Piston Rings__Another Lesson Learned The Hard Way

[dougelam]

So, uh...let me get this straight:

Without doing a careful oil consumption test, on the basis of finding "soft carbon" deposits on piston tops, you have decided the rings Summit Racing Equipment includes with their piston sets are faulty?

Ok. Some questions

1) Are these "soft carbon" deposits from an engine which is running rich at idle and/or part throttle or are they oily carbon deposits from an engine which is using oil?

2) Was the piston set advertised as having low-tension oil rings?

3) What's the level of taper of the bores?

4) How were the cylinder walls prepared?

5) What's the piston-to-bore clearance?

6) Any chance the second ring (the oil scraper) is installed upside down?

My guess would be rich from his large carb

my 750 cfm Holley

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[kpic]

6) Any chance the second ring (the oil scraper) is installed upside down?

There's a big chance...

What some people don't understand is that the second ring is not really a compression ring but an oil control and vacuum ring. Many second rings have a reverse-twist, taper face design that allows the ring to glide over the cylinder wall during the piston upstroke. When the piston reverses direction, the sharp edge of the ring is forced out against the wall and acts like a squeegee to wipe off the excess oil. At the same time, the second ring seals against the wall so the piston can pull as much vacuum as possible on the downstroke.

Piston Ring Technology

I'd bet that is why Hib saved #6 for last.. otfl

 

[LLC5]

Any bets that he answers any of the questions asked?

 

[dougelam]

$20 says no

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[kpic]

Simply stated, TBTR put together wrong and blames the parts..

 

[LLC5]

Simply stated, TBTR put together wrong and blames the parts..

Correct.

And he has no answers to the questions asked because he has no knowledge of the questions asked.

He just spits crap out that he knows nothing about and expects it to fly.

 

[kpic]

Correct.

And he has no answers to the questions asked because he has no knowledge of the questions asked.

He just spits crap out that he knows nothing about and expects it to fly.

That is why he ignores the questions or spews some lame manure about what Ford did.

Although his crap doesn't fly, its stench certainly does. The best thing about TBTR is he is on the west coast and I'm on the east coast.

 

[Antz81]

The best thing about TBTR is he is on the west coast and I'm on the east coast.

You incredibly unlucky person; having to share the same country as him.

 

[toobroketoretire]

Chinese Made Piston Rings

With so many parts being made in China now days you can bet a set of "no name" piston rings were made in China. I think my new Perfect Circle rings only cost $35 so it just doesn't make any sense to bargain hunt. I'll log another 60 miles on it tomorrow which will bring the total to about 230 miles and then two weeks from now I'll be making two trips to Fresno at 90 miles per trip; bringing the total to 400 miles.

 

[Antz81]

$20 says no

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With so many parts being made in China now days you can bet a set of "no name" piston rings were made in China. I think my new Perfect Circle rings only cost $35 so it just doesn't make any sense to bargain hunt. I'll log another 60 miles on it tomorrow which will bring the total to about 230 miles and then two weeks from now I'll be making two trips to Fresno at 90 miles per trip; bringing the total to 400 miles.

Lookes like you win

 

[kpic]

You incredibly unlucky person; having to share the same country as him.

X2 on your comment. otfl

The good news for me, is I'm on the East coast and I doubt TBTR's rebuild would make it that far.

 

[LLC5]

With so many parts being made in China now days you can bet a set of "no name" piston rings were made in China. I think my new Perfect Circle rings only cost $35 so it just doesn't make any sense to bargain hunt. I'll log another 60 miles on it tomorrow which will bring the total to about 230 miles and then two weeks from now I'll be making two trips to Fresno at 90 miles per trip; bringing the total to 400 miles.

Totally oblivious.

Never seen anything like it.

 

[Hib Halverson]

There's a big chance...



Piston Ring Technology

I'd bet that is why Hib saved #6 for last.. otfl

"kpic" gets the election-eve "Beacon of Reality" award.

 

[Hib Halverson]

(snip)
The best thing about TBTR is he is on the west coast and I'm on the east coast.

Are you guys f'ing kidding me?! hnoes TBTR is on the west coast?

Hey, Honey!!
Yes dear?
Get packing. We're moving to Florida.

 

[navy2kcoupe]

Come on down, Hib! There's a LOT of Corvette related activities in Florida!

Andy

 

[toobroketoretire]

Walking A Fine Line

The piston ring manufacturers walk a fine line..............making oil control rings that have too much tension or not enough tension. Too much tension reduces power and not enough tension allows too much oil to get past the rings. When it comes to selecting piston rings it's always best to select rings made by the most experienced manufacturers; the manufacturers that supply OEM piston rings.

 

[toobroketoretire]

225 Miles

I now have 225 miles on it and my dip stick is showing about 1/4" drop which would equal about 1/3 of a quart. That is already better than it had been but I'll know more as I log more miles on it. Considering these are brand new rings I would think they'll only get better with additional miles.

 

[Tom Bryant]

That cylinder wall won't.

Tom

 

[kpic]

The piston ring manufacturers walk a fine line..............making oil control rings that have too much tension or not enough tension. Too much tension reduces power and not enough tension allows too much oil to get past the rings. When it comes to selecting piston rings it's always best to select rings made by the most experienced manufacturers; the manufacturers that supply OEM piston rings.

Friction, not tension.

 

[toobroketoretire]

Mahle (Perfect Circle) Piston Rings

I recently read Perfect Circle (now Mahle) supplies the piston rings for 80% of the engines produced in North America. I believe I was reading from a Mahle advertisement so the 80% may be a stretch but nevertheless it supplies a LOT of North America's piston rings. I have never bothered buying "file to fit" piston rings but I do measure all of them prior to installing them. I have always used the .004" per inch of bore formula to ensure they don't seize the piston in the bore. When installing new rings on used pistons you MUST use a broken ring (or something similar) to remove every bit of the carbon in the ring grooves or risk piston seizure in the bore. The tolerances of ring groove depth and ring thickness are very close so there's VERY little room for error. Piston ring groove cleaners are available but I have always used a broken top ring then ground to a sharp 60 degree angle.