10-5-13 how to install press fit wrist pin by hand

[@timthemechanix]

I've been building them for about 40 years and you do it basically the same, minus the flip flops and pavement, of course. Hearing these people say press them in is kinda funny. Pistons are made of aluminum. And they apparently don't see that the rod has to hold the wrist pin in. if you press it through it will not. I've seen damage done by someone pressing a pin in - usually it breaks the piston but if you use a piece of pipe just bigger than the wrist pin between the base and the piston surface around the pin it'll work. But you also won't have the tight fit to the wrist pin, it will come out eventually and take out the cylinder wall. Good job, don't listen to these people telling you it's wrong.

[@fredmann8799]

I'm curious; have you ever had a rod break at the wrist pin joint? I'm wondering this because when the steel turns blue just under 600F, this makes a change in the properties causing that steel to be more brittle. Or is the blueing just happening on the surface and the interior steel is still strong? Thanks!

[@timthemechanix]

Not on a Chevy engine. Had a wrist pin slide out and tear up a cylinder wall. It was on a remanufactured engine from Advance Auto Parts. Didn't last 3000 miles.

[@fredmann8799]

@@timthemechanix Ugh! That's awful. I'll keep in mind not to buy one of theirs, lol! (I'm not a fan of Advance anyway -- I only use them as a last resort.) Thanks for your reply!

[@automotiveperformancemobil4030]

About half of that(20 years here) and I have seen done the "shop standard". You can see the piston stressing (the feeling it is at least) and I simply don't trust it. I'm doing the mapp gas way myself to get the pin through the rod as well and to me, seems like its safer... longer, but safer THUS does no different than the shop press. Little heat and that's it. Thank you for your comment sir, these younger cats really don't know and don't quite know how it was done before any of the technology stuff.

[@broncojo1]

I stand corrected and appreciate Ed R's comment. Thank you for your infinite wisdom and colorful language. Cheer up, life's not so bad

[@banno6938]

I made a small jig out of wood to stop the pin where it is supposed to be . Perhaps jig is not the right word but it sits on flat surface with the piston pin hole facing up & front of piston facing up . Be sure pin slides freely through piston before you start . MARK your rods & pistons for easy front or forward identification . Yes rods are directional or if you prefer have a front so mark them before removal from old piston . You can then heat the rod end on a kitchen stove or with a turkey frier or anything else capable of providing enough heat. I like a open flame heat but rod heaters shops use are electric . I add lube to piston pin hole, plain motor oil is fine . Start pin in piston hole grab HOT rod line up without touching pin to rod & push pin in rather fast or it can stick before it gets all the way in . Once in it will lock up for a few seconds until the temperature transfers from the rod to pin to piston & that's ok . This process has always worked for me but it takes practice & patience & in the beginning I had to press a few pistons back apart . If you want to practice to be sure you are comfortable doing this get a junk rod & hone it out with a brake hone until the pin slides through it . Then you can do several cold runs to get the feel of it .

[@headcrown4759]

I just broke a piston trying to press the pin in. I wished i would have seen your video first. Any how im ordering more and il do it your way. Thanks dude.

[@dresdensvo]

This is the type of great videos that takes the mystery out of car building. Now can you show how you disassembled the pistons damage free ?

[@edge2sword186]

The Machine Shop had a outfit that would cool wrist pin and heat up the connecting rod it worked beautiful

[@JOMaMa..]

All the hate in the comment section tells me one thing…Your doing a kick ass job keep it up 👍

[@MCRmechanic]

Always wanted to see someone do this. Thanks!

[@memadmax69]

Yea, Like rhost said you can do a entire batch real super easy by sticking all the rods in the oven at around 450 or more and putting the pins in the freezer. Don't let the wife catch ya thou ^.^

[@danwebb1170]

Can put Pin in freezer as well /

[@todydn]

The cold pin just speeds up the process of the rod contracting around it unless you have a press jig thing that will allow you to just slide the Pin in fast as hell I would suggest not freezing them you get three to four more seconds of wiggle time if the pin is not cold

[@LS1NNOVATIONS]

Have done it at home. But heated all the pistons and rods in oven. And had the wrist pins in a bag in the cooler w a 6pack of buds :D

[@MotorMouth930]

Oven is the best way to control temp when doing this. 500 degrees in the oven is usually enough to let the pins slip right in.

