Piston in backwards

[Mikelara]

First things first thank you for all your help ahead of time and also all the good knowledge that is on the site. I recently bought a really clean 96 that supposedly had a newer top end. Initial riding around my neighborhood is seem to be really lean so I change some jets and she gained a little bit more power but it was still like Riding an XR Just didn't have the power that I know that it should have. Upon further inspection I found that the piston is in backwards what I was wondering is if this could affect the way that it ran bad enough to make it have no power. The bike also seem to run kind of hot that's for my initial thought of it being lean came from. I'll post some pictures once I get off work.

[Sandblaster]

What is your riding altitude, jetting and needle size?
Bad things can happen with a piston in backwards like scoring the cylinder and piston,


And snagging a ring on a port



I've never done it myself to tell you power wise what could happen, but rest assured, your not helping it

[Mikelara]

Mostly around sea level in ocotillo wells and glamis then upwards of 2,500 in Barstow and Johnson valley. It had a 55 slow jet and a 172 main stock 1368 needle on the 4th clip, I changed to a 60 slow and a 180 main and dropped the needle to the third so I could easily richen or lean the mid. I just picked up some new gaskets and am going to flip the piston around and put it back together tomorrow. Hopefully this will fix my problem. My piston looks nothing like that one, no ring damage or scoring. There is some lines up and down the cylinder walls but nothing I could feel dragging a sewing needle across. I'm more worried about it running as strong as it should before I get the cylinder cleaned up and a new piston. I would post some pics but I'm pretty sure I need a photo bucket account to load them and I haven't tried to remember my login email.

[Sandblaster]

Measure your piston and cylinder and see what they come out at. Check the manufactures recommended tolerances. Inspect the piston skirts carefully... Anything looks questionable, replace it... At a minimum replace the rings. Then again, If it was my bike I would replace the piston just on principal.... I don't like walking back to my truck after a hard day of riding and cases are getting very expensive
On the jetting, I'm sure Adam or another member will chime in soon, but based on what your saying you will need separate jetting based on where you are riding to get the most out of your bike.... And don't run your high altitude jetting at sea level