Brought a piston into work

[Vitorio]

So i took a piston i extracted from an old scrap engine into work, mostly as a desk ornament, but i figured id see if my coworkers had any idea what it was.

Two blokes knew what it was, three others knew it was a car part, but not what (answers went from headgasket to cilinder, with the cilinder bloke holding it upside down). The one woman figured it had something to do with coffee (its nicely cleaned but has some brownish traces on the inside).

Found it quite interesting that for something like this (which to us PHers is a very basic component), most people dont really know WTF it is.

(not meant to deride/ridicule non-PHers by the way, i just genuinely found it interesting to see what people would think it is)

[HustleRussell]

I am surprised by that.

You don't work in a main dealers service department do you?

[Europa1]

Vitorio said:

So i took a piston i extracted from an old scrap engine into work, mostly as a desk ornament, but i figured id see if my coworkers had any idea what it was.

Two blokes knew what it was, three others knew it was a car part, but not what (answers went from headgasket to cilinder, with the cilinder bloke holding it upside down). The one woman figured it had something to do with coffee (its nicely cleaned but has some brownish traces on the inside).

Found it quite interesting that for something like this (which to us PHers is a very basic component), most people dont really know WTF it is.

(not meant to deride/ridicule non-PHers by the way, i just genuinely found it interesting to see what people would think it is)

Found it quite interesting that for a thread like this (which to us PHers is a very basic component), people don't know how to spell 'cylinder'.

[Vitorio]

HustleRussell said:

I am surprised by that.

You don't work in a main dealers service department do you?

Nope, IT dept at the national railways here in the Netherlands

Europa1 said:

Found it quite interesting that for a thread like this (which to us PHers is a very basic component), people don't know how to spell 'cylinder'.

Ill blame monday morning and not being a british native for that, point taken though

[Cliftonite]

Vitorio said:

Nope, IT dept at the national railways here in the Netherlands

Parrot, quickly !!!

[joestifff]

I have a piston from a DAF lorry on my desk, I use it as a penpot.

I work for a transport company, and only the fleet manager knew what it was! Everyone else asks what it is!

[CrutyRammers]

HustleRussell said:

I am surprised by that.

You don't work in a main dealers service department do you?

naughty.

[brrapp]

Years ago I used a piston (with a neat hole burnt through the top courtesy of trying to race a 3l Capri) from my old Vauxhall Chevette as a replacement gearknob (I even flattened the top of the gearstick and connected with a gudgeon pin so it would swivel just like in real life). It was amazing how many people commented on it and didn't know what it was.

[Robbo 27]

Confession time. During the 80s I built a number of 750 Triumph and Norton engines for fast road and race use, used pistons that had a compression ratio of up to 12:1 and they look big and beefy with high domes and long skirts. Three months ago I help someone take apart a Honda racing engine and the pistons looked nothing like what I was used to, they had no skirts, next to no metal below the rings.

And then the bike owner showed me a pic of the NR750 racing engine. Without the rods I am not sure that I would have recognised that as a piston either.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 20th February 11:57

[normalbloke]

Robbo 27 said:

Confession time. During the 80s I built a number of 750 Triumph and Norton engines for fast road and race use, used pistons that had a compression ratio of up to 12:1 and they look big and beefy with high domes and long skirts. Three months ago I help someone take apart a Honda racing engine and the pistons looked nothing like what I was used to, they had no skirts, next to no metal below the rings.

And then the bike owner showed me a pic of the NR750 racing engine. Without the rods I am not sure that I would have recognised that as a piston either.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 20th February 11:57

I knew they we oval,pistons, but not that they had twin conrods! Thank you for that.
One of the trinkets I am looking for, for my mancave, is a mahoosive piston from a train or ship. The hunt continues.....

[Vitorio]

brrapp said:

Years ago I used a piston (with a neat hole burnt through the top courtesy of trying to race a 3l Capri) from my old Vauxhall Chevette as a replacement gearknob (I even flattened the top of the gearstick and connected with a gudgeon pin so it would swivel just like in real life). It was amazing how many people commented on it and didn't know what it was.

Sounds like a painful way to shift gears with the sharp top edge..

[PorkInsider]

normalbloke said:

Robbo 27 said:

Confession time. During the 80s I built a number of 750 Triumph and Norton engines for fast road and race use, used pistons that had a compression ratio of up to 12:1 and they look big and beefy with high domes and long skirts. Three months ago I help someone take apart a Honda racing engine and the pistons looked nothing like what I was used to, they had no skirts, next to no metal below the rings.

And then the bike owner showed me a pic of the NR750 racing engine. Without the rods I am not sure that I would have recognised that as a piston either.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 20th February 11:57

I knew they we oval,pistons, but not that they had twin conrods! Thank you for that.
One of the trinkets I am looking for, for my mancave, is a mahoosive piston from a train or ship. The hunt continues.....

The Spam tin!

Basically a V8 but staying just about within the FIM's 4 cylinder rule.

A great bit of engineering.

[hoegaardenruls]

CrutyRammers said:

HustleRussell said:

I am surprised by that.

You don't work in a main dealers service department do you?

naughty.

Still wiping my drink off the screen..

[allegerita]

This is what I have on my desk. Reminds me every time not to fiddle with the carburettors myself but leave that to the specialists.

For Vitorio: It's from an Alfetta 2000.

[PorkInsider]

allegerita said:

This is what I have on my desk. Reminds me every time not to fiddle with the carburettors myself but leave that to the specialists.

Ever so slightly lean, perhaps?

[Vitorio]

allegerita said:

This is what I have on my desk. Reminds me every time not to fiddle with the carburettors myself but leave that to the specialists.

For Vitorio: It's from an Alfetta 2000.

Ahh nice!

Mine's from a Fiat 1108 FIRE engine from a cinquecento, bought it with a blown headgasket, fixed that, then promptly scrapped the car due to terminal rust...

[RizzoTheRat]

normalbloke said:

One of the trinkets I am looking for, for my mancave, is a mahoosive piston from a train or ship. The hunt continues.....

Bloke I had regrind the valve ports on my bike had a valve sitting on his windowsill that apparently came from a diesel backup generator. It must have been nearly 2' long with probably a 2" diameter head.

[Fugazi]

Wonder if anybody here knows what this object sat on my desk at work is?.... It's not a piston but a nice engineering thing I made myself way back when I was a teen, which also gets brought out occasionally to help teach undergrads.

[Vitorio]

Fugazi said:

Wonder if anybody here knows what this object sat on my desk at work is?.... It's not a piston but a nice engineering thing I made myself way back when I was a teen, which also gets brought out occasionally to help teach undergrads.

Small turbine engine? I think that is a gas/propane connector at the front.

[SystemParanoia]

Vitorio said:

Fugazi said:

Wonder if anybody here knows what this object sat on my desk at work is?.... It's not a piston but a nice engineering thing I made myself way back when I was a teen, which also gets brought out occasionally to help teach undergrads.

Small turbine engine? I think that is a gas/propane connector at the front.

and x2 glow plugs on the side for ignition.

if not glow plugs, then terminals for a coil pack to connect to, to do their sparky thing