Larry Carley
piston_damage
This is what happens when a valve stem breaks at high RPM. The valve embedded itself in the piston. This was a forged piston so it took the valve hit without shattering. A cast piston would have shattered into a zillion pieces and destroyed the engine.
The photo was taken in the R&D area of a large engine rebuilding facility in Jasper Indiana (Jasper Engines).
I used this photo with an article I wrote a number of years ago for Engine Builder magazine on causes of engine failure. A certain piston manufacturer got very upset when they saw the photo, saying it reflected negatively on their product. Actually, I thought it showed how durable forged pistons are compared to cast pistons.
piston_damage
This is what happens when a valve stem breaks at high RPM. The valve embedded itself in the piston. This was a forged piston so it took the valve hit without shattering. A cast piston would have shattered into a zillion pieces and destroyed the engine.
The photo was taken in the R&D area of a large engine rebuilding facility in Jasper Indiana (Jasper Engines).
I used this photo with an article I wrote a number of years ago for Engine Builder magazine on causes of engine failure. A certain piston manufacturer got very upset when they saw the photo, saying it reflected negatively on their product. Actually, I thought it showed how durable forged pistons are compared to cast pistons.