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1917 Buick pistons.. wanted a manufacturer.

apolo1100

By apolo1100
in Buick - Pre War

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apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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Hi there..

I need to find a company that's available to make custom pistons  for my 1917 Buick engine ..

I already contacted two companies and i got no reply...

OTTO ENGINE. no reply.

GRANT .. No reply. 

Pistons need to be 83.00 mm. 

Thanks in advance..

Apolo 

 

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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Most of the custom piston shops are 9-12 months out unless you have a relationship with them over years. Years ago there were several manufacturers making absolute junk……..fortunately they have either gone out of business or just resell other’s products now. Aires and Ross are generally the go to people, and they have been backlogged for years. Do yourself a favor, and send them a piston to duplicate, too many people think they can draw a piston and measure them themselves………and they end up with junk. Let the pro’s do it. 

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hidden_hunter 10,000+ Points

hidden_hunter

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If overseas manufactured is acceptable, there are a few Australian places that will do what you need - I haven't used them before but JP pistons out of South Australia might do what you need - they're made to order, and for slightly newer buicks they're listed at about A$1450 (about US$1000) then there is a place in Victoria Special Piston Service that do them (they appear to be much more focussed on the totally custom market) 

 

 

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apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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Thank you Mark..

I just talk to Leo. From Egge

He's going to help me with this and he's local about an hour away from me..

Strange enough.. there's another person who called yesterday from around here about the same car pistons to get it made..! Humm.wonder who is this guy is..

Thank you all guys..!

Apolo

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Terry Wiegand 10,000+ Points

Terry Wiegand

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I hate to rain on your parade, but you are going about this all wrong.  You need to have a competent and capable automotive machine shop prepare the cylinder block for the new pistons.  Ed gave you great advice about using Ross Aluminum Pistons.  There is a big difference between the original cast iron pistons and aluminum pistons with regard to piston to cylinder wall clearances.  The automotive machine shop should prepare the cylinders so that they are round, straight, and uniform in size.  You then go to Ross and tell them what you need in regard to outside diameter.  Once you have the pistons in hand the cylinder block can be finish bored so that the proper cylinder wall clearances can be maintained.  It is extremely important that the machine shop uses their micrometers and cylinder bore gauges to measure everything.  If things are not done in this manner you are going to have a screwed up costly mess.  I know what I am talking about because I have been down this road not too long ago with rebuilding the engine in our 1916 D-45.  Our engine has Ross pistons and the engine runs absolutely perfect.  You are basically going to have just one chance at doing this right - don't screw it up by trying to do it yourself.  There is a lot more to rebuilding an engine like this than meets the eye.  Listen to what you are being told here.  You will need to send one of your original cast iron pistons out to Ross so that they can make the new ones based on the original design specifications.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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17 minutes ago, Terry Wiegand said:

I hate to rain on your parade, but you are going about this all wrong.  You need to have a competent and capable automotive machine shop prepare the cylinder block for the new pistons.  Ed gave you great advice about using Ross Aluminum Pistons.  There is a big difference between the original cast iron pistons and aluminum pistons with regard to piston to cylinder wall clearances.  The automotive machine shop should prepare the cylinders so that they are round, straight, and uniform in size.  You then go to Ross and tell them what you need in regard to outside diameter.  Once you have the pistons in hand the cylinder block can be finish bored so that the proper cylinder wall clearances can be maintained.  It is extremely important that the machine shop uses their micrometers and cylinder bore gauges to measure everything.  If things are not done in this manner you are going to have a screwed up costly mess.  I know what I am talking about because I have been down this road not too long ago with rebuilding the engine in our 1916 D-45.  Our engine has Ross pistons and the engine runs absolutely perfect.  You are basically going to have just one chance at doing this right - don't screw it up by trying to do it yourself.  There is a lot more to rebuilding an engine like this than meets the eye.  Listen to what you are being told here.  You will need to send one of your original cast iron pistons out to Ross so that they can make the new ones based on the original design specifications.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

 

TERRY IS 100 PERCENT CORRECT......and most people who think they know what they are doing ordering pistons have little to no clue. Personally I would use a modern ring package, size the small ends of the rods and have custom pins made for the pistons, as it's cheaper and safer than resizing the rods. 

