Piston Ring Gap [Merged 5-7] gapping rings pistons end filing

[diambo4life]

You are wrong, u want a tighter gap on the oil ring( second ring). I have built a few 4g63 in the past year and i use .022 on the top and .018 on the second ring. This is a little on the loose side and they will chatter( use .020 and .016 to reduce chatter) a little more than normal. As far as using .009-.017 thats a little tight and might have a problem with them binding up after they expand a little. There is a formula i us and it matters if it's forced induction or naturally aspirated. I'm at work so I'll post it up later. Just to let u know i used weisco pistons and i believe they have the same type of rings as the stock ones.

Top gap should be tighter than that of the 2nd compression ring.

I use the same logic as NDgsx. My Wiseco rings came gapped at 0.016" for the top. I didn't feel too comfortable with that and increased them to 20 since I plan to run upto 30psi on my car. The 2nd ring gaps were at ~19 and I increased those to 23-24 and the car runs great. For the oil rings (if using Wiseco,) you do not need to modify the gap at all.

 

[gsxitement]

Top gap should be tighter than that of the 2nd compression ring.

I use the same logic as NDgsx. My Wiseco rings came gapped at 0.016" for the top. I didn't feel too comfortable with that and increased them to 20 since I plan to run upto 30psi on my car. The 2nd ring gaps were at ~19 and I increased those to 23-24 and the car runs great. For the oil rings (if using Wiseco,) you do need to modify the gap at all.

^^^
thank you. finally, logic

 

[sb7775]

well guess what i was wrong , its been a long night at work and i just got home. I was going over some note of my last motor build and the second ring is looser, Here is what i use to figure out ring gap
Bore X .004 = top ring gap add .002 for blown applications
Bore X .005 = second ring add .002 for blown applications

Hope this help sorry for the bad info just a little tired. Hey gsx thanks for the private message

 

[GETERDONE]

92 1g eclipse gst. Im putting my car together and got a question about the rings. Iv'e got them gapped and their on but here's my Q. I know im supposed to use the Xpattern in terms as piston gap placement. You know those holes where the oil ring sets over, am i to position the gaps away from those holes. I don't think i spaced the gaps wide enough to clear them. Maybe im just worring myself to much, this is my first rebuild and i always thought that as long as the ring gaps didn't run in line over eachother they would hold compresion. I counldn't find any relevant info on other post so any help would be appreciated. thanks

 

[huafist]

92 1g eclipse gst. Im putting my car together and got a question about the rings. Iv'e got them gapped and their on but here's my Q. I know im supposed to use the Xpattern in terms as piston gap placement. You know those holes where the oil ring sets over, am i to position the gaps away from those holes. I don't think i spaced the gaps wide enough to clear them. Maybe im just worring myself to much, this is my first rebuild and i always thought that as long as the ring gaps didn't run in line over eachother they would hold compresion. I counldn't find any relevant info on other post so any help would be appreciated. thanks

Exact positioning is covered in the manual.

 

[GETERDONE]

Im gona wack myself in the head as soon as i get home and get it out of the trunk. . I forgot i had a manual.

 

[huafist]

Im gona wack myself in the head as soon as i get home and get it out of the trunk. . I forgot i had a manual.

Been there, done that Don't beat yourself up too badly.

 

[GETERDONE]

Got home and looked. All it says, and i quote "Make sure the ring gap are properly spaced around the circumference of the piston". Is it that simple and im just making it more than what it should be?

 

[Defiant]

Yup. Put them about 30~45° rotated away from the gudgeon pin axis, and put each "layer" 180° from the one below it. Put the top gap toward the intake side of the cylinder.

 

[99gst_racer]

I reassembled one of my 6-bolt blocks a couple days ago. This is a motor that is going to be dropped in my 90 Talon AWD. The car will be a daily driver and a winter beater. It will never be modded or boosted beyond stock levels. Therefore, I am using mostly OEM style/quality parts on the rebuild. Nothing fancy and nothing high performance.

I file fitted the rings and dropped the pistons in and then realized I screwed up. My head must have been in my ass, but I filed the 2nd rings to a larger gap than the top rings. Yes I know, I know. The tops should be gapped more than the seconds....

So, here's my question. Being that this is a non-performance build, will I be OK or not?

