county pistons

[John E.B.Goode]

Further to my last post, " engine disaster ", I have taken engine in for new liner, crank regrind, head repair etc.
Chap is advising rebore and new pistons but is very anti County, are there any other options, all the people I've called only offer county

[Andrew S]

County pistons are fine and are mainly used now. If yours is a MK2, you can try an pay hens teeth for high compression pistons but you are better off without higher compression with unleaded fuels.

Ask him what he suggests?

The only criticism I have heard about them is that there is a weight difference within a set but if you have them balanced as I did, then not a problem

Andrew

[flying farmer]

You can get Australian made JP pistons at about twice the price, I found these were fitted to my engine when I rebuilt it, but each piston was about 70 grammes heavier than the county. If Tony Hart uses the county pistons in his racing stag then there cannot be too much wrong with them
Neil

[Stagdad]

The only criticism I have heard about them is that there is a weight difference within a set but if you have them balanced as I did, then not a problem

Andrew

So how are they balanced ie which part of the piston is the weight removed from?

Cheers Steve

[stagmuffin]

So how are they balanced ie which part of the piston is the weight removed from?

Cheers Steve

years back a chap i worked with drilled small amounts of ally from the gudgeon pin boss underside of piston and checked on an electronic scale till he got them all within 5 gramms.was a v6 ford and he thrashed the living daylights out of it .crude method but it worked well.
steve

[Andrew S]

I am not sure how they are balanced but was told that alloy was removed from inside and presumed skirt surface and then they were weighed

[dasadrew]

As far as I know from other pistons, it's removed from the lugs which take the gudgeon pin. Plenty of meat there and it's also at the centre of pivot of the piston, so the weight can be changed without affecting the balance of the piston on its rotating gudgeon pin.

[Sheepdip]

I checked mine on a (kitchen) digital scales, and within 0.1g found no difference in weight. Good comment about the Australian pistons tho, as heavier/lighter pistons would surely need crank rebalancing, are the County similar to originals?

[StagManiac]

What are the options for oversize Mk. 2 high-compression pistons?

Paul

[flying farmer]

The only option for oversize high compression pistons are the JP ones, I lightened my con rods by half the extra weight of the pistons, as this meant the crank didn't need to be rebalanced (A bit of internet research about v8 balancing first), and it seems smooth enough, though to be fair it didn't seem to vibrate too much before it seized its jackshaft which caused the rebuild in the first place
Neil

[StagManiac]

Cheers, Neil. Can the JP pistons be obtained from any of the usual suppliers? I do not need them yet but shall do at some point.

Paul