Hastings Rings

marshg246 · Feb 2, 2023

In Dec 2020 I announced that I had spoken with Hastings and that they were no longer producing rings for Nortons. There are still some resellers who have stock. I'm rebuilding a MKIII engine and the owner really wants Hastings Rings so I found and ordered a set from MAP Cycle. They arrived today.

The box and envelop look normal and the rings look fine. However, Map Cycle put a sticker over half of the Hastings sticker - that doesn't bother me much. What does make me wonder is the EMGO sticker over the other half.

Not saying anything good, bad, or indifferent - it's just weird to me to see an EMGO sticker on a USA product.

B+Bogus · Feb 3, 2023

Wassells re-brand Taiwanese (JE?) pistons as 'Hepolite', and originally they also came with Hastings rings - although they couldn't be identified as such. Presumably this is what EMGO USA were doing?
A few years ago they switched to 'AE' (federal Mogul) UK sourced rings.
Never had problems with them or heard any adverse reports either.

I did have huge issues with some Hastings rings, but it turned out that I was fitting them to Powermax pistons which should have had the early type narrow oil rings installed.
We live and learn....

marinatlas · Feb 3, 2023

I had ordered some JCC pistons from RGM , who supplied them with hastins rings in the past , recent one were as you said AE , I had heard they were similar to Goetze any thoughts ?

kommando · Feb 3, 2023

marinatlas said:
I had heard they were similar to Goetze any thoughts ?

Goetze is the only ring manufacture left in the Federal Mogul conglomerate, they still own Hepolite name but rent/licence it out to Wassell but have no factories left using Hepolite technology. So any FM factory making rings is using Goetze technology. AE is part of FM.

B+Bogus · Feb 3, 2023

marinatlas said:
I had ordered some JCC pistons from RGM , who supplied them with hastins rings in the past , recent one were as you said AE , I had heard they were similar to Goetze any thoughts ?

I think they're one and the same under the Federal Mogul branding, but I can stand to be corrected (again

)

marshg246 · Feb 3, 2023

B+Bogus said:
Wassells re-brand Taiwanese (JE?) pistons as 'Hepolite', and originally they also came with Hastings rings - although they couldn't be identified as such. Presumably this is what EMGO USA were doing?
A few years ago they switched to 'AE' (federal Mogul) UK sourced rings.
Never had problems with them or heard any adverse reports either.

I did have huge issues with some Hastings rings, but it turned out that I was fitting them to Powermax pistons which should have had the early type narrow oil rings installed.
We live and learn....

Today, I generally use the Hepolite sets (pistons, rings, pin, and clips). The pistons are JCC. The rings look identical to Hastings and are supposedly UK made (Federal Mogul?)

The JCC pistons are nice, but be careful - the ones for 750s are often marked wrong (L, R). If you get an old set of Hastings rings, they have no dots to show up and they had two bevel styles for Norton, but only one printed envelope to put them in.

I'm wondering if EMGO licensed the Hastings Norton rings. Hastings still makes rings for Triumph and many other motorcycles - when I talked to them it was only Norton they dropped due to lack of volume. They did say that although they were no longer in the catalog, they they had lots and dealers could buy them.

olympus · Feb 3, 2023

marshg246 said:
Today, I generally use the Hepolite sets (pistons, rings, pin, and clips). The pistons are JCC. The rings look identical to Hastings and are supposedly UK made (Federal Mogul?)

The JCC pistons are nice, but be careful - the ones for 750s are often marked wrong (L, R). If you get an old set of Hastings rings, they have no dots to show up and they had two bevel styles for Norton, but only one printed envelope to put them in.

I'm wondering if EMGO licensed the Hastings Norton rings. Hastings still makes rings for Triumph and many other motorcycles - when I talked to them it was only Norton they dropped due to lack of volume. They did say that although they were no longer in the catalog, they they had lots and dealers could buy them.

This may have been asked before, do we know the reason .if any why Hastings stopped making Norton rings?

marshg246 · Feb 3, 2023

olympus said:
This may have been asked before, do we know the reason .if any why Hastings stopped making Norton rings?

They told me that the volume was too low.

SEd27 · Feb 3, 2023

I recently purchased a set of Hastings rings from the Bonneville Shop.

Had the same Emgo label:

kommando · Feb 4, 2023

Emgo are a parts distributor, they mainly buy from Taiwan but nothing stops them buying from the US. They have a presence in the US

About EMGO | EMGO

Learn more about EMGO, a worldwide supplier of aftermarket powersports products. Contact us if you are looking to add EMGO products to your selection.

emgo.com

so may actually be based in the US with it being their main selling market and Taiwan being their main buying market. Its not fully clear where they are they are headquartered but they must at least have a US office but as its a PO box address it may all be forwarded to Taiwan.

marshg246 · Feb 4, 2023

kommando said:
Emgo are a parts distributor, they mainly buy from Taiwan but nothing stops them buying from the US. They have a presence in the US

About EMGO | EMGO

Learn more about EMGO, a worldwide supplier of aftermarket powersports products. Contact us if you are looking to add EMGO products to your selection.

emgo.com

so may actually be based in the US with it being their main selling market and Taiwan being their main buying market. Its not fully clear where they are they are headquartered but they must at least have a US office but as its a PO box address it may all be forwarded to Taiwan.

