jacksonrw

I installed a set of ceramic coated Tom Charlesworth pistons into my completely rebuilt engine

after one track weekend I have a totally gallded block and the $1000 psitons are totally toast

after meeting a number of times with my machine shop Faerman in Houston that did the block prep properly and assembled the rings for me, he is convinced that the pistons were NOT compatable to the finish of the block.

has anyone else had this problem?

Spidey944

Was this for a "stock" 2.5 build or an overbore??

jacksonrw

overbore

Ski

ran a track engine for almost 4 years with those pistons, #4 rod broke or it would still be running. I have photos from #4 piston and the coating is still on the pistons. jwl has Tom C pistons in his 2.8L for almost 3 years now.

We used (continue to use) and continue to use Duffin Engine Service - San Antonio for Alusil block work. I had pulled the head on the car to inspect everything 2 year prior to the rod breaking and all the bores were perfect.

Did the machine shop use Porsche clearance tolerance or the Arias suggested tolerance? If they used Porsche, that's why you probably have the issue. The tolerance is .001 or .0012 on 100.5 and 101mm. It's .0015 on 2.8L pistons.

Here's the #4 piston after we took it out of the bore. Duffin did the block work, we built the engine and jwl's 2.8L.


#4 and #3 bore were damaged but a part of the rod got wedged into #3 rod by the time the I shut it down; bores 1 and 2 were perfect.

jacksonrw

yep
I did get everything done right
But I am getting some PM's from folks saying otherwise

944obscene

Did you notify Tom on all the details for your build when getting the pistons from him? Doesn't sound like something he'd get wrong. I mean. He's been doing stuff like this since the 944 came out...

Spidey944

I'm sorry to say this, but I feel that people PM stuff that they dont want public, and that hurts the rest of us. Please let us know what u find out. I'm not one to hide anything from anyone.

jacksonrw

I know
he is a great guy
but I have tried to reach him a couple of days now with no repsonse yet. I am sure he will reply to my email soon.

Look I was pumped about these pistons. I am not pumped about yanking the engine out and seeing ALL 4 wasted.

Great pictures I will post my pictures of the gallded pistons next week. It will make you fill sick to your stomach to see them.

Ski

saying "otherwise" on the machine shop or...

We drove the $hit out of the track car, most times it got 14 sessions a weekend being shared and several RL'rs here have witnessed.

I hope you find out what went wrong. Early on, when they first came out, a couple of people had that issue; one turned out to be a machining issue, another was finish of the bore IIRC or it was the rings not installed right. Best of luck...BTW, who built the motor? Did you measure the bore, based on a measurement about 5mm up from the base of the piston + tolerance?

944obscene

Well I was with him this morning. His phone has been ringing off the hook as far as I know. He's got a lot on his plate. Did me a hell of a favor by letting me use his shop for my car. Fit me in for a timing belt replacement too. I owe him for that. Don't expect to hear from him for a little while. Maybe an email would be useful.

Sucks to hear about. Really does. I bet if anything, he just missed some details, or something was overlooked.

BTW, I forgot he did pistons. I need to talk to him on that.

jacksonrw

a $1000 is a lot of money for me right now and having to rebuild the engine again is real touch to swallow. I wanted to be ready for the club race and now that is going to be tough.

Tom said I got his last set. He wasn't going to make anymore

i know he will reply - again this is no DIS at all on Tom or his pistons.
I know he will make it right....
But I wanted to see if anyone else had any problems with the pistons - as far as I checked no one has a problem with TOM

That is why I waited a couple of months and I dug deep into my empty pocket to get those beautiful blue pistons

jacksonrw

I guess then it is possible

Andy1212

What are you using for engine management? You sure it wasnt from detonation?

jacksonrw

the damage is too severe
I thought it could be detonation that is why I sought out the same machine shop and a few other places

It isn't so much with the fabrication of the piston as it is believed to be the coating and the RINGS

Guys I know Tom and I know y'all like him as much as I do. So I repeat this is not one of those crappy assault posts I find so often on the list. I for one hate to see the disparaging comments people post without any regard to the person or persons.

I wanted to see if in the fabrication process or ring types caused anyone problems. Rare as it is - it has happened in the past and it could be very possible it happened again

I hate to post anything like this in fear of the mongrels coming after me......

so I am glad so many have raved about the pistons - my dear friend has them - runs with them still
I wish I could run with them again as well.

no such luck

i ended up having to buy a set of stock off ebay yesterday - $52 - not bad huh?

Ski

no one is coming after you at all. Of course, if I was the machine shop (not placing fault) but I'd blame anything else but my services too. Did the same shop that did your engine do your friends engine work that's running them?

How did the machine shop come recommended, just curious because I don't think I recall their name being mentioned around here in threads regarding block work...doesn't mean anything, again, just curious. I know lots of people here who have used Duffin, which is why I ask about Faerman.