yup!! Thats exactly what it sounds like. I guess I havent run the goat long enough to get the pistons to quiet down. Maybe I'll just run her till she drops and take my time rebuilding a complete drivetrain for it. Has that "problem" been eliminated with the newer pistons that are now available for these engines?
As I "feared" my wife has claimed the goat as hers! I have never seen her excited about any vehicle that I brought home, so I gave it to her. She has spent hours reading through the service manual, learning about her new toy, and wants to participate in all aspects of maint and repair. So I have procured another suitable 80 for my plans. This one is a 62 p/u and hasnt run in over 3 years, but I was told that it was surprisingly quiet when he got her running last.
We need to get your wife playing with us here on her own "reader's rides" thread! The s80 we have is actually supposed to be my wife's, though the long term nature (due to "toy's" budget) has kinda put the kabosh on her interests.
We have beerthirtied that the oem pistons used in the 152/196 were affected by rod angularity and the firing order/crank throw layout of the four-banger as opposed to the sv engines. The exact same pistons were used in 266 and some 304 where piston slap is not a major issue, though occasionally we do run across that on engines that haven't run this century when finally brought to life. It's possible that differnt primary vendors for the actual pistons differed over time for the fourbangers also, we don't have access to supplier codes for that stuff, though I have been told by someone who knew the vendor codes varied that was the case. The supply cahin for any automotive production system can be very convoluted and complicated, I assure you, ihc did not cast the oem pistons though. And who ever did, the various supplier sources have all played musical chairs with buy-outs, dis-solutions, bankruptcies, takeovers so that it no longer matters, all the players on the s80 platform are gone! And the 152 motor existed way before the platform did, it was used in many ihc-produced ag products.
But the only way to determine if piston skirt clearance is root cause is to measure the piston(s) and cylinders to determine if it does exist and is not simply wear from prolonged use. One piston with excessive clearance is piston slap/rattle. All cylinders with wear is a plain old overhaul issue.
Piston slap is certainly not a dealbreaker, though it's irritating! Don't let this get in the way of having fun with this rig, yawl have much other work to do while still driving it as needed!
On the other hand...non-oiling rocker assembly is a dealbreaker which will leave ya stranded when ya least are expecting it. But know you have verified that issue and know it's not a problem as least at this point in time.
Here's a link to another chick-version s80, linda wiese's little red wagon which has been a long-term project nering the finish line now:
http://www.forums.IHPartsAmerica.com/I-h-s-t-o/1552-weises-little-red-wagon.html
I had previously ragged on lyle about not working on that one, now he rags on me for not working on ours!