dave-lewis Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Hi all, I need a set of possibly. 020" pistons, AE ones seem expensive. I have been reading previous articles on County pistons, has opinions changed on how good or bad they are? Your comments about them would be appreciated. Kind Regards, Dave from Spain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RogerH Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Hi Dave, somebody posted an American article on here a while back. The chap was comparing County, AE and another known brand. He compared individual pistons and sets of pistons. The County were head and shoulders above the rest. I appreciate the racing boys need something extra but for normal driving/touring then County are, in my opinion, very good. Roger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
astontr6 Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Hi all, I need a set of possibly. 020" pistons, AE ones seem expensive. I have been reading previous articles on County pistons, has opinions changed on how good or bad they are? Your comments about them would be appreciated. Kind Regards, Dave from Spain Hi Dave! I was in this position 18 months ago when my engine was rebuilt. after some research on the market and pricing of pistons from the Austrian company that bought Hepolite which came out at £105 each +vat? I then went back to look at County which were £200 + for 6, the engine builder that I used said that he had never had an engine back that he had re-bored and built, over 1500 units built. He had seen one engine that had used County where there was a problem but in his opinion it was down to the person who had rebuilt this engine as he had not gapped the piston rings. He had found this problem a number of times as well when assembling their pistons into the cylinder bores .So I went for County, no problems so far! Also the weights are good as well only fine tuning is required. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) Hi Dave, here is a link to the article Roger refers to: http://www.wishboneclassics.com/tech/tr6/engine/triumph-tr6-cast-piston-comparison I am in the same position, and based on the recommendations on this forum, I would opt for the County pistons too, I will use my TR6 for normal road use only, I have no racing aspirations. I had a quotation today from a machine shop, and they advised to buy Nural pistons from them, since the County's, although cheaper, would require some work (deburring etc), that would make them almost equally priced as the Nural pistons. So if you outsource the work, that makes sense. I have not decided yet what to do. If you plan to buy new pistons for an exisiting bore, make sure you know your bores have the correct diameters. Also, if you re-bore, whitout having the exact new piston diameters avaiable for the machine shop, you may end up with new pistons in new bores, but the wrong clearance. So in that case: first buy the pistons (or have the machine shop supplying them. Regards, Waldi Addition: there was a recent thread on this great forum "called piston broke! "which mentioned the importance of checking ring gaps and rounding the ends at county pistions. Edited February 13, 2018 by Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pfenlon Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 My engine builder has over 30 years of TR engine building experience, and County were good for him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
graeme Posted February 14, 2018 Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 I have built two six cylinder engines with county pistons and one with Nural pistons. All good so far. Cheers Graeme Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dave-lewis Posted February 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2018 Hi everyone, Thanks everyone for their input. I haven't succeeded in locating and a buying a block yet. Ideally would like a block which had standard pistons. Kind Regards, Dave from Spain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AWM Posted February 15, 2018 Report Share Posted February 15, 2018 I've only heard good things about the County pistons but don't have direct experience of them in a TR6 engine. One thing mentioned here that I want to repeat, is that whatever pistons you buy you should get them first and provide to the machine shop so that they can bore the block to suit. It's surprising how the different makes vary and you need to get the right clearances. I've seen that this is an important issue on several classic engines that I've rebuilt. Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
duncan Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 +1 for County Quote Link to post Share on other sites
matt george Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 My father and I rebuilt a 2500TC motor for my saloon in 2012 and used County pistons. Six years and 35,000 miles later, no problems to report. I'm also currently in the middle of rebuilding the engine from my TR6 project with the assistance of TRGB and have gone for County again. Interestingly, when we weighted both Hepolite and County pistons the County ones were actually lighter, too. Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 The original block had grade A or B pistons, the B grade being slightly bigger. Does anyone know if you can still buy pistons in different tolerances? Im tempted to buy new std pistons and do a light hone only, so require the bigger pistons. Thanks, Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TriumphV8 Posted February 16, 2018 Report Share Posted February 16, 2018 It is possible to coat the pistons to reduce play. quite expensive if I remember right. Also total seal gapless rings can reduce blow by significantly that an engine with bigger play will still have nice compression. As long as there is no piston slap causing an unwanted noise there is no bigger disadvantage with little more play. Anyway I would not do anything else than VW pistons in 76.5 or 77mm or the MAZDA pistons which are very similar but stronger in 77 - 78mm. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted February 17, 2018 Report Share Posted February 17, 2018 Thanks Andreas. If anyone has dimensions of new std pistons they have purchased, I would also be interested. Regards, Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ShaunC Posted February 17, 2018 Report Share Posted February 17, 2018 What about the differences in piston weight between the various makes? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted February 17, 2018 Report Share Posted February 17, 2018 Hi Shaun, The difference is small, just a couple of % between AE and County, so if you order 6 new pistons it would not be noticable. Regards, Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wheeler Posted February 23, 2018 Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Hi Dave I have just bought a set of TR6 +.020'' County pistons from The TR Shop £160 inc VAT, including gudgeon pins, rings and circlips. Got to be a bargain! Cheers Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dave-lewis Posted February 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2018 Hi Bill, Thanks for your response. I am waiting to hear from the engine machining shop as to what size I will need. They are having great difficulty in getting stepped piston sleeves. The OE ones are cylindrical not stepped. Kind Regards, Dave from Sunny Spain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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