Hi Randy,
I personally have no experience with County brand pistons and liners.
In my limited experience, AE Hepolites are the best of the more commonly
available TR2/3/4/4A replacement sets, but are getting harder to find. These
seldom need any special fitting for deck height or ring gaps. Usual procedure
is to
just clean up the block, install them and take a few measurements confirming
all is okay, then bolt it all back together.
I also like that AE come with copper figure 8 gaskets (not steel). These
aren't prone to rust like the steel ones, which are sometimes in other sets.
The only drawback to AE is that the rings usually take a while to seat, maybe
800-1000 miles. This might actually be a good thing on a street engine. At
least it's not much of a problem. Racers, however, used to change them out for
faster seating rings, since their motors don't get much break-in time.
I'd rank Mahle as #2 among the widely available brands.
Cheers!
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT17602L (getting a nice, new set of 87mm AE Hepolites soon!)
Listers,I see that there are three different piston and liners brand names for
sale(maybe more) A&E ,Mahle,and County(XRN) ,my question, are different brands
equal in quality,do some have better tolerances,better finishes, better
materials, prices seem to vary between brands. At the moment a local
distributor has county on sale ,any opnions,experience, on this brand ?
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