Anybody know how to seat piston rings?

[1991TSiGFORCE]

I'm taking out my piston rings so i can replace them, but the only problem is that i do not know which way to seat the piston rings when reassembling. NEED HELP ASAP!

 

[casperfast]

You mean gap stagger the rings, not seat them, just put the gaps away from eachother 12 o clock, 5 o clock, 8 o clock. make sure you hone the cylinder before puting the new rings in or it will all be pointless

 

[Essential_DSM]

Always make sure that you grease them before putting them in. You don't want to install them dry.....

 

[casperfast]

use motor oil not grease

 

[1991TSiGFORCE]

alright thanks. i'll see how it goes. oh yeah, another thing. it doesnt matter if i face it towards the engine or back of the engine?

 

[casperfast]

no, as long as they are not in a row at all

 

[spooled_u_1st]

Don't forget. Don't use synthetic oil to seat your rings.

 

[1991TSiGFORCE]

Alright, thanks for the help.

 

[bling5tatus]

Don't forget. Don't use synthetic oil to seat your rings.

Out of curiosity... why not?

 

[oldman420]

It's too thin, conventional oil leaves a hardier (less likely to break down) oil film helping to reduce friction. Just listen to the man, conventional oil for the first 1000 miles and change it twice during this time. Also baby the hell out of that thing, lots of vacuum, not alot of boost, you don't want to blow those rings out.

 

[92awddsm]

Also baby the hell out of that thing, lots of vacuum, not alot of boost,

Not that I dont agree with you to an extent but this has been so highly debated since motoman that even making a statement about it starts a war.

 

[oldman420]

Then i'll retract that statement even though a gentleman with 40 years of high preformance taught me that, but i'll stand behind babying the hell out of the thing.

 

[absolute_DSM]

Then i'll retract that statement even though a gentleman with 40 years of high preformance taught me that, but i'll stand behind babying the hell out of the thing.

Even though, not to start a war, the motoman theory has been proven over and over and over in so many performance applications. Nowadays, there isnt much thought to engine break-in anyways. You really cant screw it up.

 

[architechnik]

Don't forget the war about the oil, as well.
It's so hard to restrain sometimes.

 

[92awddsm]

Just as I expected from everyone, straight to the shitter. Never fails with any of you.

 

[b00sted]

Out of curiosity... why not?

It works too good. It won't allow proper seating and wear of the rings as the fresh motor breaks in. Conventional oil allows for the hone of the cylinder to 'file' the rings and get a perfect fit. It has nothing to do with the oils viscosity as previously stated.

Then i'll retract that statement even though a gentleman with 40 years of high preformance taught me that, but i'll stand behind babying the hell out of the thing.

Don't baby it at all. You break the motor in under the same conditions you'll be using the motor. If it's a street/strip car, you break it in that way.

It's common with a high-power street/race motor to be run for 10-20 minutes to clean out the assembly lube and what not, change the oil, and go straight to the dyno. This has never been an issue for anyone of the motors we've built/installed/etc.

The gentleman with 40 years of experience has an old-school mindset. I'm sure he also believes cherry-bomb mufflers, quadrajets, flat-tappet cams are the way of the future....Where 300hp at the crank is ALOT.

 

[Rob10_99]

The rings need to be setup correctly, not just clocked in any direction,
What would piston slap do with all the end gaps lined up, anyone want to try that?!