piston damage?

[tfoti]

last night i i pulled the hed off my 90 TSi and saw first hand the bent intake valves. i couldn't pull the entire head off by myself cause the car is in awkward positions, but i did lift it and flashed my light in there and looked at the #1 piston. i noticed the 2 gouges where the valves made contact. now do these gouges mean that i will have to replace all the pistons? i would assume there might be hairline cracks in them from the valve-piston contact. any ideas?

[1g90gsx]

small indents from the valves will be just fine,deep gouges on the other hand is a different story.but if theres just nicks then theres nothing to worry about.

[tfoti]

i dont really know what to classify them as, gouges or just small indents....i'll have to take another look at them real quick.

[1g90gsx]

put up a pic if you can.

[tfoti]

id like to, but no camera
my camera is in california right now, and im in NY!!

[EclipseRST]

they should be fine... i went thru 3 heads bending pretty much all of the valves each time and my pistons are still fine! i wouldnt be that worried if i were you. once you get the head all the way off make sure that the pistons are still intacked and turn the motor over by hand to make sure everything is working correctly! clean out the cylinder walls really well and be sure to get everything out of the cylinders before you put the head back on!

[tfoti]

excellent! now all i gotta do is figure out where all these lines go back to.....

[kjewer1]

Dont foget that there are already "indents" in the pistons stock, called valve reliefs. Even in the pics of my bad pistons, you can still see them.



http://www.posracing.net/AFR.html