Subject: [Spits] County Pistons Quality Control Issue

From: Glenn Franco <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:14:42 -0500

FYI
I am in the midst of a TR6 Rebuild with an engine that is .020" overbored.
While fitting up the pistons and checking clearances everything checked 
out and the bore was concentric and to specs.
With the piston installed in the bore I noticed increased drag with #1 
piston installed.
With rings gaps, skirt clearance correct I pulled the piston and didn't 
see any  issues.
Further inspection showed that the piston was cocked in the bore and had 
score marks on the bottom of one skirt with the same wear just below the 
oil ring on the other side.
After inspecting it with the machine shop we noticed that the ring 
grooves were not fully machined on one side of the piston.
The rings would not move far enough in the groove and was proud of the 
surface causing the piston to cock in the bore.
We collectively have not seen this before and have a new set of AE 
pistons not County on the way.

Having spent many years in Automotive Engineering at one of the former 
Big Three, these events are usually not one of's.
There likely are many more out there that ran down the line in the same 
batch at the same time before it was caught.

These are new County Piston sets (I think made in Israel now).
I would inspect their parts very closely before you install them.

I also noticed machine chips in the machined groove of their Tri-Metal 
Main Bearings (Israel).
The chips were in the machined groove and were plated over with the 
babbit and copper.

I have had very good experiences with their parts in the past.
Just thought I would provide a heads up.

Glenn
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From: Doug Braun <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 16:33:05 -0500

Another horror story:

A while back I replaced my Spit's rocker arm shaft with the part that most
vendors sold.  I believe it was "County"
branded, and it was made in India.  I went to adjust the valves a few days
later, and I noticed that the front four rocker arms
seemed rather oil-starved.  When I ran the engine with the rocker arm cover
off, I could see that only the rear four rocker
arms were getting lubricated.
It turned out that the shaft was not completely hollow:  They had
rifle-drilled it inwards from each end, but they did not drill
deep enough, and the two holes did not meet up in the center.

Doug

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 4:14 PM, Glenn Franco <[email-masked]> wrote:

> After inspecting it with the machine shop we noticed that the ring grooves
> were not fully machined on one side of the piston.
> We collectively have not seen this before and have a new set of AE pistons
> not County on the way.
>
> Having spent many years in Automotive Engineering at one of the former Big
> Three, these events are usually not one of's.
> The chips were in the machined groove and were plated over with the babbit
> and copper.
>
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