Would you tig weld a piston?

bentcoupe, Apr 29, 2:10pm
Broken land about 30mm longpiston diameter 102mm,vn1600 kawasaki 5 thou over! Shall i weld it! then pop it in the lathe!

ginga4lyfe, Apr 29, 2:18pm
for s show piece yes, for use in the engine, no, they heat and vibrations an g-forces of that piston moving so fast will just crack it again IMO

purple666, Apr 29, 2:33pm
Have run a few welded pistons, repaired hole in crown, never had a problem with them

joanie32, Apr 29, 2:46pm
Idoafew for customers. probably 90% pass rate

crzyhrse, Apr 29, 3:10pm
Bit different to a skirt though.

bentcoupe, Apr 29, 3:16pm
Its up hightop ring land,

unclejake, Apr 29, 3:17pm
Are pistons actually round at that point!

crzyhrse, Apr 29, 3:18pm
Wasn't paying attention.

Might get away with it then.

crzyhrse, Apr 29, 3:22pm
Isn't it usually the skirts that are manufactured out of round for expansion! The crown is pretty much the same volume in all directions.

It's not going to be a lot anyway.

bruceeeeee, Apr 29, 3:24pm
Had the Patrol swallow a screw that caused a lot of damage to that area.
Piston was welded and the grooves recut on a lathe and the motor goes like a dream.

plasticboys, Apr 29, 3:24pm
l have welded a lot of pistons only on the top. if you do weld it heat the piston up with a blow touch and take the cut cause a piston is not round

mrfxit, Apr 29, 4:10pm
Probably ok as long as you don't intend to street race it or go touring 2 up + gear all over NZ

bentcoupe, Apr 29, 4:17pm
Talked to a few guys,could also lower compression a bit also put bigger oiling holes in pistonmite help it,Piston has been damaged by seizing

thejazzpianoma, Apr 29, 5:28pm
Is this something rare that you can't just buy a piston for!
Assuming you can buy a piston for a good price it all seems a lot of risk and hassle for minimal financial gain.

desmodave, Apr 29, 5:34pm
Its a Japa jaz, and ya knowthey arnt cheap to keep on the road.

intrade, Apr 29, 6:34pm
you have to know what your doing but remember burt monroe made his own pistons and his all worked . so if you do it correctly like making sure its the correct waight and not expanded misshaped etc then you should be able to fix

berg, Apr 29, 7:06pm
Try Evilbay. I got all my jetski engine parts from USA (kawasaki) for less than half what I would have paid here.

tortron, Apr 30, 2:57am

purple666, Apr 30, 11:34am
Yes crowns are round, rest of piston has variable profiles, most oval at gudgeon pin holes. In addition to running welded pistons I have also tried cam (oval profile) grinding oversize pistons to fit smaller bores but after a few attempts gave up as they tended to nip up. This was back in the 70's when motorcycle bits were hard to come by and had a mate who was a rather clever automotive engineer. He even experimented with a cloverleaf shaped inlet valve and seat to prove a point about airflow at low lift

thejazzpianoma, Apr 30, 2:23pm
LOL, nice call.

saki, Dec 27, 7:14pm
As long as you match the filler rod with the piston