Piston notching

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Ive seen good and bad stories of people doing their own notching. Ive actually practiced on my 05 4.6L mock up engine, and was quite successful, but always room for improvement. I used a spare head, valve, gasket, but what I didn't do is set the piston to where it's closest to the valve. I just had the piston TDC. What I really want to know is, does the notching make the ring land susceptible to failure? Does it make it prone to break? If it doesn't, should I have the top coated? I have good used pistons here at the shop, I want to make an accurate jig, but just had some questions in doing so.
 
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Also, how deep, lets say company A make their notches? And company B? Is it a personal preference? Or the integrity of the piston which limits? Who company has done testing with factory stuff? My practice pistons, I went to .100", is that to much?
 

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Ive been told .065" deep covers a majority of cams with pi heads. Im not 100% positive on it mostly due to me always banging on 5.4l
 
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That actually sounds about right, I can't remember, but I recall hearing .080" one time from a way older post by someone. It might have been VT at the time. I'm sure someone has some setting in front of them that will chime in.
 

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If you consider decking the head and block part of the math, it starts adding up. Both head and block deck typical .010" add together .020". Thats .020" the valves are closer to the piston.
 

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