 

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Oldtech 10,000+ Points

Oldtech

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I got pistons from Egge for my 4 cylinder. .060 over standard. THEN I took the whole thing to the machine shop and had them fit everything.  Beautiful. 

 

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apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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Terry. Your absolutely right.!

I'm on my way to Egge today and  l'm bringing original pistons and the cylinder block for them to correct measure the cylinders..

I know all about fitting aluminum pistons into this machnes..

Will keep you post it about things here..

Cheers.!

Apolo.

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apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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Hi there..

I got the quote from piston manufacturer today..

Looks like the only way they can make it is Forged ones and i think that's why the came up that high on price..$1.350 for the set..

I think I'm going to get some others quotes ..

I'll call the guys up in Michigan..

Or try to find a good set of used ones.. for the  3.290 cylinder block  i want to use.

Cheers.

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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That price is low range normal...........unless you get lucky and find NOS, it's probably a wast of time to hunt around. Rule of thumb that new pistons and rings usually run 150-200 per unit on non production stuff. And it get expensive quickly for unusual ones.....

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Terry Wiegand 10,000+ Points

Terry Wiegand

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There is something that I forgot to include in my posting last Thursday.  If this engine is going to be gone through and make it runnable, before it is even thought about getting it into a reputable automotive machine shop, the cylinder block should be thermal cleaned.  This is not an extremely cost prohibitive process.  The two most important things about having this done is that the water jacket will be clean and overheating will not be a problem and any cracks in the casting will be exposed and hopefully that issue can be dealt with before any cylinder machining starts.  When things are approached correctly there will be no need for apologies down the road.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

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  • 1 month later...
apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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Hi there..

Remember this.?.

Looks like the only way they can make it is Forged ones and i think that's why the came up that high on price..$1.350 for the set..

I think I'm going to get some others quotes ..

I'll call the guys up in Michigan..

Or try to find a good set of used ones.. for the  3.290 cylinder block  i want to use.

Cheers.

 

Well.i did my own research..

Looks like a lot of other cars ware the same piston in oversize ...

There for I order from summit racing a set of $185 dollar. With free shipping.!

I also did my own research about the rings. Since summit don't have rings in stock for the pistons..

I ended up at Grant pistons rings. Witch they already close the factory here in the USA. So I went  to there office for billing .. and a super nice guy that worked with the company for over 40 yrs. Was nice to help me..and guess what..the last set of ring I need it  they where able to hand it out to me on the spot..for $85 dollars .

It happens to be that when the where moving..a box with different set of rings was left back at the office.. I guess it was mean to be..!

I got the pistons with 1.978 comp. Instead of 1.789 that I had originally..even better since I wanted to bring it up a 3 /16 .. what I got it's not as much but it's something..

I was able to fit the piston on the block. Man I know my numbers..!

Pistones to wal clearance it's just right on the Money..

Remember..the block was already bore and hot tank and water jackets clean and all of what a reputable machine shop will do to be able to assemble an engine.

So now the fun will resume  shortly after I get some free time..

Cheers ..!

Apolo.

 

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Larry Schramm 25,000+ Points

Larry Schramm

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On 5/9/2023 at 12:25 AM, apolo1100 said:

Hi there..

I got the quote from piston manufacturer today..

Looks like the only way they can make it is Forged ones and i think that's why the came up that high on price..$1.350 for the set..

I think I'm going to get some others quotes ..

I'll call the guys up in Michigan..

Or try to find a good set of used ones.. for the  3.290 cylinder block  i want to use.

Cheers.

 

If you think that price is high, buy a pair of pistons for a 2 cylinder 1908 Model F Buick.

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apolo1100 1,000+ Points

apolo1100

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I can't imagine making a pair of those pistons..!

Maybe a really hard wood ones be cheeper and you can do it yourself.! 

Like I used to see it on engines when I was very young at the junkyard across the street from my house.,

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edinmass 25,000+ Points

edinmass

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Installing mix and match off the shelf pistons is asking for a problem. Very few people can actually measure them accurately and end up with something that works well. $1300 for a set of custom set of pistons is not a lot of money. And half the junk people are selling I wouldn’t put in my lawnmower. I won’t even discuss the most popular name in hard parts…….. to say they sell trash is an understatement. Chinesium………. The definition of junk.

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