Disappointed with JE Pistons

[1colbrz]

A few years ago, I purchased a set of custom pistons from JE for a 2.7L/911 race build my sons and I were doing. Shortly after receiving the the pistons I had to shelve the project do to work/travel. Recently we have pulled the project out and resumed assembly.

Well, the piston dome's hit the chambers at TDC with .040" of deck height clearance so I called JE to see what we could do.

Basically the response I got from them was, "...you are SOL. The people you dealt with don't work here anymore and we aren't going to help you at all. Give this guy in the Midwest a call and maybe he'll do some machining for you...." Wow I thought !! But I tried the company JE suggested and they wouldn't even return my calls.

Fast forward to today. I now have $480.00 in custom machining costs and still struggling to make the pistons fit correctly.

I know what you're thinking, Gerry (me) must have given JE some bad information or specs because a big company like JE wouldn't screw up. Well I checked the data my machinist provided JE and it's right on the money. I bought a calibrated/certified burette and CC'd the combustion chambers (JE said my chambers must be small). They are spot on and untouched from stock.

I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong here. I paid them for a product. I provided every bit of information they asked for. I checked my engine pieces to see if something I had was unique (it wasn't). I guess sometimes you just get screwed in this life but I never expected it from a company like JE.

Regards,

[Steve@Rennsport]

Gerry,

I'm very sorry to hear of your problem; we've bought a LOT of race pistons over the past 25+ years from JE and have rarely ever had a problem except in rare circumstances.

Mistakes of all kinds (measurements, communications, transcriptions) can and do happen as we are all ultimately human and therefore not error-free.

JMHO, but I think the main issue here is that too much time elapsed between receiving your pistons and confirming they were OK. I totally understand how life's plans and projects can change, however that affects a potential "warranty" claim that isn't the fault of JE. Most companies making race parts offer no such warranties, but they do stand behind their product if an error or problem gets diagnosed ASAP.

In our case, the few times something was not made to spec, we caught this immediately for quick resolution.

It sounds like the compression height is off and that requires extensive machining of the domes to correct. I might suggest finding a new home for them and getting another set that has the correct CR & compression height so your deck height isn't compromised.

Good luck on your project!!!

[1colbrz]

Steve,
All very reasonable. I just wish things would have worked differently.

Anyway, I made a compromise on deck height (.055") which yields a minimum clearance on the ramp of the domes to the combustion chamber of .045". The clearance on the very top of the domes, except at the ramp/dome radius, was never a problem.

Thanks,
Gerry

[Walter Mueller]

Gerry, my engine builder had a similar problem with J&E pistons which were purchased through a well regarded supply house, however this was discovered within several months of the purchase, and the supply house, upon receiving the returned pistons, did get us a set of replacement J&E pistons that were correctly machined. I was surprised that a manufacturing mistake like this could occur, especially since we were building a 2.54L engine with dimensional engine pieces that are somewhat common, i.e., 70.4mm crank, 87.5mm pistons w/9.5:1 CR, and stock heads. Our discovery was also in the build process when the pistons extended about 1mm too far at TDC. I just wanted to share this experience so that other readers might be forewarned to check out the dimensions of their new pistons before it becomes too long to get a refund or a replacement set. And by the way, it took more than one call and some back and forth wrangling before the supply house agreed to receive the return of the pistons, which they, in turn, dealt with J&E for the replacement set. Walt