if the bores not concentric, and bore walls parallel and the bore surface consistent in its surface Finish or if you had the bore honed without the use of torque plates simulating a cylinder heads bolted in place, the rings WILL NOT SEAL as effectively , as they would if you had prepped the bores correctly or won,t seal effectively at all.
BEFORE you select any piston rings for any application, you obviously must know your bore diameter, and piston ring groove sizes, so check with the manufacturer to verify they will work in YOUR application,some of the 1/16" top compression rings are designed for limited mileage and race use , where they are replaced fairly regularly, thats certainly not true of all 1/16" rings but its potentially an issue on a street driven car.
be aware that rings have a top and bottom side , and must be installed with the proper side facing the top of the piston, and rings require a certain back and end gap clearance.
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=247
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3897
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=5454
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=11026&p=48766#p48766
READ THE LINKS BELOW
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=588&p=4946&hilit=honing+plate#p4946
http://www.totalseal.com/pdf/ts_rings_article.pdf
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/news.php?ac ... ad&N_id=27
http://www.connectingrods.net/connectin ... tretch.php
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1797&p=7233&hilit=cleaning+piston+groove#p7233
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=3759
http://www.dartheadstv.com/video_detail.php?mId=13335
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... _know.aspx
http://www.aa1car.com/library/honing98.htm
http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles ... ation.html
viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1797&p=4586#p4586
http://www.rosspistons.com/information/index.php
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... ishes.aspx
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... inish.aspx
http://www.aa1car.com/library/ar293.htm
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... ishes.aspx
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... rings.aspx
http://www.hastingsmfg.com/ServiceTips/ ... mendat.htm
http://www.stockcarracing.com/techartic ... index.html
http://www.circletrack.com/howto/4639_m ... index.html
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/pi ... index.html
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... oning.aspx
http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Article ... shing.aspx
http://www.stockcarracing.com/techartic ... index.html


piston rings move both in and out of the piston grooves and rotate as the piston moves thru its 360 degree rotation, keep in mind its the ring groove SPACING, and gap indexing and relationship to the rings, that is designed to minimize the loss of cylinder pressure thru the ring gaps, thats key, here, not where the gaps are exactly located , because the fact is that piston rings do tend to rotate in the piston groves in most engines, and its rare to find the ring gaps in the same location once the engines been run for several hours. Id also point out that failure to have the bore honed with the correct deck plates tends to reduce the ring seal. in fact having the rings rotate in the piston grooves tends to reduce bore wear, and keep the grooves clearance free from carbon build up






if you have oil ring expanders with the plastic bits,they are there to prevent you from over lapping the ends of the oil ring expander, theres some oil ring expander s that are vertical ,some horizontal, but all have the ends butt , none over-lap
BTW GAPLESS PISTON RINGS HAVE TWO PIECES THAT EACH MUST BE GAPPED< THE IDEA IS THAT THE TWO GAPS IN THE SET ARE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE PISTON GROOVE
IVE used the TOTAL SEAL GAPLESS RINGS in a few engines Ive yet to see any huge improvement over standard rings in either durability or power produced



gapless ring



install gapless rings with the wrong side facing up and youll have an oil burning disaster (yeah! Ive got friends that never read instructions too!)

BTW GAPLESS PISTON RINGS HAVE TWO PIECES THAT EACH MUST BE GAPPED< THE IDEA IS THAT THE TWO GAPS IN THE SET ARE ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE PISTON GROOVE

your going to need decent feeler gauges


now years ago, we were instructed to leave the second ring gap at a tighter .004 per inch of bore with the upper top ring having the larger end gap due to the higher heat levels, it operates under ,well extensive testing in recent years shows that
(1)the second ring gap needs to be larger because if significant cylinder pressure builds between the top and lower ring the upper ring seal is quickly lost
(2)theres very little cylinder pressure lost thru the ring gaps in the thousandths of a second the rings are compressing the fuel/air mix, or during the power stroke, because most of the blow by, is the result of less than effective ring to cylinder wall seal
(3) ring seal is destroyed if the ring gap allows the rings to contact, or the rings butting destroys the piston lands
(4) ring gaps up to about .045 have very little effect on blow by or oil use
http://www.kb-silvolite.com/article.php ... ad&A_id=64
Application
Bore x
High-Performance Street / Strip
.0045â€Top Ring
.0055â€2nd Ring
Street-Moderate Turbo / Nitrous
.0050â€Top Ring
.0055â€2nd Ring
Late Model Stock
.0050â€Top Ring
.0055â€2nd Ring
Circle Track/Drag Race
.0055â€Top Ring
.0060â€2nd Ring
Blown Race Only
.0065â€Top Ring
.0070â€2nd Ring
Nitrous Race Only
.0070â€Top Ring
.0075â€2nd Ring

types of piston dome configurations

btw heres typical detonation damage, and in this case, resulting from a bit of nitrous, that boosted the pressure, but the results would be similar on a high compression engine subjected to crappy fuel and high loads at high rpms without nitrous, notice the sugary/frosted appearance and rounded edges of the melted areas


damage to the ring lands can be caused by detonation or just the ring gaps set too tightly, if the piston shows no frosted appearance its usually the ring gaps too small, or excessive heat, to lean a mix, to much ignition advance,etc.
