marking rod and pistons
 

I am going to be pulling apart a bracket 340 and I am going to re-use the rod and pistons. And I have been told by very knowledgeable people not to use a numbered punch on the rods since they can induce stress risers. What is the best way to make these so they go back into the correct hole?

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

Sounds like a BS story. Most factory rods are stamped with a numbered punch and they hold up just fine.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

How about one of those electric etching tools you can pick up at Sears or Harbor Freight for less than $20? That would solve the problem of being a little too "heavy-handed" with a punch and ball-peen hammer.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

Jason, i want to return each piston and rod to the hole they came from, and no mopar rods are not numbered to go into a particular cylinder. And thanks Lew, I will look into that. I was also considering the pens that junk yards use to mark parts.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

David: I am surprised....Every 340 production rod I have every seen
is numbered 1 to 8 to Cylinder. Never had a problem stamping including
pistons. Excepting Some Chinese aftermarket stuff (Re: 440 Source rods)

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

Almost all or all of the Chrysler V8s I've taken apart had the rods numbered (subject to old geezer memory). The number was maybe .09"-.12" tall as best as I can remember. I have a 340 on the engine stand, so I'll take a look tomorrow once the rain blows through. I probably wouldn't stamp the rods once the big ends were resized and new rod bolts installed. I think the rod bore only has a .0005" total tolerance on the bore size.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

guess I should have been a bit more specific. This engine was built by someone unknown and it is not my engine. It appears to have scat rods and kb pistons. I went down to an auto parts store and bought the pens and was able to mark the piston tops.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

Magic marker.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

Dave,

Clean the area with lacquer thinner. Put dab of dykem on them, use a scribe to make the #. Been doing it for years stays on a long time.

Re: marking rod and pistons
 

thanks for the idea