I'm wondering if anyone has experience changing a single piston in a 350. This is my first engine "re-build" and I'm trying to keep cost down but also do as much as I can to make it better than it was.

The piston I'm changing has a very stuck ring from a mouse nest in the cylinder and when trying to remove the ring, I ended up damaging the piston. I decided I'll change it and bought a Mahle aftermarket piston which I think was a mistake.

The original piston has a bit of a recessed head with valve relief's, a longer skirt and the piston rings are closer to the top than the new one. It's weight is 747 grams.

The Mahle one is a flat top with valve relief's, not as long of a skirt, and the rings are further away from the top. It's weight is 700 grams.

I imagine the new piston being lighter and flatter means there will be more power in that cylinder. It's the number #2 cylinder if that also matters. I'm just wondering if these differences will make the engine super unbalanced.

Thanks!

​​​​​​*Disclaimer*
This is my first ever engine rebuild and I'm not a mechanic. I'm super grateful for any advice and I'm just trying to learn as much as possible.

 

I'm no rebuilder but I bet they all need to be the same for a balanced motor.You are in that far, change them all. I assume motor is out of the car?

 

Ya I think that's the road I'm going to go down. The engine is on a stand and all 8 positions are out so it's very easy to do it now. I would love to hear if anyone has done something like this and what the result was though!