There you go, instead of sticking to the topic at hand, let's just fling personal insults. Seems to me you are the one that can't admit you don't know something. I came here asking a question remember (hence me admitting I don't know something). You came here and to every other thread simply to rain on people's parade. The difference here is that in this case you have no clue and you got called on it and now are simply trying to save face by hurling insults. Like I said before, stick to the top-end. It is where your narrow knowledge base lies.

 

Actually, you asked a question, and I answered it.


Then You tried to insult me because I mentioned something you haven't ever heard of.

Why should I actually take the time to help you at this point? LOL

FWIW, Ai is side stuff, & there's more engines than heads being done at this point. But.. why tell people more than they need to know ; ). Actually, today I was picking bearings for a setup to end up with the clearances we wanted... too bad I ran out of plastigage and had to use a dial bore gauge. I won't be able to sleep tonight LOL

Ahh the ennarnet, I love it : )

Like I said, good luck, you'll need it. Time to acquire the sleeps : )

 

Sometimes these things just happen. Even the best builders in NASCAR have engines blow up. I think John Force has blown up a few. Real guys just get on with it and fix it. Anyone who hasn't yanked a relatively new engine for some unforseen problem hasn't built many engines.

As for your original question. Put the pistons and rings back into the same cylinders. Don't hone, don't replace the rings. Clock the rings normally, but don't worry about whether they are in the same location as before. Piston rings precess around the piston in operation - they are designed to do that to even the wear patterns on the face, and in the groove. If you look at the ring grooves on an old engine when it is dismantled you can see that the groove is worn out evenly, and does not have an unworn point at the gap, which would be present if it did not rotate. The rings will quickly re-seat, if they need to do that at all. Chances are the engine will run perfectly and burn no oil from the start.

Plastigage is a perfectly acceptable checking method, although the use of inside and outside micrometers is the preferred method. The problem is that plastigage actually requires a great deal of care and skill to use, especially in rod bearings as one can load the cap removing it which may squash the gage and upset the accuracy.

 

I'd let Phil and the guys at the shop build my lawnmower engine any day of the week, since he does motors for a living. And not crappy street engines that clearences aren't checked on, but on real race car motors...the kind you see on Speedvision earlier today! This makes me believe that Phil does have some clue of what he's doing and talking about.

 

first off, i admire your cheapness, as im doing the same thing with my motor (re-using the rings)
i hope we both wind up with useable engines.

rings DO rotate in the bores. i believe thats partly the reasoning behind the honing methods used. *crosshatch*

plastigage is ok for a budget backyard do it yourselfer, imo as long as you understand how it works and are very careful with it.
anything performance oriented i would use bore gauges and mic's.
anyways, good luck with your engine.
jeremy

 

i might need that flak jacket for my engine.... we're talking waaay ghetto fred sanford stuff here.
6 of my trw pistons were galled in there bores. so, im putting a light hone on the bores to clean up the damage, and using a file to remove the rolled up aluminum ***** on the tops of the pistons above the top rings. its pretty friggin ghetto but i just want it to get my by for awhile till i have enough money to build a billet 383 so i can really go fast like trey.
jeremy

 

Thanks Vader, some good info there. I know inside/outside mics are preffered, but in this case just not feasable. I will just have to take my chances at plastiguage.

 

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!

BTW, rings rotate.. my condolences to the internet retards...

Mike

 

hmm, well mycar, don't take this too personally, but for someone that professes to have lots of knowledge and experience in engine building, you sure have made a mess of this one...not knowing rings rotate in the bore (exactly the reason for the crosshatch pattern, otherwise it wouldn't matter), only checking clearances on one main cap, when its very easy for a bearing to be off, or the crankshaft to be cut incorrectly...instead of blasting people on here that try to help you may want to sit back and have a listen to what they are saying...

 

I wouldn't take any chances.... for $150 you can have it re-honed and new rings. If the rings don't seat you'll be killing yourself asking why you didn't go ahead and do it while you had it apart.

 

It has already been honed, and already has new rings. Why do it again? I don't think the present ones are worn out after 1100 miles......

 

Yeah, I have done some more research on the ring thing and admit I was wrong. I did not think that they did because of the importance that was stressed about indexing them correctly when installing them. I now know that the reason for this is that it is not good to pressurize the oil control ring on a new motor, which could happen if the ring end gaps were to line up. I still plan on building this motor myself, as I have built others that run fine, and do know what I am doing. You live, you learn. Every person that builds engines long enough eventually has one blow up for unforseen reasons. I am going to scrutinize a little more on this one.