Gapping Oil Rings?

[Rabbi]

ok i was under the impression that all the rings had to be gapped except the middle oil ring.

Now do i gap the lower and upper oil rings or not?

I Have JE Pistons & JE Pro Seal piston rings, it says the gap's for the upper and lower rings, But for the two oil rings per piston it only says the minimum gap to be .015"


do i gap these or not?

Thanks guys

 

[tqmx1]

Well the service limit is .039" so if you are any where in between let it run

 

[Rabbi]

do i need to pregap them at all or just throw them on the pistons?

they are brand new rings and pistons

 

[silver bullit]

Are they stock compression or what?

 

[turbodsm_125]

better to be safe than sorry. gap all of the rings. thats what i did on my engine rebuild. be sure to alternate the slots on the rings or it will leak oil like crazy!

 

[Rabbi]

what do i gap them to if the minimum is .015" ?

these are .020 over bore piston / rings also

my bore size is 3.366

 

[tqmx1]

Well lets see you stated in post #1 the new gap should be .015" and I stated in post#2 that the srevice is .039". So get out your feeler guages and check the rings. If it falls between the two specs install them on the pistons and run it.

 

[kidrabbit84]

http://www.jepistons.com/dept/tech/dl/piston_instrc4032.pdf

This document says .015 min. I would ensure they have around .015+ and then run them. When I did my .020 over Wiseco's, they had the same spec of .015, and I think out of the box they came in around .018. The oil ring gaps are not as critical as the top and 2nd ring that uses the bore in a formula to find the gap.

 

[babell2]

To properly gap a ring be it compression or oil controll.
1. Put ring in cyl bore
2. Square ring in bore with piston.
3. Using feeler gauge measure the "GAP" between the ends of the ring.
4. If to narrow, file one ring end and re-insert to measure again.

The reason you don't GAP a middle oil controll ring is the wavey construction allows the ring to custom fit whatever size the rings were made to fit, std, .020, .030, .040, etc...