This is a piston out of a motor with 180,000 miles on it. Been sitting on my shelf for 10 years. Not turrible, but pretty dirty. I soaked it for a short while in LA's Totally Awesome degreaser. It's piss yellow and a buck fifty a quart at Dollar Tree. Came out like this. After the Awesome has softened the carbon buildup it s****es out of those ring grooves like ****er. I've used it for all kinds of automotive degreasing and it works really well.
If you mill the block and /or heads, you may need to mill the intake to get it sit flush. Reduces oil leaks by minimizing the gap on the front and rear and lets the valve covers sit flush. Getting the intake bolts started can also be a ***** if it is not milled. I took the block, both heads and the intake to the machine shop and they got the aftermarket intake to fit perfect.
For a budget 352 piston that won't be way down the hole, you can use a 340 piston with a 1.829" CH, all you have to do is have your pistons small end honed a skosh. Difference is you get 13 thousandths taller CH than the rebuilder pistons that are 1.816" and just need to hone nine thousandths more for the wrist pin https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/ford-fe-pistons.1300194/#post-15632951
OK, I can't stop thinking about this one. I'm a huge believer in zero deck. Quench and a decent flame travel are really zero deck/near zero deck dependent. Have the slug down in the hole is just a poor compromise. Look at the HiPo 352, ran like a sum***** and had zero deck and a flat top piston. This isn't rocket science. Ferd got good HP out of that 360hp version. For a budget 352 another idea that's better than the 340 setup with the piston still down the hole .040" or worse...how about using a 390 rod (stronger) and a 351M piston? Much better numbers IMO. Near zero deck, if you use a .030" HG even better. A full point better compression, better quench. Let's go.
I would imagine were you to want to get nice pistons a 340 would be easier to get higher end pistons too
Pope is on the mark. The FE stuff is just not plentiful. There is a solution out there. Guaranteed. High end and low end. The reason (not that anyone asked) I'm geeking out on the 352/360/390 combinations and permutations is because a $50 360 long block fell into my lap. Then a $40 390 crank. I thought I'd put the motor together "just in case". And because I enjoy engine building. Started looking at rebuilder pistons and was appalled that these motors had the piston way down in the hole stock and rebuilder pistons make it worse. WTFresno??? Just makes no sense. Quick look at 445 FE stroker kits and they are twice what a 383 stroker kit runs. Eff that. 25 years ago I built a home brew 422W using KB hyper pistons, 340 Mopar rods and a custom OS ground 400 crank to get zero deck, good quench 10.7:1 CR. Plus, it's a combo of my own. Was more interesting and cheaper than a kit. Runs really good too. People discount the m***aged OEM parts stroker combos way to often. There was a dude building 460 strokers by the dozen using 240 Ferd 6 cylinder rods. And running them at high RPMs for hours. Too many keyboard warriors. They work. If I had a 352 and not a 360 I'd be pondering a 410 FE combo using 383 pistons, Ferd 6 cyl rods and an offset ground 390 crank. I bet the ***y could be done for about what a budget 383 kit runs. Maybe less.
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