Piston protrusion too small

DAVe3283

Heavy & Slow
Sep 3, 2009
3,727
296
83
Boise, ID, USA
I am putting together a near-stock rebuild for my utility bed, and noticed something I think is odd with piston protrusion.
The right bank measures 0.006-0.008" protrusion, left measures 0.009-0.010" (±0.0005" with the tools we have).

Grade A protrusion spec is 0.0088-0.0108", so the right bank is entirely below the minimum!
But it gets weirder: this is after the machine shop decked 0.005" off the block, so protrusion should have been high, not below spec, right?
  • LB7 block
    • Bored 0.020" over
    • Decked 0.005" to clean up some corrosion (why do people never change their coolant??)
  • New Mahle LB7 race-cast pistons, no valve reliefs, weight matched
  • Used LBZ connecting rods, weight matched
  • Balanced rotating assembly (external)
  • All bearing clearances are in factory spec, measured with bore gauges, not plastigauge
My only guess is LBZ rods are slightly shorter than LB7 rods? I find it unlikely that all the rods are shortened identically, plus I had the machine shop check them and they said they were good. Has anyone else seen this doing a hybrid LB7/LBZ build like this? A quick search didn't turn anything up.
 

1FastBrick

Well-known member
Dec 1, 2016
2,541
1,069
113
Junkyard
I ended up with .008- .009 on my LBZ with .020 over Race cast pistons. Went with Grade A head gaskets.

Skimmed the block to clean it up. Stock crank with Callies rods.

The Pistons do mention they have .010 Less off the top. Reduced Compression Height.

Duramax race cast.jpg
 
Last edited:

1FastBrick

Well-known member
Dec 1, 2016
2,541
1,069
113
Junkyard
OK, so I am just an idiot 😅

At least that means I know how to measure. Just not necessarily how to read...
The literacy rate is only about 90% in the US so don't feel bad. I can't read either....

This is my First Dmax engine and I already want to start over with all the little things I learned. :ROFLMAO: Damn the OCD in me...