Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Your'e correct, the 288 is 3 1/2 bore.

there is a guy i found on a image search that is running ARIAS pistons on a 4.060 in a 352 to make a 362cid. he is using the motor for the bonneville salt flats, so i would think that the ARIAS are pretty good. he also adapted fuel injection to it and an electronic water pump.

it was pretty slick looking.

the chrysler 4.060 pistons from ARIAS are 95 each.

here is a link to the EGGE site if you want.

EGGE PISTONS AND MORE

here is the photo of the motor. pretty wild looking i must say.

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That guy is Rich Fox, and he's on here every once in a while. His car was built for Bonneville, and so everything has to be top-notch.

"Turned out one piston had either collapsed or tried to seize and scored cylinder pretty well..."

When dealing with unknown piston source or composition it is always a good idea to heat the piston in an oven to 200-250 degrees and measure to see how much it grows. Failing to do this is not uncommon among nearly all AUTOMOTIVE engine builders, even among the best. The heating and growth analysis is often found among those who build extremely hot temperature running engines. One must also check for gudgeon offset. I've had a set of Robbins pistons that would grow .012 inch when heated to 250 degrees. I had to run piston clearence of .008 to .009 inch. These were FULL skirted pistons.

Mr. Parts Wizard, I assume you are a representative of Egge due to your keen knowledge and interest in Egge pistons; and request for feedback.

I have recently installed currently produced Egge pistons and will offer my unvarnished opinion. I am sure others will have their own recent personal experience and will share at some point.

I installed .040? over Egge pistons in my 1939 320 Super 8. The original pistons were of cast design with an integral uni-cast steel strut. The replacement Egge pistons were of cast design without the steel strut. Both original and Egge pistons are of the thrust side slit skirt design. The Egge piston must be set up looser due to no steel strut. This in and of itself is not terribly alarming. In my experience, when using any aftermarket piston in any application, one must follow the piston manufacturers piston to cylinder clearance.

In my case, the slightly increased clearance requirement allowed me to rigid hone the bores cleaning them up very nicely (replaced hodgepodge of mismatched .040? pistons) and not needing to bore to next oversize.

Upon visual inspection, there was no areas of concern. All pistons were of equal finish and quality. I did not check piston pin (gudgeon pin to some of our far away friends) location of each piston because this car is not destine for the moon, just some regular old driving. The finish machining was particularly nice, with no chamfering necessary.

The next point of interest is that the piston ring configuration was modified by Egge. The stock pistons run a horrid four ring arrangement. The rings are needlessly thick, and of one piece construction, with dual oil control rings. No doubt, this aggravates expedited bore ware. The Egge pistons were redesigned for use with modern three ring narrow design. The oil control ring is of three piece design. Egge supplied high quality Hastings rings. Absolutely, un-arguably a very good design upgrade. Pins and retainers were also supplied.

The pistons are working fine. The engine operates quiet and smooth. There is no piston slap cold or hot. The engine had no visible smoke in less than 100 miles. The crankcase pressure is minimal.

I will say this for Egge, the exhaust and intake gasket set I purchased were WAY better than stock. they were completely metal clad. The pistons are better than stock from the aspect of the piston ring upgrade. The rocker arm rollers and pins were supplied with improper washers. I called and they sent more of the proper dia. washers, but all were too thick. I called back to explane the problem. The fellow on the phone did not seem very interested. I had to surface grind and fit all 16 washers by hand. Bottom line? if these rollers and pins were not available, I would have been in terrible straights. The old pins were worn flat and the rollers worn totally out. Every subsequent original set I have checked are worn out. Availability of reproduction rocker parts is a god sent.

The above are my thoughts and experiences, not hearsay. no one made me say this, and I have no affiliation with Egge machine. I have earned a living, my entire life, in the motor vehicle business. So yeah, I know a little something.

Take this for what it is worth, it's just my opinion.

Mr. Parts Wizard, (saw your other post about V-8 pistons also) if you are Mr. Egge, thanks for supporting the motor vehicle hobby and helping us keep these relics on the road. If you are not, it sure seems like you are.

When it comes to choosing replacement parts for our old cars, and there is more than one source for the part such as pistons, then you have to do your home work.

I have done some research in several venues finding both good and negative comments about Egge pistons. When a person has done such research you have to then decide which route you are going to take. I just came to the conclusion that if I needed pistons I would seek out another vendor other than Egge.

