[Frdlvr30]

One of my friends father has a 1994 Escort Lx that dropped the common valve seat on cylinder #4. I tore it down the other morning and found the head and piston all beat to hell. I expected this, so I got a rebuilt head on Ebay and a engine gasket kit from Felpro. What im needing to know is where is the best place to get a new piston and a set of rings. They are unavailable from Ford. I was a dealer tech from 1992-2004, so I know what Im doing, just need to know where to get the parts from. I may try a machine shop, but im wondering of they will sell me just one? Never bought just one. Always a set of pistons and a set of rings. You guys know of an internet site that I could get this from? Much rather do that, than have to deal with a machine shop, let alone, the mark-up. On the flip side, the car only has like 77,000 miles on it and you can still see the cross hatch marks in the cylinders. If I can find a piston and rings, I can have this thing back together in a few hours. Thanks for any input in advance....

 

[FordMan59]

Rock auto has the individual piston and ring set.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php

 

[denisond3]

I get a lot of things from www.rockauto.com. They have about the best prices (ebay may be lower but so might the quality), and they ship fairly quickly. Its nice to be working in a shady part of the driveway, and have the UPS guy walk in and hand me the parts for the car I am working on!
Besides taking care of the head, you need to open up the intake manifold and clean out any metal bits blown back into it from the bad cylinder. I used a spray degreaser and a garden hose, once I had the throttle body unscrewed.
i presume you will be using new head bolts?

 

[pell]

Had the same problem however used a dremel tool to smooth the piston best as possible. Put 33,000 miles on no trouble.

 

[zzyzzx]

Added your info to this thread:
http://www.feoa.net/modules.php?name=Fo ... ic&t=50370

Dropped Valve Seat Survey thread.