Ohio piston

In 2000 I built a 350 with 30 over pistons. The pistons I installed were called Ohio Pistons. I ran into a problem with #6 cyclinder. It was burning oil. The motor does not have 20 miles on it. I pulled the right side down to find that the piston had a crack on the side close to the wrist pin, then one up along side the oil ring. I remember making sure the rings were moved around but when the piston came out, the two top rings were in-line. What would cause the piston to crack like that? Problem is,,,,,,,,,,Napa tells me the Ohio piston company is no longer in buisness. I am trying to find a piston to match it. I just can not figure out why the piston cracked,,,,,,any Idea? Down side is,,,I have three days to get this figured out,,,,I am heading back to the other side of the pond for the next four months,Hate to have this setting on the lift that long.  

350 chevy pistons are available almost everywhere...  

is there an engine rebuilder nearby..   take the piston in...  they might have a broken set..    and will sell just one...   any casting numbers on the piston... up inside????

as for how the piston got cracked... were the rod ends heated to install the pistons...


or were they pressed on in a hydraulic press...   cold....  

when the rod small ends are heated to just above 600F... the ends open enough to slide the pin in by hand... it is important that a jig be used... as you can slide them in too far and they stop in the wrong place...    

do not heat the ends hot enough that they glow red... this changes the temper...


you might be cheeper off and better off buying a new set of pistons and rings.. and having them professionally installed with a rod heater...  

Thanks for the info. As far as I know,,,,Napa presed the pins in with-out any heat. I put this motor together years ago to do a final drive on this when Im home on leave, Now Im finding out that the piston is cracked in two places. Is it possible that since the two top rings being in line,,,,,,could it of caused a compression agains the piston to cause the cracks? I remember a few months ago while trying to find info on the pistons,,,,,,,,there was a few items of concern showing problems ,,,,,,now i can not find the info. But apparently according to Napa,,,the company is no longer in buisness. Maybe they done a bunch of pistons causing problems putting them out of buisness, just don't know, It appears Napa is trying to find a piston, but I have two days before i fly back across the pond, That means if the car sets, just another six momths and the car needs to come off the rack........just stressed about this issue.  

it  is just so much faster to hang a complete set of pistons that are current... probably less than half an hour as almost every machine shop that does rebuilds will probably have a set of 30 over pistons in stock...