Engine 'Break-In' Oil??

[Dave M]

Jon,

Sorry if I gave you the impression I did the work myself. The block was in Toronto (I'm not) so it was much easier to have the shop instal the rings/bearings. I had a good description/history of the block and pics of the bores. Hone marks were noticeably more defined, not sure what Bill meant by "smooth", but these definately aren't. Didn't cut my finger on them though

Dave M

[Scott H]

Did they know you were going to use new rings? Is it too late to call the shop to verify? Did the cylinders look like this when it was done?

Jon,

Sorry if I gave you the impression I did the work myself. The block was in Toronto (I'm not) so it was much easier to have the shop instal the rings/bearings. I had a good description/history of the block and pics of the bores. Hone marks were noticeably more defined, not sure what Bill meant by "smooth", but these definately aren't. Didn't cut my finger on them though

Dave M

[Bill R.]

coarse sanded looking then its been honed. Probably with a ball hone as Scott and Jeff stated to remove the glazing. If they are very shiny looking like a mirror with only a slight visible crosshatch to them then they haven't been honed and the rings will take a long time to seat

Jon,

Sorry if I gave you the impression I did the work myself. The block was in Toronto (I'm not) so it was much easier to have the shop instal the rings/bearings. I had a good description/history of the block and pics of the bores. Hone marks were noticeably more defined, not sure what Bill meant by "smooth", but these definately aren't. Didn't cut my finger on them though

Dave M

[Bill R.]

cylinders. First off you put all the rings on the pistons and stagger the gaps on the rings so that none of them line up with the ring above them, then you oil the piston skirts and rings down good and squeeze the rings down tight with a ring compressor,( at this point you already have the rods and piston pins assy's on the pistons) There are a number of different types of ring compressors to to use... the cheapo most common looks like this

And you just tighten the key and the bands get smaller and compress the rings, you leave the piston skirt sticking out the the bottom and the compressor is only on the rings. Then when you've tightened the band down tight you insert the piston/rod assy down from the top of the block until the skirt of the piston is in the cylinder and the ring compressor is right up against the top of the block.Then you take a block of wood or a hammer handle and push the piston down so it slides out of the compressor and into the block. The cylinder should have been lightly oiled as well as the piston skirt and rings before inserting this...
Production shops that do a greater volume use a better ring compressor like this With this style you have to have the correct band to fit the size of pistons you're working with..

When i was working in drag racing when you only have 1.5 hours between rounds to change as many as 7 burned pistons then we used a ring compressor like this Its a ground sleeve with a taper inside from one end to the other so the piston and rings will slide into the top and the taper will compress the rings as you push it down into the block.. These are by far the fastest way to assemble but you can only buy them to fit one size at a time. Whereas the other slower methods above will fit more than one size of piston. Most home mechanics have either the band type with pliers above or the round band type with a key to tighten.

For the rings and bearings did you use stock sizes or plus sizes? How did you prep the block? What is the actual procedure for getting piston rings into the cylinder?