My pistons have a nick on one edge, the rods of dots on one side, and the caps have these ridges. do they all face front..or are they totally unrelated?

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In most cases, the edge of the piston that faces toward the front of the engine has the 'nick'. As far as the rods, look at the sideview of the rod. On the big end (crankshaft end), you will notice that one side of the rod extends out more than the other. The side that sticks out most always faces the crank radius. The side of the rod that sticks out least faces the next rod on that crank journal. Narrow side to narrow side and big toward the crank radius.
jms

 

Oh, CRAP! You didn't mark them? I hope you at least marked what direction the antifreeze came out. (Jus' jackin' you a little, dude...)

The piston "notches" should all orient toward the front of the engine case. If you are using wedged pistons, you'll have to match the pistons with the larger intake valve depressions to the correct bores to mate with the intake valves of a given cylinder. Flat-tops with four equal valve depressions don't matter in that respect, but the notches go forward in any case.

Con rods have several ways of determining orientation, depending on the rods used. Factory HD and HO rods have a small oiling hole at the mating surfaces between the cap and rod that is supposed to face the camshaft. If your rods don't have the oiling holes, the bearing tang slots in both the rods and caps should orient outward - away from the camshaft. (The bearing tangs should be oriented together on the assembly and toward the outside of the engine.)

The "dots" on some of the con rods should all face the inboard side of the case (toward the camshaft), or front of the engine.

If your rods are aftermarket, you're on your own. The markings could mean anything. If in doubt, the bearing retainer tangs should be the best clue.

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Later,
Vader
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Cool guys thanks..I got it now

 

jester on your rods it's a little easier. the black strip faces front ,except the one with 2 stripes. the black w/white is wrong, the black only stripe faces front. also you have a bunch of little ***** marks from a pounch, that is front. the "ears" on the rod caps face the outside of the crank pin. i always number stamp my rods before i pull then out of the engine. i like to stand on the fly wheel side and number stamp the caps so you can read the number right side up from the rear of the engine. i number stap the pistons so you can read the number from the fender side of the block. i match mark the cap to rod with a punch mark on each half facing outward. you get a good system down for numbering parts and it speeds up the reassembly process.

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