Does anyone know the correct orientation of a Keith Black 277 piston in a 455? The instructions only show Ford and Chevy (individual valve cuts and not a dish).

Also, how about the orientation of the rods?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

 

The shape of the piston mimics the shape of the combustion chamber. The flat part of the dish will be toward the top or intake side of the block. If you look at the rods with a bearing half installed you will see that the bearing is offset to one side slightly. The side with the larger gap goes toward the cheek of the journal allowing the fillet radius of the crank to not bind on the bearing surface which would happen if you had it the other way around. Put simply the spaces face to the outside of the journal.

 

He's mostly correct. If the rod is backwards it won't bind, the rod journal is undercut. But you will lose bearing support/area for the same reason.
Typically the bearing tags go toward the cam and the majority of the dish faces down, just like he said.

 

Thanks for the correction Cutlassfi. I should have elaborated more. I had an engine where the rod was backward and the bearing support area was in the undercut fillet groove. I'm not sure exactly why it happened but the sharp edge of the fillet undercut tore away pieces of the bearing by cutting into. Maybe the journal wasn't flat, etc. Don't know but the point about bearing support is critical.