Piston marking direction

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WhiteFinish
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Piston marking direction

Post by WhiteFinish »

Hi Guys,

On the K series engine, there are markings on the piston. R and L
Right and Left bank.

The casting on the piston can point in 2 ways.
Either towards the timingbelt / waterpump
or towards the ignition.

The mx3 manual says " front of the engine" ... which is nicely confusing.
Just another Mx3 freak :)

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MrMazda92
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by MrMazda92 »

"Front" will be the left side, or the side facing the radiator. Unless Mazda went technical, and described the belt-drive as the front, which it should always be.
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WhiteFinish
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by WhiteFinish »

That's not possible.

Either waterpump or ignition side.
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atx_mx3
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by atx_mx3 »

"Front" refers to the water pump side of the engine.
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MrMazda92
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by MrMazda92 »

WhiteFinish, the waterpump would be considered "Belt driven".
Daily:
'12 Challenger R/T + STP - 3.92 w/ LSD, JG Cam, headers, SkipShift delete, Clutch Delay Valve delete, Hurst STS, RAM Clutch Adjuster, StopTech 6 Piston Brakes, Sticky Nittos, 435 WHP

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'08 Suburban LT 4WD - TVS 1900 Blower, LF SC Cam, headers, AFM delete, true 5" lift, 33x12s, 523 WHP

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davmac
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by davmac »

Front, back, left and right are always a bit confusing with a transverse mounted engine. Thankfully you can always depend on engineers to be consistent. So, engines parallel to the axles for front drive vehicles kept the same front, back, left, right perspective as they had for rear drive cars. It helps if you stand at the transmission end of the motor (rear), front is belts and accessories, left is bank nearest the radiator, right is nearest the firewall.
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WhiteFinish
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by WhiteFinish »

Thanks
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RX8SE3P
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by RX8SE3P »

would it be noticeable if you put pistons in the wrong side? all the left in the right bank etc?

I mean, would it run poorly?
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by WhiteFinish »

Your pistons and rods are weighted for a certain place on the crank. If you change it there will be a unbalance (not that good).
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RobMinhas
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by RobMinhas »

WhiteFinish wrote:Your pistons and rods are weighted for a certain place on the crank. If you change it there will be a unbalance (not that good).
This is a much bigger problem with v6s then other engines due to the vibration.

About the piston location, it was explained to me that left and right are considered as if you are sitting on the transmission. Meaning HOnda, with their goofy wrong sided trans, will have a different left side of the engine then say a B6 or K8, even though they are transverse mounted fun wheel drive cars.
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Josh
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Re: Piston marking direction

Post by Josh »

This is quite common, and when referring to "front" always means the pulley side.
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