Fitting Rings
- Clean ring grooves with ring groove cleaner or piece of broken ring. Ensure oil holes (or slots) in piston are clean. Measure piston ring side and end gap clearance for all pistons.
- Ring side clearance should be checked with feeler gauge between ring and piston lower ring land. Gauge should slide freely around entire circumference without binding. If step has formed around inner portion of lower ring land, piston must be replaced.
- Using piston to position ring in cylinder bore, check ring end gap at least .63" (16 mm) from bottom of bore. Install rings on pistons with end gaps staggered at proper intervals. Ensure ring gap is not in line with thrust face of pin bore. See Fig 1.
- Be sure manufacturer's marks face up when rings are installed. Install oil ring expander first, followed by lower side rail and upper side rail. DO NOT use ring expander on side rails; use only on middle and top rings.
- If new piston rings are to be installed and no cross-hatch marks remain on cylinder walls, remove cylinder glaze using spring-type honing tool. After honing, clean bore and block with soap/water solution and oil cylinder walls.