General Tech Direction of Pistons for new County Brand Pistons from Moss

[KVH]

I actually have a few questions. a) Is there a correct direction when installing the pistons? What is confusing me is that inside the underside of each new County Brand piston there's a blue ink mark on just one side as if that means something. But the blue ink mark bears no consistent relationship to other piston markings such as the stamping of the County name, or the surface stamping of numbers on the top of the piston; b) Also, that oil scraper ring seems to just sit in the groove. Is there any special trick to installing that oil ring?; and c) Finally, since I have a spare set of Grant rings, would anyone feel I ought to use those and not the County rings? I think the County ones look fine, and the gaps seem right, though one was a bit wide, like .014 whereas max recommended is .015.


Thanks all.

 

[Rut]

County pistons come with Grant rings, at least they do on MGB and Austin Healey Sprite pistons. There should be a mark on top of the piston referencing the front and the oil rings should fit like any other oil rings, but the red and green marks should both show once assembled indicating no overlap.
Rut

 

[poolboy]

I believe the blue mark is an inspection mark..It was on County pistons from BPNW.
I'm sure there was a direction indication somewhere on the piston and there definitely was installation instructions with the set of Grant rings that came with the County pistons....but based on the recommendation of someone whose opinion I value, I bought and installed Hastings piston rings from Moss which also come with installation instructions.

 

[CJD]

The latest pistons I got from Moss were completely unmarked. Not even a manufacturer stamp. I measured the pin location to be sure, and it was centered...so no pin offset. Pistons like that can be mounted in either direction.

 

[Rut]

Attached is a picture of my County MGB piston and it does come with Grant rings. My go to engine guy, Hap Waldrop at Acme Speed Shop recommends the Hastings rings as well if for no other reason than for the oil control rings. He's a distributed for Hastings as well as County and really likes the product.

 

[Geo Hahn]

I just put them in so I could read the numbers (1,2,3,4) from the drivers side (pistons from Moss). I cannot recall if there was anything else to go by (e.g. a split skirt).