4Here’s Egge

Machine & Speed’s CEO Ernie Silvers taking a shortcut through what has to be the world’s larg-est collec-tion of rare N.O.S. head gaskets.

2Speaking of flat-

heads, this is Egge’s recently introduced rotating assembly for Ford and Mercury flat-head V-8s. Kits range from stock replacement to big-bore and strokers.

5Got one of those pesky old V-8 motors with the oil pump housed in an aluminum alloy timing case? No problem, Egge remanufactures

and stocks every oil pump of that style ever made except for one.

3Facing Slauson

Ave.s’ main drag; Egge’s showroom is a great destination place to hang out and enjoy some very cool auto-mobilia, or even buy the latest news-stand edition of STREET RODDER, ROD & CUSTOM, and CUSTOM CLASSIC TRUCKS.

6Here we caught

Egge’s Marketing Director Tony Colombini dreaming about building the world’s hairiest Y-block motor for his ’56 Ford using a set of these rather large Egge pistons.

7In the foreground

are ingots of pure aluminum alloy that are heated until molten and then poured into a perma-nent mold (like the one Ernie Silvers dem-onstrates here) to form a raw casting.

1Whether it’s this big ’ol hairy Chrysler Hemi, or that hopped-up Ford flathead,

Egge Machine & Speed Shop is the first place to try for hard-to-find engine parts.

Custom Classic Trucks ■ FEBRUARY 2009 2524 FEBRUARY 2009 ■ Custom Classic Trucks

EGGE MACHINE & SPEED SHOPSince 1915

■ BY JOHN GILBERT

There seems to be an underlying belief in this country that we don’t make anything anymore. One look at all of the outsourced junk from overseas bearing once-trusted American labels and it’s no wonder brand

names don’t mean much these days. As a whole, the manu-facturing situation in this country appears pretty bleak, but when it comes to the automotive aftermarket there are some glimmers of hope. A good example is Egge Machine & Speed Shop of Santa Fe Springs, California. Founded in 1915 the shop hailed from Plainview, Texas, but it wasn’t long before the elder Egge packed his family up in 1923 and transplanted the operation to downtown Los Angeles. In 1958, the next move was to Gardena, California where Egge Machine found itself neighbored by Ed Iskenderian’s Isky cams. In 1972, Egge Machine moved to its present location in Santa Fe Springs.

In the early days Egge was known for specializing in hard-to-get and obsolete parts. As their inventories of rare N.O.S. parts began to dry up they filled the need by venturing into rebuilding and remanufacturing an array of internal engine parts. There’s not much on the inside of a vintage internal combustion engine that Egge doesn’t deal with. Where they have really made their mark is producing high-quality pistons for all types of vehicles. Manufactured entirely in-house, Egge pistons begin life as ingots of aluminum alloy and then are produced entirely under one roof. Perhaps equally as interesting is thanks to major investments made to acquire modern CNC machine equipment Egge pistons offer a blend of old-school ways combined with modern technology thus providing improved oil-consumption, better compression, and less internal friction than original equipment pistons from back in the day. CCT

TECH

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8Here’s molten aluminum in a ladle with a capacity equal to that of the permanent mold it is being poured into.

11Although the Sundstrand Model 8 is still used occasionally, this Cincinnati 500 with five-axis performs five different operations

and does it with much greater precision than primitive single-operation machines.

9After the aluminum

has cooled the perma-nent mold is cracked open and the raw casting is removed.

12High-performance

piston designs that require reliefs (valve pockets) for the intake and exhaust valves are cut on this Lagun mill.

10This is Bob Egge next to a Sundstrand Model 8 Automatic stub lathe that his father bought in 1947. 13Here’s a shot of an Egge piston being precision ground to an exact-

ing tolerance.

14This machine drills two holes at once in the ring land grooves at opposite ends.

17Here’s a nickel

babbit rod bear-ing after Egge has machined it to size. Notice the intricate oiling grooves (passages) have been restored to original spec. Nickel babbit main bearings must be line bored before the crankshaft can be laid.

15Quality checks

are performed after every operation to ensure perfec-tion. Pistons that fail inspection are melted down (recycled) and have to start all over.

18Egge manu-factures

replacement stainless steel intake and exhaust valves for rare and obsolete engine applications. Thanks to modern developments in valve design, slight horsepower increases can be obtained just by installing Egge stainless steel valves.

16Another lost art Egge specializes in is re-babbit rod and main bear-ings. These cauldrons contain molten aircraft grade nickel babbit

that is poured and then machined to size.

19Here’s Bob Egge in front of

the Hansvedt EDM, where electrical dis-charge machining is used to create what-ever configuration is needed on Egge stainless steel valve stems to retain valve keepers (locks) col-lars, and springs.

20Our last stop was where Ernie Silvers showed us row after row of Egge piston sets on the shelves and ready to ship anywhere in the

world for just about any engine ever made. This includes Y-block Ford, stovebolt Chevy, early high-performance Corvette, nailhead Buick, GMC/Pontiac, Chrysler Hemi, and even vintage Harley-Davidson.

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EGGE MACHINE & SPEED SHOPSince 1915

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