.

Design and make pistons for new or old engines for that tractor, auto, truck or any other engine.

Bring even the most "impossible" old engines back to life for little cost using inexpensive modern piston rings on your antique equipment.

You are no longer limited by the price and availability of replacement pistons and rings when you make your own.

Learn to make all the tools and jigs needed to quickly produce top quality replacements in your own back yard and home shop.

A "must have" for antique equipment restorers!

Steve will show you how to design new pistons taking into consideration heat flow, create the proper lands for the rings to allow high loads and temperatures, make patterns, cast the blanks in sand molds, and machine them into useable pistons.

This is not fluff. You get many details, warnings, problems and solutions from someone who has made pistons from scratch. You'll see the set he created to rebuild a 1930 Dodge engine. And he'll walk you through the whole process, from measuring the bore in the block to removing .002" to make the pistons the necessary egg shape to compensate for deflection at the pin bosses.

You'll see how to build the core box that will create the cavity for the wrist pin, the patterns and necessary gating to get a sound casting. He'll even show you the results of pouring at too high a temperature which causes the casting to be porous - not desirable if you value compression.

You'll get details on the tools needed to hold the piston for machining including the somewhat special tools he used for boring and cutting the ring grooves.

Here's Steve!

"Old engines have always fascinated me.

Several years ago, I discovered an antique 4 cylinder flathead half buried off a riverbank.

It looked pretty bad but being a novice, I assumed it was probably discarded because of carburetor or electrical problems, making it an easy fix.

After getting the OK to remove it, I hauled it home, the whole event becoming the source of amusement to many.

I soon discovered that the engine had been full of water for years and was completely frozen up.

Many parts crumbled to dust upon disassembly. Replacement parts were virtually nonexistent, and those that were available cost several times what a working machine was worth.

I had recently purchased a 12 x 36-inch lathe and had managed to learn a few basic cuts.

At this point, I had nothing to loose and everything to learn, so I set out to make all of the engine parts myself. I discovered that parts were fairly easy to produce.

Soon, I had all of the parts made and the engine assembled.

After a little electrical trouble shooting, the engine came to life. It fired up almost immediately upon touching the starter switch and ran with a healthly roar! The engine ran and it ran well!

Soon all those who doubted were saying "we knew you could do it."

Since then, the engine has powered a 10kW backup generator and accumulated hundreds of hours of use.

Over the years, I have taken on several other restoration projects, many referred by the local technical school. Each has been a rewarding experience.

The point of all of this is that: home made parts work and work well! Lack of parts is no longer an issue when you can make them yourself.

Blocks that have been bored oversize can be cleaned up and fitted with custom pistons and modern rings.

Those impossible projects become viable when you can make your own replacement parts.

You and your friends will be surprised at what you can do with a small foundry and a few machine tools!"

If you build engines from scratch, or have a rare old engine you want to restore, this is a book you ought to have on your reference shelf. Same top rate quality as Steve's other books.

Excellent! Get it!

5-1/2" X 8-1/2", Softcover, 64 pages, profusely illustrated with over 50 black & white photographs.