piston sizes

[michael thomas]

I have just started stripping the cylinder head and cylinders of my z1 ltd, i have noticed that apart from the arrow on the piston crown there is no size ie is it standard or is it an oversize or do you take it that if no size on top its a standard

[Iain marshall]

If it has two very small cut outs on the crown and doesn't have 0.5 or similar stamped oi it its more than likely Standard(70mm)

[Rich]

no size usually means it's std

[michael thomas]

Thanks for that,been in the garage all morning and have taken the block off pistons look fine with no signs of blow past ,but how to check? also droped one of the rubber cam chain roller spacers into engine (oh joy) managed to retrive by draining oil, is there an easy way to clean old gaskets off

[Pigford]

Mike, the only way of de-gasketting ( ) is time & patience
I use a stanley blade and just go carefully
I have tried those gasket softener sprays before, but never had much success with them

[london calling]

Piggy's right,there's no quick way.
Look out for a scrapper that takes a double sided razor blade on handle,my mate's got a Snap-On one that I borrow,but I'm sure other tool manufacturers do 'em

[RALPHARAMA]

is there an easy way to clean old gaskets off

NO

[Dark Skies]

Nail polish remover (acetone) goes a long way to softening up the gasket material for removal (using a stanley blade).

[london calling]

Draper tools do a similair thing,part number 65543,retail is £11.

[michael thomas]

Thank for that, used a sharp scraper designed for removing paint from windows and spent many happy hours scraping