Emgo pistons

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Beach said:
If you like supporting Americans, why aren't you a paying member of this forum? Talk is certainly cheap. Same with jseng, who uses this forum to his advantage without a contribution to help keep it intact. Just my 2 cents worth.
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I have no money to become a paying member. My money goes to buy American made products vs. Chinese stuff.

Asking me why I’m not a paying member is not germane to the argument. In fact, it’s pretty much an asinine question.
 
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worntorn said:
So true. I always thought the buy America only crowd bought Harleys and nothing else.
This idea that all US residing British bike owners on this forum must purchase only US made parts must be coming from some sort of splinter fringe group.
Anyway, good to know that the Emgo/ JCC pistons are made well.
My smartphone works a treat and they say it's made in China! Computer too.

It's called trade.

Glen
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You don’t get the point, do you? It’s about choice, when there is one. Fifty years ago nearly everything sold in the U.S. was made in the U.S. Shoes, clothing, tools, 100% of car parts, TVs, and on and on. The onslaught of Chinese, and other cheap labor countries, goods exist today because the American consumers buy those goods. We are eating our young, so to speak.
 
The pistons themselves are very good, however I had been informed that the rings were not, so I sourced a set of original Hepolites and used them in the last rebuild. Shame I used the supplied pin circlips as 200 miles later the bike was smoking like a trooper. Yes, one had fallen out and tramlined the bore in that cylinder. Obviously I then found some original circlips and all was ok again.
sam
 
kommando said:
Chinese companies do make crap, but they also make good stuff too like the DRO glass scales I just added to my Bridgeport, you just need to find the good suppliers.
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Kommando: If you don't mind me asking, what did you buy and where did you find them. I'm in the market for a DRO setup on my mill but am overwhelmed by the choices and price spread.
Thanks
 
jseng1 said:
Matt and Comnoz

I'm glad you're willing to let me know what CNW parts are made or machined in China/Taiwan. Why not let everybody in the Forum know!
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First off, cNw and Jim Comstock are not the same (it sounds like you are packaging us). I use Jim Comstock for some machining since he's simply the best. I also get some of his parts that he makes and sell them on my site

To stay with this thread, I can let the OP know that I have used the JCC/Emgo pistons (Taiwan) in my builds for 20 years. This with Total Seal rings (USA). In the high performance engines I use a JE forged piston (USA). I intend to keep using the Emgo pistons since they have proven themselves to work great

If you are interested in who makes what, you can go into the parts catalog on my site and find that every part I sell has a manufacturer listed. I am always upfront with this info and if you would have taken the time to check this out, you would know that this is the case. A bit ridiculous to ask me to start listing the parts here

Matt / Colorado Norton Works
 
Wonder if this is wrong...
wikipedia said:
There is a universal consensus among economists that protectionism has a negative effect on economic growth and economic welfare
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Anyroad up, I didn't like the look of the circlips that someone bundled in with the Taiwanese pistons, so I didn't use them.

Emgo pistons
 
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I was referring to the quality of products NOT the race.tiwain has a separate government and has been well known for there quality vs china . I do side with jimc in some ways. no one should have to compete with china when they have NO EPA OSHA patent protections or concern for quality along with government subsidy's with the intent to bury us.

Danno said:
  • Yes but Taiwanese people are just Chinese living under a different political system. So when you indict Chinese products as junk....
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You can get high quality forged pistons “made in USA” by JE pistons that fit stock rods directly from Ken Canaga – he’s the guy who designed them and probably has the best price for them. Ken is part of this Norton community - AKA “lcrken”.

The JCC piston supplier (Taiwanese) sends out defective clips with their pistons that have been damaging cylinders. This has been going on for years and they keep sending them out. Either they are completely out of touch with their customers or they simply don’t care.
 
I got burned by the shitty circlips on a rebuild at least 25 years ago. The thing that bothered me most was my assumption that the supplier wouldn't send a crappy part that would fuck up my fresh rebuild. I'd say I rode the newly rebuilt bike on and off for about 2 weeks before one circlip popped out at 60mph with a "POP" and a puff of blue white smoke. I pulled the clutch, killed the engine, coasted to a stop and got a friend to pick me up with a van to haul the bike back to the shop. I knew something let go... it was coming back apart.

After buying probably a few thousand dollars worth of parts from this supplier, I couldn't even get the owner on the phone. I was told he doesn't talk to customers, but I could send him a written inquiry and once a week he sits down and goes through these inquiries. Instead of writing him, I just never bought another thing from them.

Originally, when I saw the wire circlips during my initial rebuild I wondered about them, but I thought that they must be OK, or my supplier wouldn't be selling them. I didn't know any better at the time, so I got to tear down a fresh top end 2 weeks after my complete rebuild... and redo the jugs again.

It's fucked up if suppliers are still sending out pistons with those shitty circlips if they are known to fail. Back when I rebuilt my engine, I'm not sure if the circlip issue was well known then, so maybe no suppliers knew the circlips were crap.

Below is a picture of the circlips after one popped and I removed them. Notice the flattened face of one of them...

Emgo pistons
 
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Fast Eddie said:
Why do they pop out?
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That's a very legitimate question.

Round wired circlips are often used (a.o. Andover Norton / GPM pistons). Personally I prefer square wired circlips so I am happy Hepolite pistons are available again (also made by JCC). They come with square circlips and 3 piece oil rings (like the original Hepolite pistons) Done a few engines with the new Hepolite pistons, no complains so far.
 
Yes Wrecks, those are the better 'square' wired circlips. Be sure to fit them facing the rounded edge side inwards!
 
But LOTS of pistons have round wire circlpks that don’t pop out.

So I’m still curious as to why the Emgo ones do?
 
I have never seen a JCC/Emgo piston for a Norton with a round wire circlip. I have only seen the type that wrecks shows above. I have fit hundreds of pairs.

Some of them are not tight when they are installed in the groove. If you can take a pick and easily move them around then the reciprocating forces will cause them to move also. Then they wear and eventually come out. Jim
 
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