Ross Piston Clearance without Torque Plate

[satori]

All right. First post. Lets dive right in.

I'm in the middle of a rebuild using Ross pistons. I can not find a machine shop near me that has a torque plate, so short of having one made, I'm going to have to have the block bored and honed without one. Ross recommends the piston clearance to be .006" or even greater if no torque plate is used. I've heard of people getting some slap with clearances any larger than .006". Some people actually recommend .004" to alleviate the chance of piston slap. (Thank you supramania search button for this information. Another unnamed forum seems to be missing this function now.)

Anyone out there running Ross pistons without using a torque plate. What clearance are you running? Any slap? Anyone know of a shop within 150 miles of Sacramento with a torque plate?

 

[IJ.]

Had slap at 6 even after using a plate.....

 

[NewWestSupras]

Using Ross's here, no torque plate. 5 thou. clearance, no coatings. Minor slapping when its cold. Once its warm its golden.

 

[satori]

So with Ross's, I can pretty much expect some slap no matter what. What's the worst thing that can happen not using a plate? Just more slap?

 

[bigaaron]

So with Ross's, I can pretty much expect some slap no matter what. What's the worst thing that can happen not using a plate? Just more slap?

Worst case? Rings never sealing correctly.

 

[Doward]

I'd do the Ross @ 4 thou, myself.

 

[IJ.]

I'd do the Ross @ 4 thou, myself.

Was thinking the same myself as they're the same alloy as JE's but I'd get the skirts moly coated just as insurance in case they nip up during the break in period as they have more mass and will expand more.

I run the JE's @ 3.5 with coatings.

 

[satori]

Would you run 4 thousandths even if you hadn't used a plate?

 

[spoolint78]

i'm 4 thou coated.
no problems here

 

[satori]

spoolint78: 4 thousandths coated and no problem. And this was without a torque plate?

 

[IJ.]

Would you run 4 thousandths even if you hadn't used a plate?

As long as they were coated as I said earler yes.

 

[quake]

I used the wiseco's and went 4 thou. Supposedly with their break in coating that wears away i will end up at .0045. I now have 7000 miles on this set up and have never heard any slap. Back when i was putting this motor together i called everyone ross, wiseco, je, to get an idea what clearence to run. I ended up finding out that most of these pistons are 2618 aluminum, but are shaped differently so they act different in the bore. I'd stick to the opinion of one of these guys that have used them.

 

[satori]

Thanks everyone. As my last resort for a torque plate fell through, I was left with no other option but to continue without one. I just dropped off the pistons at the machine shop with strict orders for 5 thousands clearance. Came home, made a drink and crossed my fingers.

 

[NewWestSupras]

I'd coat the skirts as Ian described...If I was doing mine over again, I would.

 

[quake]

Thanks everyone. As my last resort for a torque plate fell through, I was left with no other option but to continue without one. I just dropped off the pistons at the machine shop with strict orders for 5 thousands clearance. Came home, made a drink and crossed my fingers.

you could have them make you a plate, having one made held up my build a bit