Don't waste your money on Silvolite Claimer Pistons. According to some reputable sources, they have pushed the envelope on the use of silicone and they are extremely brittle. Mine exploded while at idle. You can see that there is no piston left on the end of the rod!! Again, this is at idle. The adjacent piston tops may have you wondering if the valve to piston clearance was not adequate. In fact, it was checked. The valve impressions you see are from piston chunks being distributed via the intake manifold to adjacent cylinders and lodging themselves to the intake valve causing them to hang up and tag the pistons. What these POS pistons did to my AFR's is criminal. One Milodon 21-N valve has it's head completely knocked off. Two of the chambers are going to need serious work to get them usable again. AVOID THESE PISTONS AT ALL COST. THEY ARE CHEAP FOR A REASON!! My machinist says he's seen worse from these and wouldn't put them in any application, even a grocery getter.

 

Looks like the pistons are in upside down.

Edit...the little notches on the other two are from the intake valve kissing the piston.

 

You do know they're in backwards, right?

 

Here is an inexpensive way to window a cylinder!!

 

Yes, I bet if I put my pistons in backwards with the valve reliefs nowhere near the valves, my pistons and valves would beat the crap out of each other too.

 

Unbelievable....!!!! In my disappointment, I totally missed that!! I purchased the long block locally. Now I have a claim!! I think you guys just saved me a couple of Gr. Big ups!!!

 

Just got off the phone with the builder. I e-mailed him the pictures and he's going to make it good. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. I can't believe I missed that. Once I saw the damage to the AFR heads (heads I supplied), I just couldn't concentrate on anything else. The builder was trying to claim that I broke the motor in wrong and as a result, I was at fault. Guess not this time!!

 

The sad part is that those valve reliefs are huge. If they were installed correctly you could have run an enormous cam with minimum quench and never come close to having valve-to-piston clearance problems.

 

The more I think about it, there are at least a dozen times when such a fundamental mistake should have been caught. There's no way your builder could have even checked piston-to-valve clearance. I'd be surprised if he was even able to turn the crank over by hand. Regardless of whether he makes good or not, I don't think I'd want to use him again.

 

The shop is near where I work. The convienance was a factor in choosing him. I had second thoughts about using him again also. He seemed to understand and cut me a check for the expenses. Of course, I have to eat the labor. What makes me angry with myself is the fact that "cause and effect" analysis is part of my job. I hunted a long time for those AFR heads (58cc chambers) and have an emotional interest in them. That "emotional interest" was a huge factor in missing the obvious. That really bugs me.

I usually assemble my own motors but there are contractors working on my house and I let them have the garage to store tools. There was no way I could insure the cleanliness I like for building a motor so I let this guy build it. The saying, "If you want the job done right....do it yourself", never seemed more applicable.

Lastly....Sorry for bad mouthing Silvolite. The post subject should read, "NO DRINKING WHILE ASSEMBLING"!

 

I have silvolites in my engine for about 30,000 miles running high 12 sec at the 1/4 track. No complaints and they have been a reliable budget piston.

 

OUCH!! sorry to hear/see that. Is the machinist going to make good on your heads? as in paying to fix/replace them?

 

Sorry about your experience. At least the guy will almost make it right.

You better believe if that was me, I wouldn't be paying an extra penny.

 

Fixed it for you. Maybe you should go back and edit this whole thread so everyone knows it was not the piston's fault but the hack you hired.

Then maybe look into learning a tad so you can back up any statement you make when disparaging a company. Right now it just seems like you are talking unsupported smack about a company and I would laugh my ***** off if they decided to sue your ***. That said, I sure hope this gets locked/edited or deleted so TGO has no problem having an unsupported defamatory thread like this.

And I would certainly not be satisfied with anything less than being made whole again after this butcher job. If he refuses, sue or at least cheap out to the AG.

 

First off...let's get the record straight. My machinist is not the guy or "hack" who built the motor. My machinist is highly skilled and when he learned that I was using the Silvolite Claimers, he discouraged me. He runs and sponsors short track teams. I had already purchased the pistons and did enough research to where I felt comfortable with using them in the mild application that I had intended. Still...if you do a Google search on Silvolite Claimer pistons, examples like this one debating their quality are numerous.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/what...tons-4547.html

That being said, in my case the problem was absolutely not due to piston quality.

'Nuff said.

The "hack" is paying for damages to the head. We both agreed on a head specialist who he feels will not ream him on cost and still provide me with a good job. This head specialist was the original builder of my heads when I purchased them, so I feel confident in his abilities....once he stops laughing at the snafu.

 

So you have no observational input with relation to your claim, you are just spouting heresay. This is what drives people away from this site.

They are called 'claimer' for a reason, most typically know why, obvioulsy you don't. For their intended purpose they typically are just bloody fine, no need to bad mouth the crap out of them based on no first hand experience, that's just ignorant.

 

Hey Red Devil...I recanted my statement not once but twice. What's up with you?! Do you own stock in Silvolite?

The damage to my motor was due to builder error and NOT DUE TO SILVOLITE'S PISTON QUALITY!!

Feel better?!

There is nothing in this thread that should drive one away from this site. I made a claim. People called me on it. I made a correction. If the whole world went through this process, we would all be better for it.

 

No, but a friend represents one of their suppliers.

 

Red Devil, Get over it. He has said that it wasn't the pistons fault. I was reading this thread and it became clear very early on, before you steped in that it was the builders fault. Anyone who reads this thread sees that as well.