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MG MGB Technical - Piston Information Request

I want to put in a reasonably comprehensive table showing the different piston manufacturers' oversize pistons for the MGB engine, along with their part numbers. Believe it or not, this information is hard to come by. The Federal Mogul website is nothing but sales propaganda, which is useless for getting specific information about AE Hepolite pistons, and anything on County pistons is even harder to get! My Emails to either company all go unanswered. And this is even when I tell them that I'm writing an article that would probably result in a few more sales for them. Vendors of their wares are completely uncooperative, being unwilling to supply anything as simple as manufacturer's part numbers. I presume they fear that if the public knew the real part numbers rather than only their own, then they might lose a few sales. This has been going on for almost a year now, but I flatly refuse to give up. Can anybody out there contribute some information on this subject?
Steve S.

Steve, Have you tried Fletcher Millmore? I've seen lots of useful parts information in his posts. http://users.usachoice.net/~gofanu/

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

Clifton-
I would contact him if the Email link on his website worked, but it doesn't!
Steve S.

Steve,

Didn't I give you some info a while back??

MGB 3 bearing engine:

Hepolite 16201 / Factory 12H961 / County CP546 five ring piston available in Std, 20, 30,40 & 60 thou oversize.

MGB 5 bearing engines:

1965 - 1970 UK Spec
Hepolite 17525 (and early 17358 NLA) / Factory 12H5161 / County CP308 four ring piston available in Std, 20, 30,40 & 60 thou oversize.

1971 - 1980 UK Spec
Hepolite 18802 / Factory 12H5163H/C / County CP307 three ring piston available in Std, 20, 30,40 & 60 thou oversize.

US Spec
Hepolite 19354 / Factory 12H5163L/C / County CP307A three ring piston available in Std, 20 & 40 thou oversize.

Also used in big bore engines:

1892cc
Hepolite 20771KR / County CP551 piston available in 80 thou oversize.

1945cc
Hepolite 21093 / County CP717 three ring piston available in 40 thou oversize.

and high compression flat top piston
Hepolite 20616 / County CP548 3 ring piston available in 20, 40 & 60 thou oversize.

Chris at Octarine Services

Chris-
You're burning the midnight oil tonight, aren't you?
Yes, you sent me that information and I still have it. It is the only information that I've ever been able to uncover on the County pistons. What part numbers are used for designating the oversizes?

Now, if I can just get some information on the current AE offerings!
Steve S.

Steve. The set of AE pistons, .060" over sized, that I have show:

18802V1 followed by .060" oversize on the label.

This seems to be what Chris has mentioned with the addition of the V1 on the end of the part number and the .060 on the "oversize" block of the label.

Les
Les Bengtson

Steve,

The oversize is added to the part number, so

CP307 060 or CP308 020 or CP546 STD

K is also added for a "Kit" of four pistons, so

CP307K 060 is four 60 thou oversize CP307 pistons.

All pistons are supplied with gudgeon pin and rings.
Chris at Octarine Services

Chris-
Do the CP551 and CP548 pistons use floating wrist pins, or press-fit wrist pins?
Steve S.

Les-
Thanks. Do you have a listing of AE's offerings? Do you know where I can obtain one?
Steve S.

The 551 is press fit - I'll have to ask about the 548 as it isn't mentioned in the catalogue.
Chris at Octarine Services

Steve, I hope this email address will work. The name is Basil Adams, Basil races and sells lots of good MG parts, I think he has mentioned he sells AE pistons, he should be able to provide you with AE piston information. He posts frequently on the MGB Experience forums.
basiladams (at) yahoo.com

Clifton
Clifton Gordon

Chris-
Thanks for your information. The 548 piston is the one County piston that I lack information about the wristpin. What about ring types and thicknesses on the County pistons? Who supplies the rings that come with them?
Steve S.

Clifton-
Thanks for the contact info. I'll Email hin tonight.
Steve S.

Well, that contact didn't work out. Does anybody out there have a list of the pistons that AE makes for the MGB?
Steve S.

AE are a cryptic bunch...
http://www.ampavfzc.com/
or the "pistons brochure"
http://ampavfzc.com/PDFS/AE%20Pistons%20Brochure%20A4.pdf


James Finlayson

This thread was discussed between 09/12/2007 and 17/12/2007

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