My tops are gapped at .020 and the seconds are at .024 (originally meant to gap them at .018)

I really don't want to take the block back apart if I don't have to, but I would rather do it now than later. Please offer me some advice and let me know what you think I should do.

Thanks -Paul-

 

[bullettdsm]

Rings are cheap and easy to get. What's YOUR price of piece of mind?
MB

 

[bigjdog84]

Please ignore the previous poster. He obviously knows nothing about building a motor.

You want your second ring to have a larger gap than your first, or top ring.

You will be fine running that kind of gap, granted its a bit big for a motor thats not going to be creating much power.

.020 1st and .024 2nd are just fine. I have my wiseco piston rings gapped similar to that and they are doing great.

Have fun w/the rest of the build.
Later/joe

 

[99gst_racer]

Yes, you're right. Nevermind this thread.....

Earlyier, I was reading through an old thread and they were going back and forth - some saying the top ring should be tighter and some saying the 2nd should be tighter. I was thinking I did it the wrong way. But after reading your post, I went back and reviewed that other thread and it appears I did do mine the correct way. That's a relief..... Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for the help Joe.

-Paul-

 

[bigjdog84]

No prob., its easy to see where the confusion came from. Theres alot of "mixed opinions" in the archives

 

[bullettdsm]

Please ignore the previous poster. He obviously knows nothing about building a motor.

You want your second ring to have a larger gap than your first, or top ring.

You will be fine running that kind of gap, granted its a bit big for a motor thats not going to be creating much power.

.020 1st and .024 2nd are just fine. I have my wiseco piston rings gapped similar to that and they are doing great.

Have fun w/the rest of the build.
Later/joe

Oops! Sorry to misinform ! Just my quick reading dislexia kicking in.
MB

 

[Enraged78]

Having a gap that large is going to increase blow-by slightly, but not enough to worry about. In all honesty, I have learned that when filing rings, it is better to be too large than too small. If the ring gap is too small, the ring will expand when heated (as all rings do...), and the two gap ends will touch. You can see this on a motor teardown when the ring ends are all shiny due to contact. When the ring ends touch, it means that the ring is expanding farther than the gap will allow, and it will push against the cylinder wall, where it will either "flutter" (cavitate due to the unequal pressure on both sides of it), or gouge the cylinder walls, taking the crosshatch pattern with it.

For only stock boost levels, this kind of gap is overkill, but loose is fast, and it's better to err on that side.

Matt.

 

[99gst_racer]

Having a gap that large is going to increase blow-by slightly, but not enough to worry about. In all honesty, I have learned that when filing rings, it is better to be too large than too small.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I gapped them a little larger than I should have. Mostly because of the cylinder walls though. I accidently honed the cylinders a little more than I should have. Oh well. Like you said, it's better too loose than too tight.

 

[gsxtacy]

Good stuff here.

I just follow the instructions on the package the rings come in.

gsxtacy

 

[kiggly]

Last motor I ran 0.019" top ring, 0.025" second ring. This is with Wiseco's and it didn't have any problems. The most boost it saw was about 41psi.

Kevin

 

[TSIfreek]

I run .019 top and bottom.

 

[BISHILVR]

I'm running .019 on top and .021 on the bottom with a .020 overbore a 2.0 with ross pistons. ross sent me a little formula to use with the moly rings i have, though i forgot what it was. i really hope you're running .020 over pistons in this motor, as that kind of clearance to the cylinder wall would be horrific.

Clearances stay the same no matter if its .020 or stock bore.

 

[Suparata]

I run .019 top and bottom.

No you don’t! The second ring has a bigger gap than the first.

 

[TSIfreek]

I thought you set both mine at .019 like I asked???? BTW the motor is running great Mitch.

 

[china]

quick question--> me and a friend just put my shortblock together and i gaped the top to 31 thousands, and the bottom to about 27 thousands.. i was told by the machine shop that its probally not going to hurt it. . "is this true?

block is 30 over. 6 bolt
weisco coated pistions
eagle rods
knife edge crank
no \ballance shaft.
everything balanced

 

[sb7775]

Those number seem to be off by a lot. I would buy a new set of rings and set the up around .020 on the top and .024 on the second. The way you have them set up the will make a lot of noise, and probally allow compression down to the second ring. Just my two cents . Good Luck. Thanks Steve