Piston Rings

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Cliffords
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Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

Hi

May I have any suggestions on piston ring suppliers .
I have been in contact with the three names , either no stock or prices that seem to high to me .

Its a full set on standard rings for a 2.2 LC engine .

Appreciate if anyone knows of any alternative suppliers apart from SJ, LB or P

Thanks

David

Pete Boole
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Pete Boole »

Gary Kemp & QED come to mind.

Pete

Cliffords
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

The great piston ring shortage continues............
I spoke to QED how do I get in touch with Gary Kemp , is this a separate fellow .

Thanks for your help as always .

In addition there seems to be some options over ring size ( thickness of oil ring ) some saying 5mm and some saying 4.7mm
The ones I took off my pistons and another set I got seem to be 4.8mm thick and the grove appears to be 4.95mm
This vehicle is slightly fighting me right now :)

David
Last edited by Cliffords on Thu Jun 09, 2022 18:07, edited 1 time in total.

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Hawaiis0
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Hawaiis0 »

Cliffords wrote:
Thu Jun 09, 2022 17:52
The great piston ring shortage continues............
I spoke to QED how do I get in touch with Gary Kemp , is this a separate fellow .

Thanks for your help as always

David
https://www.facebook.com/Kemp-High-Perf ... 9057106766
Nothing is fool proof. Fools are clever!

Pete Boole
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Pete Boole »

So the oil rings may be 3/16".

Pete

Cliffords
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

Pete Boole wrote:
Thu Jun 09, 2022 20:14
So the oil rings may be 3/16".

Pete
I think so yes and dimensions for what I can currently get are in metric and when converted don't equate to 3/16''.
I have asked the two alternative suppliers to advise .

Thanks

Cliffords
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

The great piston ring drought continues .
All bar one of the suppliers suggested have no stock and the one that does has decided to price accordingly. I cant bring myself to buy them at this price so I am stuck for now.

Rings for Hepolite pistons do seem to have quite a wide oil ring gap and this makes them a bit harder to get but the usual manufacturers must be in difficult geographies right now or concentrating on other things .

If anyone gets wind of some stock please advise.

Thanks

David

Zag
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Zag »

Cliffords wrote:
Sat Jun 25, 2022 15:54
The great piston ring drought continues .
All bar one of the suppliers suggested have no stock and the one that does has decided to price accordingly. I cant bring myself to buy them at this price so I am stuck for now.



Thanks

David
Given we are a quite small tight knit community I don't understand this, when a supplier does this kind of thing it puts me off from ever using them again and I will make my feelings known to others. I understand supply and demand economics, everyone has to make a living etc but just because you can doesn't mean you should. Name and shame I say.

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Gray14
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Gray14 »

I googled "piston ring suppliers uk" and there are pages of mainstream suppliers.

1st supplier boasts 4 million rings in stock.

May have to work off specification rather than Lotus 912 etc

Cliffords
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

Gray14 wrote:
Sat Jun 25, 2022 16:56
I googled "piston ring suppliers uk" and there are pages of mainstream suppliers.

1st supplier boasts 4 million rings in stock.

May have to work off specification rather than Lotus 912 etc
That first one you see is in the Netherlands. I have contacted them . Trade only. No UK stockists . I have contacted Two of their stockists no rings available from the spec I have . Tricky car .

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ChrisJ
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by ChrisJ »

Cliffords wrote:
Sat Jun 25, 2022 15:54
I cant bring myself to buy them at this price so I am stuck for now.
What price range are you looking for?

Cliffords
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Cliffords »

ChrisJ wrote:
Sun Jun 26, 2022 10:07
Cliffords wrote:
Sat Jun 25, 2022 15:54
I cant bring myself to buy them at this price so I am stuck for now.
What price range are you looking for?
If you know where there is some available I would be glad to hear

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ChrisJ
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by ChrisJ »

I've only found them at the usual suppliers, but as you have mentioned price a couple of times, I thought if you said what you sort of price range you were expecting/hoping, some of the members who have rebuilt engines could tell you whether you are in the right ballpark or being very optimistic.

Lozza74
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by Lozza74 »

For what its worth I have just had my engine rebuilt (2.2 LC). On the invoice is a line item for 4 piston ring sets at £170 excluding VAT.
Ive no idea who supplied them.

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rbgosling
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Re: Piston Rings

Post by rbgosling »

5 years ago I rebuilt my engine, and at the end totted up the total cost - see the post here

Piston rings then were £131.14 for the full set, and were the second most expensive component (after the bearing shells, which were worthy of a whole saga of their own).
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

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