"Premium" Piston & Cylinder kits worth it?

[Alan Cottrill]

Are the premium piston & cylinder kits in the $130~ price range worth it? My suspicion is that they are made by the same Chinese Children as the $30 ones. What's your experience?

 

[Woodslasher]

If you mean "The Duke's Premium Kit"s, then they should be above the average grade. @Duke Thieroff should be able to tell us for sure, though.

 

[Warped5]

+1 for the kits from the Duke.

On the other side of the spectrum, the kits from Lil Red Barn are junk.

 

[Duce]

OEM works.

 

[Duke Thieroff]

Hey!

It really depends on what you're looking at specifically....

Give us a little more details

 

[Alan Cottrill]

Looking for a quality 272 52mm p&c kit for a 61 to 272 conversion. I guess I'm just wondering how the $100+ kits are different than the sub $50 ones

 

[Duke Thieroff]

Plating, piston and ring quality, port chamfering.

272 is a pretty nice saw. Worth putting something nice on.

Would suggest a Hyway, Meteor or OEM kit.

The OEM sets have gone up lately but they're still around $200+-

 

[Alan Cottrill]

Thanks. Hyway has a kit with a pop-up piston. Anyone know if the cylinder has been machined to make up the difference from where the piston was machined? Any info on the squish measurement?

 

[Ketchup]

The Hyway 272 squish is 0.040” without a gasket. They run okay considering, but that’s a lousy squish number even with the popup. If you can cut the base they can be tightened up. Lots of other Hyway jugs have a plating gap at the top of the bore but 272 goes all the way.

Get OEM.

 

[Alan Cottrill]

Thanks for the squish info. That's what I suspected. I'm going to find an OEM kit.

 

[huskihl]

Thanks for the squish info. That's what I suspected. I'm going to find an OEM kit.

Poke around here for a used one. I would put money on it you can come up with good used OEM for similar or less money than you can one of the better aftermarket kits

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I'd be interested in a good OEM for less then 115.00$
I don't understand how a "used" set would be better than say a Meteor?

 

[Stump Shot]

I'd be interested in a good OEM for less then 115.00$
I don't understand how a "used" set would be better than say a Meteor?

Used cylinder only. Get a new quality piston of your choice and you'll be in good shape as you'll have OEM ports/timing etc. etc..

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Used cylinder only. Get a new quality piston of your choice and you'll be in good shape as you'll have OEM ports/timing etc. etc..

That makes more sense, its also what I did to my 044.

 

[huskihl]

I don't understand how a "used" set would be better than say a Meteor?

Every AM cylinder I’ve compared to oem had either huge squish, poor port timing, or smaller ports. I figure there’s a reason they all want to sell big bore kits, because they need to in order to get similar power to the smaller oem cylinder

 

[Ketchup]

Every AM cylinder I’ve compared to oem had either huge squish, poor port timing, or smaller ports. I figure there’s a reason they all want to sell big bore kits, because they need to in order to get similar power to the smaller oem cylinder

+brittle plating and irregular bore shape.

 

[huskihl]

+brittle plating and irregular bore shape.

Baby steps….

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I can't say every AM cylinder I've seen has been bad, there are some dandys out there though.
Some of the inconsistencies have been favourable as far as setting squish for me without machine work on my 066 the OEM was either 35 or a head slapper ,I mixed a few parts and got 25 not that its a feasible tactic running a business but a hobbyist it was fine.
In contrast an aftermarket 028 cylnder needs an obsessive amount of work just to run reasonably .
Some are better than others, but in life yous buys your ticket and gets your ride , and completely understand why anyone would not recommend a crap shoot . Broad generalization is just not something I like to do.

 

[huskihl]

I can't say every AM cylinder I've seen has been bad, there are some dandys out there though.
Some of the inconsistencies have been favourable as far as setting squish for me without machine work on my 066 the OEM was either 35 or a head slapper ,I mixed a few parts and got 25 not that its a feasible tactic running a business but a hobbyist it was fine.
In contrast an aftermarket 028 cylnder needs an obsessive amount of work just to run reasonably .
Some are better than others, but in life yous buys your ticket and gets your ride , and completely understand why anyone would not recommend a crap shoot . Broad generalization is just not something I like to do.

I didn’t see much difference early on before I became more familiar with what OEM cylinders look like inside. I’m mostly referring to the size and direction of the transfer ports.