In todays world with the Internet is very hard for a manufacturer to cover up problems or defects with the products they produce. In the old days if there was a defective product, in many cases they could cover any problems.


John F. Shireman

How can Egge pistons be identified???

The question was asked: "does 1365.oo sould like a good price?"

It cost me $600 in parts to overhaul a 1988 4 cyl Ford engine about 5 years ago. The engine needed new pistons on top of all the other major O'haul parts required.
So the $1365 mite be a fair price. Check the price of major O'haul kit for an SBC from other suppliers and compare. I havn't recently.

BECAREFULL that u really need new pistons. A;so becareful about the head gaskets. There are some reproduction Packard V8 composistion head gaskets out there that mite be too thick. I don't know. As i understand it, Kanters pictures are "representative pictures" and not necessarily of the actual parts supplied. So the metal head gaskets in the pic may not be metal. I don't know. These are questions and analysis i would do prior to ordering.

I ordered Packard V8 engine parts (NOT a kit, i didn't need a kit) from Kanter about 6 years ago and they were good parts. The intake gaskets were composition and rather thick but not a major issue for intake gaskets. HEAD gaskets are a different story tho.

Need to do your home work to determine exactly what u need and the nature of the parts in the kit.

We've been over the piston topic many, many times. I regularly rebuild Packard V8 engines and have on-going conversations with Joe Hall, who also rebuilds many V8s. Our combined experience is:

1. Egge Machine pistons are suitable for normal driving. They are not the equal of OEM pistons, as they do not have the steel expansion-control material in the pin bosses.
2. The Egge pistons need a minimum piston-to-wall clearance of .003" and .0035" is better. The OEM pistons were installed with .0005"-.0015" clearance. If Egge pistons are installed with the Shop Manual recommended clearances, the pistons will scuff, the engine will drag on hot starts and will run hot during the first 20,000 miles.
3. Some Egge pistons I have received in the past are heavier than the OEM pistons. The weights should always be verified and the engine rebalanced if necessary. I pay $125 for an engine balance, so if that has to be done, consider it added to the cost of the pistons.
4.Egge pistons are absolutely, positively not suitable for any performance use, such as an occasionally raced Studebaker Golden Hawk, or Rich Fox's Bonneville engine.
5. Currently, I am building two 352"s bored to 4.125" to use re-conditioned OEM 374" pistons. These are going into '56 Golden Hawks which will be driven a bit harder than most Packards.
6. The 4.188" diameter 413" Mopar pistons are NOTa recommended interchange. The compression height is .047" less than the Packard, which will eliminate the quench/squish band, which causes the engine to ping under load, the only currently available pistons are dished tops for trucks and motor homes, which lower the compression substantially and further reduces the power output. Additionally, the 1.094" piston pin bore is larger and the pin boss is narrower, requiring substantial machine work on the rods. Just because they can be made to fit the hole doesn't mean they are good science.
7. Custom forged pistons from Arias, JE, Venolia, Ross, are the best pistons available, but for $800+, are overkill for a casually-driven Packard. I use them, can get them, talk to me off-list if interested in a performance Studebaker or Packard V8.

Bottom line - for most restored Packards, Egge pistons, fitted at .0035" are OK.

thnx, jack vines

Okay obviously Egge is really Egg...as in it is a frail POS!! and i don't want them. that was an easy enough answer. so moving on.

Arias sounds good, i don't care about $$$, i want quality and the peace of mind that i wont have to take the motor out again anytime soon (yes i know anything can happen, but still)


Jack.....how can i just recondition the factory pistons i have. they all look good except one that has a bit of metal missing near the edge, kinda like a pit on top near the outside area of the piston. other than that the stock pistons don't look bad. they have a bit of black crud on top, but that is normal i am sure.

if i can just use the ones i have i would rather do that since they are PACKARD and made for PACKARD!!

i may be in contact with you in the future about performance stuff and quality stuff. i am not into skimping on this project, especially when quality is an issue.

my head gaskets look good and intake manifold to head gaskets looked good and came off in one piece, they were the metal ones....so can i just clean them up and reuse them. i would rather have the metal over the composite that may or may not come from Kanter.

seriously....I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THIS MOTOR OUT AGAIN!!! what a risk to damaging the paint, etc..... no thanks! not with the money i am going to be putting into this car.

thanks for your information and for your experience you are sharing...i know i REALLY appreciate it!!

Hank