254 pistons

kamzack
kamzack Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
I'd like some opionins about Egges 254 pistons. My machine shop guy ordered them. I'd rather have Dale Cooper's, but machine shop guy is kinda touchy and I don't want to wizz him off, by ordering what I really want.

Thanks in advance,

Kim

Comments

  • Rocket
    Rocket Senior Contributor
    I have found the best way to do things like this is just be honest with the guy and tell him what you want to do about were you are going to get your pistons after all you are paying for them and if he dose not like what you want to do ask him to explain why after all their are a lot of shops out there looking for work that will do it the way you want it done .
  • 50C8DAN
    50C8DAN Senior Contributor
    It is your money and I am betting the rebuild job is not cheap. I agree with Rocket if he does not want to explain the why find someone else to do the job.
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    Egge used to handle/sell two, let us call them, "lines" of product, that which he bought that was NOS & that which he manufactured. One of my old cronies bought out the last big horde of NOS hard mechanical parts in the L.A. area & sold a lot of stuff he didn't want to Nils so know how he used to operate (Nils now deceased, not sure what his predecessors are doing).

    If you can find original alum. aftermarket NOS pistons you'd be far better off than using Egge's iron "slugs". His "slugs" = sluggish performance as they weigh a LOT more than original alum. pistons.

    Another consideration is that I would assume you're going to be looking for an oversized piston so to find a set of 8 matching, in an oversize, could be tricky. Used to be a lot of std. sets around.

    I remember he had remanufactured Hornet & '29 Hudson pistons & they were of poor quality comparatively as well as "slugs"!

    If I'm out of date, let me know.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Kinda like most customer provider relationships, customer has the need and the cash, provider provides what the customer wants. As my sister says... what's so special about that? In other words uncooperative providers get to sell to someone else. I be steppin off to another shop already. For the record when I did my first 308 rebuild I bought my 60 over pistons from Egge as Jack Clifford pointed me to them. Today I will stop at Dales place first then check other sources. My two cents added to the pile.
  • Uncle Josh
    Uncle Josh Senior Contributor
    Watch yourself. A guy around here, got some Pistons for his Essex, I think from Egge, and they had square-wire keepers for the wrist pins, instead of the round wire variety.



    Well, his mechanic put them in and within a few miles they came out and ruined his block.



    After finding another block, and doing it all over with the correct keepers, the car runs fine.
  • Ol racer
    Ol racer Senior Contributor
    FYI



    I wouldnt be overly concerned because I bought a set of pistons from Egge for a St Rod Hornet motor after recommended by my machinist a few yrs ago (and before Dale Cooper had .125 over) and they are working very well. I also read an interesting feature story on Egge piston manufacturing quality process in H/Rod Mag.



    However, after seeing Dale's pistons at a HET National, I would recommend his pistons for stock or slight oversizes.
  • Nevada Hudson
    Nevada Hudson Senior Contributor
    Try Lester Harris at (775) 267-2559 He has lots of Hudson 8 pistons at a very good price. He does not own a computer.

    Also, Lester is a HET club member and a Hudson owner since 1954.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Who ever you go with I would ask them is the pistons have steel struts cast or forged into them surrounding the wrist pin holes. I have seen several sets of "NEW" and improved cast pistons for older engines that did not have these struts and they failed after a few thousand miles. they pulled the wrist pins right out the bottom of the pistons.

    I do have some history about Egge: At one time most all their pistons were made here in Indianapolis by a company called ERTLE MFG. Ertle was founded sometime around 1915 as a mfg of engine components. They made valves, pistons and other internal engine parts. My best friend worked for them for over 20 years. Ertle was bought out by DynaGear in the late 90's.

    When that happened DynaGear instructed Ertle to scrap all the tooling for the older engine parts. This included all the molds for the pistons. My friend scrapped over 3000 molds for pistons. We tried to save some but they brought in a private security company to watch as they were scraped.

    This is why the supply dried up for several years around 1999.

    later,

    PaceRacer50
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    I'm aware that Egge had quality problems with their pistons for some time, but I understand that's been remedied now. However, if the pricing is anywhere near competitive I choose to support the vendors such as Dale, Dave Kostansek, K-Gap and others who provide so much to our "world of hudsoning."
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    It's your money your engine. At the the National in Auburn, I spoke with Mr. Cooper, and examined the pistons that he brought to sell they like machined jewels. One engine builder that I know did a few builds with Egge pistons, but went with Dales pistons after Egge couldn't supply his needs . Lou Cote :cool:
  • kamzack
    kamzack Senior Contributor
    Once again, I thank you folk for your input. I wanted Dale's from the start, but my guy jumped ahead ordered what I have. I'm gonna send them back and buy Dale's. I've spoken to another expert Hudson guy on the phone(one of our vendors) and he has confirmed what what I need to do. Clutch guy was the first one to tell me to send em back several months ago. I don't want to take any chances with econmical short cuts.

    Thanks again,

    Kim
  • ivanz62
    ivanz62 Expert Adviser
    I am currently building a souped-up Hudson 8 and am happy to have Dale Cooper's pistons in hand for the job. They are a better choice than the Egge pistons, in my professional view.



    Egge does supply a wide range of parts and I am grateful that they do, but their parts are often compromised in quality to keep price points low.



    Dale Cooper and other Hudson oriented vendors who do their best to supply parts as close to OEM quality deserve our support. In the past I have always used much more expensive custom machined forged pistons even supplying them to Railton owner's in the UK who are racing their Hudson 8 powered machines. The last two I have done have Dale's parts!

    Hudsonly,

    Ivan
  • SuperDave
    SuperDave Senior Contributor
    For me..Egge has always been a vendor of last resort.
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