S & S pistons

[fourthgear]

I have a set of S&S pistons that came with the 65 stroker and they told me that the wrist pin clips for these pistons pins are no longer made , so they fitted the Teflon buttons up for them . I believe if my memory serves me that my last stroker had them in there too. Now wouldn't those spiral clips work ? It seems to me that a lot of people are putting those buttons in the strokers . Are they better suited for strokers ? As you can see , I'm stroker stupid , just never saw a reason for them . I bought my other one this same way , it came that way when I bought it . Any comments ? I'm all ears right now before I assemble this motor.

[mmathus]

use the buttons.........you will never find a keeper in your breather if you do!

[fourthgear]

Thanks , I will keep it this way , just not used to them there buttons in there and I have never lost a spiral clip . Them things are so hard to get on and off , they would have to break apart to dislodge, which is probably how it happens.

[keiser]

Never had a problem with the teflon buttons. As far as I am concerned, they are the superior solution. Clips can pop out and make a hell of a mess in the bore as well as anything else they touch that moves.

[Panacea]

Fourthgear, My S&S stroker pistons came with circlips, I would have preferred the teflon buttons....no worries. So far so good though! Mike

[Cotten]

Clips of any design only pop out if there is side thrust.

That means losing a clip is the 'bang', not the 'fuse'.
(If you lose any style of clip, its because your crank assembly has real problems.)

Pistons are manufactured to use specific retainers, and other designs should not be substituted without careful inspection of the "lands", although buttons can be used if the bores are not recessed (such as for original top-hat retainers).

The major drawback for buttons is that they embed particulates that eventually cut grooves into the cylinder wall. Buttons were designed for racers that tore down often.

....Cotten

[Jack_Hester]

I'm with Cotten on the buttons. I've never felt comfortable with them. Part of a build/rebuild is to 'square' the pistons in the cylinder bore. If done properly, there will be no side thrusting that can cause the wristpin keepers to pop out.

Jack

[fourthgear]

I for one have never had a problem with wrist pin clips . What bothers me is they said they don't make the clips for these S&S pistons , could that be true or is it a safety net for a sub quality or improper set up of my lower end . They did the same work on my other pan and its working fine . The only diff. is , I already had the cyl. & KB pistons set up for it .This I believe is just like my other stroker I had ( long time ago ). I think its a 84ci. with .60 over pistons to get it to the 86ci. area. I only had them check out the fit because it all looked good to me and they have the machine works to change any thing that would be needed , although the pistons and cyl. were with in spec's and it did have buttons in it upon dissasembly .

Now my question is are they bullshitting me about the wrist pin clips or do they just prefer the buttons and how would I know if I could put a clip in & what type . They look like they have the clip grove in the piston , is it std. with all pistons or are S&S diff. and how would I know or find out .I looked up S&S pistons and they show the buttons with piston kits .OEM does have its advantiges. I will check the rod specs today.

[Panacea]

I was told by my engine builder S&S has two types of stroker pistons, one with lower compression which comes with circlips, the other, high compression with the buttons. Of course I bought the wrong ones,(according to him) with the circlips. they were not the spiral type ,more of a circle with a 1/4" missing. The piston has a small recess in the clip groove for removal. 2723 pistons with tru arc clips. Mike

[Cotten]

Mike!

Those sound like the evil evo style clips.

Good luck installing them without a proper compression tool.

....Cotten

[fourthgear]

These pistons have a grove and no idea if they are high compression or not . I will take some photos and post them so all can gander at them . It looks like the grove is on the wide side , I'll see if I can measure it .

[RussW]

Don't know if this helps or not, but from an old S&S catalog, there were two series of CAST pistons for 4.5" strokers, stock bore cylinders. The earlier 2700 series, C.R. of 7.5/1 and the 2720 series, C.R. of 8.25/1. The earlier 2700 are pictured with clips, and I know my 2700 series came with clips. Physical differences, from some notes I scratched in the page borders, was the 2700 had a steel strut, set up closer at .001 - .0015. The 2720 had no strut, higher dome, full skirt, and were set up looser at .0025 - .003.
They also offered the 2800 and 2900 series FORGED pistons for 4.5" stroke, both of those shown with buttons, as well as many of the Sidewinder 3 5/8" bore pistons. It says that both the 2800 and 2900 series pistons are set up with provisions for both a clip and to fully support a button, so either method can be used.