Well this sucks

[Sam's GSX]

You know if you search "which is top ring wiseco dsmtuners" it comes up with the wrong answer.
I was starting on my end gaps and wanted to make sure I didn't mix them up, after looking it up, it said black was the top ring, I thought that was odd, but continued to gap the rings to .021 on the black and .023 on the silver, when I went to install the rings, the black one doesn't fit the top slot, so I dug a bit deeper, and in that thread, someone corrected the wrong answer, but for some reason, Google puts up the wrong answer if you search that. So my question is, should I order a new set of rings, or is .023 not big enough to worry about? Compared to .021 like the other top rings will be.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Ludachris]

Don't have the answer, but I deleted that post so that Google stops displaying it.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Ok thank you so much, that was my next question, hoping it could get taken down.

 

[95REGF150]

You know if you search "which is top ring wiseco dsmtuners" it comes up with the wrong answer.
I was starting on my end gaps and wanted to make sure I didn't mix them up, after looking it up, it said black was the top ring, I thought that was odd, but continued to gap the rings to .021 on the black and .023 on the silver, when I went to install the rings, the black one doesn't fit the top slot, so I dug a bit deeper, and in that thread, someone corrected the wrong answer, but for some reason, Google puts up the wrong answer if you search that. So my question is, should I order a new set of rings, or is .023 not big enough to worry about? Compared to .021 like the other top rings will be.

Hate to say it but this one's on you and probably a good learning experience. Can't believe everything you read online and 1st rule is don't trust forums for something like that let alone just take the top answer google spits at you. It's a computer algorithm matching words it can be wrong and so can all of us at the other end of the keyboards on forums. Different piston ring sets can be different even from Wiseco themselves so always go to the manufacturer website and look it up thoroughly from multiple sources in addition to the forums before you just run with something. There is a card that comes with all of their ring sets that tells you which one is the top and also the recommended gap for different applications.

You would have been in big trouble without the hard ring on top so lucky for you it didn't fit. That being said 0.002" over is not a big deal on the rings. Most of the higher power setups are going to run even bigger gaps than that. You will be just fine at 0.023" gaps on the top rings.

In my opinion on something like this you make all sets of the rings the same to keep each cylinder as close to the same as possible. So I would run the 0.023" on all the top rings now. But that is up to you whether to let one be the odd man out. You would never notice the difference either way.

This issue does make me want to make sure, you know which side is the correct side up right for each ring right? That will be far more crucial than 0.002" on the gap.

 

[Sam's GSX]

No its definitely on me, and yes I know which way is up, this will be the second time I've built this engine.
hmmm, in general the second ring is supposed to be gapped bigger than the top, so should I still do 23 on the second ring? Or go like 25 to have a difference?

And I could still just get another set, it would be around 30, but might be worth it

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Your fine Sam.
My rings are always .024" top and .028" 2nd for any performance application. No blow by. Room for expansion. Do keep the 2nd ring a bit bigger but....
Your fine!
Marty

 

[Sam's GSX]

Ok cool, sounds good thank you

 

[jed344]

The paperwork in each ring set tells you where each ring goes and the dot indicates side to face up. For the ring gap it depends on goals but normally .002-.0023 for top and .0022-.0027 is my norm depending on build and goals. I always set the 2nd ring little looser.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Ok yeah, I'll do .023 and .025 than

 

[biglady112]

I run a larger gap on the top ring then the second ring. .024” top, .020” second. I have been doing it this way for nearly 20 years on a 4g63. And I have produced numerous 800-1000hp 4g63’s.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Dang, I've never heard that before but I trust you. 20 years, that's awesome

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I won't doubt it will work but I wouldn't gap my top ring bigger than the 2nd ring. You can end up with ring flutter from gases that can't get past the 2nd ring so it has to go somewhere and that would be back up to the top ring. In my 45 years of engine building, not a single motor has ever had a smaller 2nd ring gap than the top. Not even the little 212cc Predator engines that we fool around with, but everyone has their own way.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Gotcha, ive already done 2, top is 23 and bottom is 26, went a tad to much on the first set, so I matched the second set at 26 as well

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

It will be fine even if it is not "exactly" the same, as long as it is close. I got a little too aggressive on a 2nd ring set that are ductile iron and those things gapped WAY easier since they were softer than the Chrome Moly top rings, but it was fine.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Yeah, it cuts so much faster on them than the top haha

 

[Vegas Smith]

(gets popcorn ready)

 

[AWD-Tony]

Moral of the story, google is wrong sometimes and always always read the instructions. The rings also have top and bottom just an FYI.

 

[Ludachris]

Moral of the story, google is wrong sometimes and always always read the instructions. The rings also have top and bottom just an FYI.

What's dumb is in this case, Google chose to pull ONE post out of the thread and display the contents of the post as a snippet at the top of the search results... which is really frustrating, since you typically should read multiple posts to get context. Them doing that makes it so the user doesn't even have to click in to the thread And even more frustrating when the one it chose to showcase contained questionable info.

 

[Sam's GSX]

Yeah, it does suck, caught me off guard but I'm fine with the gaps I'm going with