So you didn't mention the part where you are reusing the pistons that came out of the engine which with the above quote to me sounds like you probably are? If the above is the case and that discolored area is a low spot then to remove that would possibly make to much clearance in that cylinder if they cleaned it all the way up? When working with used parts that came out of a used hole you can't really expect perfection. You probably should of got new pistons to start with and this more than likely wouldn't of been an issue? If that area is a low spot and you wanted to reuse the old pistons to cheap out then run it. Just make sure the ring gaps aren't in that area when you install that piston and it should be fine. In conclusion if you wanted to cheap out and reuse the old pistons then you shouldn't blame the machine shop that did the work for you because they did what you asked and didn't want to open the clearance to much so that piston would have piston slap.
x2 we get what we pay........I can tell you I have run holes the look like this or worse and ran just fine. is it right no, will it work yes
Pistons were fine. I just expected better, I’m rebuilding this engine and it had no issues before. I bought the car and wanted to be sure the engine was in good shape and add a little kick to it with a cam replacement.
1. I'm REALLY tired of hearing that all Buick machining and assembly problems stem from people with "Chevy" expertise. "Buick" and "Chevy" both made 90 degree OHV V-8 engines from cast iron, with two-plane cranks, distributors, two-valve heads, etc, etc. They're far more alike than different in every major respect, although they differ in details. Cylinder-wall finish should be the same for these engine families. Screwed-up cylinder wall finish is not because it's a "Chevy" shop, it's because they fukked the owner of the block. Leaving gasket traces on the block surfaces they claimed to have cleaned and cut is not because it's a "Chevy" shop, it's because they fukked the owner of the block. The machine shop is run by crooks or mental defectives, not by "Chevy guys". Cast-iron Chevies are not more tolerant of crappy machine work than cast-iron Buicks. Or Cast-iron Fords. Or Cast-iron Mopars. Don't think I'm picking on "Buick people". I hear this same "Chevy Shop" nonsense on Pontiac, Olds, and Cadillac forums, too. 2. The shop that failed to do appropriate work needs to refund a bunch of money, and apologize. Failure to do both should result in the block owner standing the shop owner/foreman in front of a judge. For the record, my former home-town of 50K population has no full-service automotive machine shop any more. Last time I needed a block decked, I drove it 70 miles round-trip, and ended up with a crappy job. I'll never go back there (which is fine, the guy is looking forward to locking the door and retiring.) My go-to shop is 500 miles away round-trip, and I thought a simple job like decking the block would be hard to screw up. I was wrong. The nearby shop's machine tooling is so ancient that it isn't designed to center off the main saddles, it gets decked based on the original deck machining which as we all know wasn't all that accurate when GM did it, and has only gotten worse as the block relaxes (stress-relieves) in use. The owner of the "go-to" shop says he's only got a few years left before HE locks the door and retires. This situation is not likely to get better any time soon. For every new guy entering the automotive machining profession, I bet ten are leaving--and the only reason it's not 100 is because most of 'em have already left. It's not impossible that this trend will reverse, but not soon, and not guaranteed. The best we can hope for is that the very few "new guys" will have cut their teeth on DOHC 4- or 5- valve engines, that have easily-warped, easily wrecked aluminum major components, so they'll bring that same care and precision and attention-to-detail to their cast-iron clients, while learning and employing the "cast iron" techniques where applicable. Machining prices WILL increase.
