Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Parts Wizard,
Thanks for puting my mind at ease !
I have been watching this thread and fearing a disaster,I just had my 38's engine rebuilt.Most of the internals are from Egge.It runs perfect and I'm very pleased with the quality of the components.(and everything I needed was in stock !)I have driven 1900 miles since the engine was rebuilt in March of this year.Thanks to Bob Moore here in Auburn for a great job ! www.mooresenginesupply.com
RT

Partswizard: You seem to be plugging and and making a lot of positive comments about Egge. You comments are find but I think if you have any ties with Egge, that you should reveal your true name and your connection with Egge.

John F. Shireman

I have not been trying to "plug" Egge as much as possible. My name is Jim, I have been working at Egge for 36 years. It seems that most of the comments on this forum are based on pistons Egge made 10, 15 or 20 years ago. I just wanted them to know that Egge pistons are definately not made the same as they were back then, especially from a quality aspect.

Thanks for the honest response.

Let us consider the Egge pistons of 10+ years ago.

Would The quality and consistency level of pistons for a popular engine (eg. a chev 216) necessarily be better than that of pistons for more obscure engines like a Packard V8 or Cord or something like that ???

also what kind of warranty do they have.....

The material and quality of all Egge pistons are the same. They are all held to the same tolerances, whether its 1 piston or 500 pistons. They all have to adhere to the drawing specifications or they are rejected. We do not lower our standards for any particular make, model or quantity.

Hi, Jim,

First, each of us in the old-car hobby owes a debt of gratitude to you and to Egge Machine. There are thousands of old cars running today because Egge offers replacement pistons where no one else does.

Secondly, thanks for being up front with this forum. I do have a problem with any post on any forum where the member does not identify himself by name. If one is going to have an opinion about a company or product, sign it. Our friends Eric Boyle and Joe Hall have always been stand-up guys in that regard. They have strong opinions, but they always puts their name on them. There are always some who use "handles" and then write what they would never say face-to-face.

The consistent statement in my posts over the years on this forum and others has been: "Yes, Egge pistons work satisfactorily in a restored Packard V8 when fit to .003-.0035" tolerances. No, my and Joe Hall's experience has been anything in the .0005-0025" range is too tight. No, the Egge pistons are not as good as OEM. No, they are not suitable for performance use."

Just for our future reference information, drawing upon your 36 years of experience at Egge:
1. Are Egge Machine pistons the same gram weight as Packard V8 OEM pistons?
2. How closely matched in gram weight are a set of eight Egge Machine Packard V8 pistons?
3. What would be the lower skirt diameter of Egge pistons as measured by the directions in the Packard Shop Manual when purchased for a 4" bore and for a 4.125" bore Packard V8?
4. The OEM Packard V8 pistons used a deeper, SAE K-wall ring ring groove. Does Egge machine the ring grooves for the K-wall or the Ford/GM D-wall rings?

Again, thank you, Jim and thank you, Egge Machine.

Jack Vines
Studebaker-Packard V8 Limited
Spokane, WA

signature test.

Egge's 4" V8 pistons weigh 866 grams with the wrist pin. The 4 1/8 pistons weight 898 grams with the wrist pin. We do not have an original piston to get the weight of a Packard V8 piston. We do not have an original Packard shop manual to see where they would measure a piston. We do not recommend installing our pistons to a Packard specification. Our pistons should be installed to our specifications. Our standard pistons on the 4" bore, measured .500 up from the bottom of the skirt would be 3.9975. The 4 1/8 standard pistons measured .500 from the bottom of the skirt would be 4.1225. As far as weight of a set of pistons, we try and match as close as possible within the set, but not more than 8 grams difference. On the ring pack we do not use the K wall type set up. We use the more standard D wall rings. It is much easier to get the rings for this set up. Piston rings are getting a lot harder to come by these days.
Farther up in this thread there was a question regarding our warranty. We warrent our pistons for a period of 90 days from date of installation. We do stand behind our product and if after the 90 day period any problems occur we will do what it takes to make our customers happy.

Hi, Jim,

Thanks for the prompt and detailed reply. Your information clarified a couple of points for us. For your records, I just balanced three Packard V8s yesterday:

1. The 4" bore 352" OEM pistons w/pins were 870 grams.
2. The 4.125" bore 374" OEM pistons w/pins were 909 grams.
3. Thanks for the confirmation on using D-wall rings. Suggest a note on the Egge website and included in the piston box to confirm the Egge Machine replacement pistons are machined for D-wall rings, because most users will find it easier, less expensive and preferable to fit modern rings. The minority of Packard owners who do not know there is a difference will have a problem without this info. One such owner who was having me build an engine, proudly brought in a set of .030" NOS Packard rings for which he had paid a premium on eBay. I had to demonstrate to him those K-wall rings would not fit the .030" Egge Machine pistons. There was a bit of grumbling about, "How come they don't tell us this?"

You might convey to the powers at Egge you are doing a service by supplying this level of information to those of us who have used the products for many years and by taking suggestions to where they can be used. Again, thank you.

thnx, jack vines
Studebaker-Packard V8 Limited
Spokane, WA