ACCRALITE vs COSWORTH pistons ...

[Old English White]

... "Old English White" 's engine is under rebuilt !
Discover a very tired if original engine throughout , and a rebore to 83.5mm is necessary .
I was first thinking to put Cosworth forged pistons , but price and availability of separate spares from Cosworth forced me to consider Accralite products ...
My meccanic is used to work with Accralite ...
But I want to have your opinion or your experience before ...
Christian.

[twincamman]

welll if you can find ONE piston of the type you want to use VANOILA will make 4 to match for about 250 U.S. or Canadian -- --ed

[denicholls2]

...Who I believe has been purchased by Wiseco, who made the set for my Europa-Renault. They're gorgeous. These were part of a group buy on the Europa list.

The companies still in the custom piston business typically have a minimum order of at least 8 now. You may need to find a friend looking for an overbore. Then again, there may be other off-the-shelf options. But you can contact Wiseco to confirm, as it's hard to imagine they haven't done suitable ones before for the TwinCam. Ed's price is about what my pistons cost a couple of years back.

[cabc26b]

JE should have pistons for you as well and I also recall Omega making a slipper piston for the twin-cam

[rgh0]

I have used JE forged pistons for many years now with good results in multiple race engines. As my avatar testifies the last thing to break has been the JE pistons !!!

cheers
Rohan

[Old English White]

... Thanks mates
To tell you the truth , I was going to buy the Cosworth's . Definitly ... just because of history , prestige and because my Elan deserve them. But the price , the difficulties to get a full set (on "special" order only) stop me .
The meccanic who is in charge of "OEW" engine was sure about their quality , but add the problem of spares prices and their availability ; too much for me .
As a good alternative choice , He spoke about Accralite's pistons ... He put already a few set's on different Lotus'es (7's and 26's but on his 47 too)
For info , they can be found on "Burton power"(a Ford specialist) website ...
Nobody use them !?!
About JE pistons , He has a very good opinion ... Today dollar's rate could help , but on their website , nothing on the Twincam ... So , if one of you guys still have a contact , order sheet with references (83.5mm bore needed)...
Christian.

[rgh0]

Hi Christian

I dont have a specific JE reference as I have always bought via the Elan Factory locally. The pistons I have bought are for 83.5mm bore , they have the standard compression height and have a 6mm intruder and suitable cutouts for 1.625 and 1.4 inch valves into the intruder and piston top. I generally end up trimming a little 9 up to 2 mm) off the intruder to get the compression and clearances I am looking for depending on the rest of the eingine details. I have on occassion also deepended the valve pockets after checking clearance but this is not normally required but there is sufficent meet in the piston top to do it if required.

JE should be able to find the pistons they have previously made based on the information above.

If you need I can look up and give you more precise piston dimensions I have used but these are dependent on other factors like your rod length, block deck height, combustion chamber size, head thickness, compression ration target etc and when building a race engine all of this needs careful consideration to get a total package that works. Every engine builder has their own combination that they normally aim for and there is no real standard or best combination that I have ever found

regards
Rohan

[Old English White]

Hi Rohan ,
Just few words to tell you than your last comment is right ; every engine builder have is own combination ...
I do not understand everything but , as he planed , he will adjust the block height and the compression ratio after finishing the head , based on QED 420 + big long valves . I still don't know what from 1.625 or 1.4 inch he will choose for them.
Rods(if good) will stay same dimensions , as far I know , but , he is used to built his own end bearing ...
Last autumn I had the rare oppotunity to fast travel (350km!) in the 26R of my friend Jean-pierre Lajournade cheking a new engine before the Tour Auto... At this occasion , and for many reasons , I decided not to build a racer from "OEW" : We are only speaking about a good & strong twincam , with a large power band for "fast road" &"trackday" use ...
So , I will ask JE for detail , and wait for their answer .
Best regards,
Christian.