EMGO may have bought out the remaining Hastings stock. When Hastings told me that they were no longer making rings for Norton, they also said that they had a lot of stock and it would be a "while" before they were completely unavailable.

mean gene · Feb 4, 2023

To restate from another post, The last Hasting rings I bought were for 650 BSA. Couldn't get them to seal. Also if i remember the center and maybe the top ring had no id for top side. The middle I remember had no inside bevel also to ID direction. Bought rings from Mitch (unknown brand sorry) and they were marked and sealed right up!

hayabusaman0 · Feb 4, 2023

marshg246 said:
Today, I generally use the Hepolite sets (pistons, rings, pin, and clips). The pistons are JCC. The rings look identical to Hastings and are supposedly UK made (Federal Mogul?)

The JCC pistons are nice, but be careful - the ones for 750s are often marked wrong (L, R). If you get an old set of Hastings rings, they have no dots to show up and they had two bevel styles for Norton, but only one printed envelope to put them in.

I'm wondering if EMGO licensed the Hastings Norton rings. Hastings still makes rings for Triumph and many other motorcycles - when I talked to them it was only Norton they dropped due to lack of volume. They did say that although they were no longer in the catalog, they they had lots and dealers could buy them.

marshg246. Had any probs with the pin circlips becoming loose?
I fitted a set to my 850 & after 500 miles the circlips were moving freely in their grooves!
I was sorting a leak from barrel to c/case joint & found the loose clips, this had put a small burr on the piston so it was hard to remove the gudgeon pins. NOC spares don't want to reply to my emails! Do a google search, it's not unknown for this to happen! People recommend AN or RGM circlips. I might add that they were fitted right way round & not over compressed!

marshg246 · Feb 4, 2023

hayabusaman0 said:
marshg246. Had any probs with the pin circlips becoming loose?
I fitted a set to my 850 & after 500 miles the circlips were moving freely in their grooves!
I was sorting a leak from barrel to c/case joint & found the loose clips, this had put a small burr on the piston so it was hard to remove the gudgeon pins. NOC spares don't want to reply to my emails! Do a google search, it's not unknown for this to happen! People recommend AN or RGM circlips. I might add that they were fitted right way round & not over compressed!

I haven't with the Hepolite sets and they fit the grooves tightly. Did you buy a set, a dealer made set, or individual parts? The only complaints I've heard about JCC is the rings, but then I can't detect difference in them and Hastings,

marinatlas · Feb 5, 2023

hayabusaman0 said:
marshg246. Had any probs with the pin circlips becoming loose?
I fitted a set to my 850 & after 500 miles the circlips were moving freely in their grooves!
I was sorting a leak from barrel to c/case joint & found the loose clips, this had put a small burr on the piston so it was hard to remove the gudgeon pins. NOC spares don't want to reply to my emails! Do a google search, it's not unknown for this to happen! People recommend AN or RGM circlips. I might add that they were fitted right way round & not over compressed!

Piston Circlips, again

Got some Emgo pistons with Hastings rings. 1 piston, circlips are fine, other they are loose, a smidge smaller. Searched the posts here and see this is common. Found some on the I net. Just received them. They are made from smaller wire stock. The OD is fine, but they aren't as stout. They...

www.accessnorton.com

wavey_davey · Feb 15, 2023

Hastings rings as fitted to earlier Hepolite /Wassel JCC pistons have a bad reputation in Triumph Trident /BSA R3 circles for not seating. The latest UK made rings have a very good reputation, as do the JCC pistons themselves. I had this conversation with an eminent UK triple expert (who does it for a living just to be clear) face to face only last week and sourced some oversize pistons for my R3 with the UK rings today. Doubtless there's lots regarding this on Triples Online forum as well.

Fast Eddie · Feb 16, 2023

wavey_davey said:
Hastings rings as fitted to earlier Hepolite /Wassel JCC pistons have a bad reputation in Triumph Trident /BSA R3 circles for not seating. The latest UK made rings have a very good reputation, as do the JCC pistons themselves. I had this conversation with an eminent UK triple expert (who does it for a living just to be clear) face to face only last week and sourced some oversize pistons for my R3 with the UK rings today. Doubtless there's lots regarding this on Triples Online forum as well.

Whilst that’s good news, the trouble in our old bike world is that parts are wholesaled in large batches… some of which sit on shelves for years / decades, waiting to snare innocent punters !

So, even if Hepolite / Wassel / JCC have sorted things, the chance of buying older pistons with shit rings is still very real.

I have T140 that was rebuilt using those pistons and rings and it burnt oil BAD. I stripped it and fitted Goetze rings (from Andover Norton / Triumph) and now it runs as clean as a whistle.

wavey_davey · Feb 16, 2023

I agree Nigel, however some of the Rocket 3 pistons I googled yesterday were advertised with "US rings", and some with "UK made rings with the one piece oil ring ". The supplier I chose confirmed via email very quickly that his stock had the later rings, it seems a pretty well understood issue in triple circles.

concours · Feb 16, 2023

Fast Eddie said:
Whilst that’s good news, the trouble in our old bike world is that parts are wholesaled in large batches… some of which sit on shelves for years / decades, waiting to snare innocent punters !

So, even if Hepolite / Wassel / JCC have sorted things, the chance of buying older pistons with shit rings is still very real.

I have T140 that was rebuilt using those pistons and rings and it burnt oil BAD. I stripped it and fitted Goetze rings (from Andover Norton / Triumph) and now it runs as clean as a whistle.

My buddy's T150 was "rebuilt" at a shop, smoked horribly.
I tore it down, it had Hastings rings, but the oil rings were of the ONE PIECE design. Clearances were within spec, but barely.
I bought pistons & rings of conventional 3 piece oil ring design, rebored and fit. Results are as expected. No smoke.

Hastings Rings

Similar threads