[@AGearHead4Life]

Good job! I was just doing this last weekend. 4.8 piston into my 5.3. I still need to edit the video though. Keep it up!

[@Posi12Bolt]

So I was just getting ready to take my 4.8 piston down to have em put on my 5.3 rods at the machine shop since I thought that was the only thing I couldnt do in my garage. Now I see this and its awesome, but how do I get the 5.3 pistons off without damaging the rods & pins? oven?

[@aaayyk]

Would that weaken it?

[@jasonhattrich3521]

bushed rods are used now, kids bout $300 ,but..you won't be breaking pistons and warping con rods.spiral locks are great too.

[@JoeHynes284]

Damn you had a bunch of haters back in the day

[@cliffklinert7888]

This video may be less than helpful. Never having done this before, I took six tries but still couldn't get the pin centered by hand. I couldn't get the rod hot enough with propane so I used acetylene and oxygen. I made a holding fixture with three scraps of sheet metal inserted in the top piston ring slot. The piston has a flat top. I screwed this onto a sheet of plywood and this holds the piston. Avoid overtightening any clamps around or across the piston as it may warp the piston when hot. I made a hard stop with a piece of flat rod C-clamped to the piston over the rod hole. My biggest problem then was getting the rod end too hot. I am color blind. It takes less than a minute with acetylene. As soon as the pin stops moving it is stuck and will conduct heat into the piston. The piston is also stuck on the pin and oil must be applied immediately to free it. If your oil dispenser is plastic the nozzle may melt and stop the oil. I tried putting the pins in the freezer, but frost and ice formed when I took them out because of our hight summer humidity. By the time I was able to insert the pins, they had probably warmed up.

[@jasonhattrich3521]

Great for mock up assembly, test fit.

[@dang6843]

I see you guys on here swapping pistons, rods, and used bearings on here all the time; doesn't the rotating assembly need to be rebalanced once you do something like that?

[@84shortbed]

That's how they do it at the machine shops when building engines. Lol

[@joelcr250]

nice workbench

[@deanrussell8335]

i didnt think it was good to get the rod journal that hot { turn it blue } // doesnt that weekin the material ? freezing thepin is the answer im told

[@lorollinls]

Nice How-to! Thanks.

[@gregbarnes7913]

Never heard of press fit pins??? Really? ? There are two types of fitment ,,,rods/pistons, , press fit, and,, what race engines are built with, floating pins,, rods that have floating pins,, have to be installed with pistons that are for floating pins, Which the pins are kept in place with spiral locks or just locks! Now, , if you put as much as $10 in your motor for a rebuild, or simply freshen it up!! DO NOT install the rod piston, pin combo! ! Like that!!! Use rod heaters, and a timer,, heats the rod end evenly, slowly, without distortion of the metal!!! Do it right the first time! ! Hope this helps!!!

[@BRENDAJASON1]

Good job man

[@jasonhattrich3521]

Bushed rods are easy too put together too.

[@broncojo1]

I've never heard of a press fit wrist pin. Oil clearances are very much needed so it should be a slip fit, if not then small end of connecting rod ID is too small for wrist pin OD. These specifications will be listed in service manuals for tolerances. These tolerances are measured at room tempture for safety purposes of course. If you're not measuring and hoping it works then I highly discourage this.

[@Carlitosway211]

Several service manuals state the pins are an interference fit, aka, press fit.

[@ferrumignis]

If you've never heard of it, then why not do some research instead of simply assuming it can't possibly exist?

[@briskdrake]

It's a semi flouting piston

[@Carlitosway211]

briskdrake^^Best response!! I shoulda said that! :-p

[@edr6990]

***** you should have said "flouting"? that would make you stupid too. Anyhow Matthew, you are an absolute idiot. Educate yourself before saying something that proves that you don't know jack shit.

[@TrickFlowCamaro]

I've heard of people sticking the wrist pins in the freezer too

[@scottmaughmer8192]

Don't unless you have a lot of experience it's very easy to mess up and getting that pin in or out next to impossible. Followed the directions was very careful but doesn't work as easy as it looks

[@BRENDAJASON1]

He done it even with flip flops on

[@SloppyMechanics]

if you watch some of the 1300+ videos i have, you will realize there isnt anything i haven't done in flip flops

[@BRENDAJASON1]

Hell if ya got to work might as well do it comfortablely

[@michaelovitch]

The freezer it's easier : )

[@bigdon2241]

yeah pin un the freezer u dont need to heat as much

[@alexlaverick6111]

So, is the rod on the right way round? Is it centered on the pin? It doesn't look like it is. Its obvious you are not a mechanic.

[@todydn]

Well if you look at the channel name it does say sloppy mechanic so you know read before talking I guess

[@outboardfixer]

Would that not distort the rod...or the hole in the rod?

[@jameshester3831]

Yeah I think that's the whole idea

[@outboardfixer]

@@jameshester3831 Get that wrist pin hole out of round and the WHOLE IDEA will be a new rod and fix the HOLE in the side of the block.

[@josepadilla7981]

nice when you said when metal turns blue you compromise the metal congratulations

[@SloppyMechanics]

511whp to the tire says otherwise.

[@bigstinky5128]

From what I've read, heating the rod can alter the surface tension of the steel (shot peened rods) due to "stress relief". On the other hand, I can't find any actual info or tests conducted involving the strength of a connecting rod before and after it's been crudely heated as shown above. Seems to me it's more of a precaution to avoid possible stress relief. I'm willing to bet that as long as it isn't heated too high for too long it won't affect strength to any significant degree. I also wouldn't want to throw boost or nitrous at one of these rods..

[@bigstinky5128]

It's good to see y'all are making over 500 hp at the tire.. I'm currently building a junk yard 351 windsor for an 83 ranger. I heated the rods in a similar fashion. I used a propane stove top and a cast iron skillet flipped upside down to act as a mini oven. I also used direct heat and heated the rods to around 650F (according to an IR heat gun). Looking back on it I wish I would of tried somewhere closer to 450F or 500F.. but I was worried about getting a pin stuck.

[@todydn]

Just getting steel-blue hot should not change the properties of the metal unless you introduce additional carbon so long as you don't put oil on it while it's hot as f*** it shouldn't get more brittle

[@FitThisTime]

I went to school for metalurgy, all you need to know is the mixture of metal and the different points of heating to find the tensil strength. Since it's not "red" its not even going into the next stage of the metal

[@AGearHead4Life]

nope... But if you wanted to be by the book then yes. but I'd bet you'd never notice the difference.

[@3rdGenGuy]

Balancing? what's that sorcery? This is sloppy mechanics!

[@ClipsForGames]

That is not set right, it's not centered.

[@BimmerM5e39]

lol was about to say the same

[@tenaxxband]

Spongebob says:....4 hours later...

[@michaelovitch]

i do with bearings the drum in the oven at 250 °C Like Daddy in broken in (worn out) Mommy....

[@rhost714]

a better way of doing this is putting the rod into the oven and the pin in the freezer for about 20 to 30 min

[@jameshester3831]

After the set up about 10 minutes for set of 8

[@mikelok818]

Flip Flops osha might shut you down .

[@SloppyMechanics]

pfffft they can try

[@deandeeds2857]

Damn

[@bigbag70]

No need to worry about that heat treating... you can throw it in a bucket of water when your done, that'll do the trick..

[@Shadow0fd3ath24]

These aren't heat treated anyway...so no worries

[@Glein91]

No

[@depdeim9787]

Put rod in an oven. Pin in a freezer.all you're doing is fuckin up the rod your way

[@mauricedavis7235]

Don’t do. That. The won’t come back round and the pin will work out and destroy your engine. I have seen it happen more than once. Other people that did it that way. The bore of the rod won’t come back round

[@josepadilla7981]

reliability? hahahaha

[@SloppyMechanics]

are you worried you'll be wrong again?

[@SloppyMechanics]

are you going to make a comment about gas mileage next? or HP per liter?

[@josepadilla7981]

not at all great afro rigging pal

[@SloppyMechanics]

you might have missed the channel name, called sloppy mechanics?

[@josepadilla7981]

real sloppy lol