Does ring gap matter...???
- Thread starter noahzark
- Start date
blown okie
Chuck Norris Approved
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2005
as long as the rings never butt is not that big an issue, follow the mfgs. or machine shops recommendations, and if you go over a few thou. on the gap IT WILL NOT MATTER, some people are so anal about it, i find their anal-ness(is that a word?) funny.
stock specs. if I recall are .010-.020 thousandths. I filed my top ring gap to .020 and second ring gap to .016. As long as you don't have them too tight you shouldn't have a problem. Is this a stock rebuild?? I built my motor 4 years ago with those ring gaps and a little bigger cam and haven't had any blowby issues at all. And Im pushing 25psi boost thru my engine. I asked my machine shop about the ring gap I mentioned above and he said thats pretty much perfect.
turbotwister
FAST COMPANY PERFORMANCE
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2002
It will not matter huh?
remind me not to ask you to build an engine.LOL!Do us all a favor and dont give advice in the engine tech forum please.Thanks! have a nice day!:biggrin:
Blown&Injected
Active Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2001
I have noticed some posts that have some formula for determining gap based on cylinder diameter and maybe some other items. I believe Bill Anderson was in on the discussion and his ideas are commonly accepted as very well informed for some reason - take 7 seconds and think about it
Twister: What have you found when going over by a few thousandths on end gap? This is the type of thing I believe is good info because it is rare to make such limited changes and learn actual cause/effect relationships.
Twister: What have you found when going over by a few thousandths on end gap? This is the type of thing I believe is good info because it is rare to make such limited changes and learn actual cause/effect relationships.
blown okie
Chuck Norris Approved
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2005
It will not matter huh?
Do us all a favor and dont give advice in the engine tech forum please.Thanks! have a nice day!:biggrin:
i seriously hope you meant that in humor, and i also see your an auto tech., you guys humor me, and stick to changing water pumps, i think its more on your level,
i will restate more clearly what i meant, and hopefully it won't get twisted around as an insult.
yes, ring gap matters, you should make sure the rings don't butt together, the main reason you gap a ring is so they don't butt together when the engine gets to operating temp. and they expand. the ring mfgs. recommendations are a good rule to follow and you can check w/ a machine shop too for recommended specs. also.
and what i meant by if you go over a thousandth or 2 it wont matter was-- lets say you want to gap the rings @ .020 and one of them that you ground, goes over by 1 and by that i mean .001 (a thousandth of an inch), or even 2 and by that i mean .002 ( two thousandths), that doesn't mean you've messed the ring up because you went over and you need to throw it away and get another and grind it to exactly .020, by all means the ring gaps should be the same, and also as your rings wear the gap opens up some, so missing the number by a thou. or 2 isn't going to spell disaster, where ring gap is concerned, now if you go over several thou. (i don't know lets say .010) then yes you've messed up, but you could probably still use it but its bound to cause problems later. and the only reason i would even mention that in the first place is because Noah sounds like he may not have a lot of experience grinding rings or building engines( i dont know this i just kinda gathered it from the context of his question) and i thought i would maybe make him feel better if he accidentally goes over a thou. or 2 when he grinds the rings which will likely happen and he may worry hes messed something up,
and twister, i love sarcasm, i support the use of it but there is a fine line between humorous sarcasm, and just being a dick, and maybe you didnt mean what you said, the way i took it, but i can guarantee i know what i'm talking about and don't like having to defend something i said that was taken out of context, just stick to paying your tolls, instead of being a smartass on the forum, this forum is here to help and nothing you typed on this post helped, and im not trying to get a war started here im sure you're a great guy but you did strike first & this was just my rebuttal. and to all have a nice day.
There's also the thought that 2nd ring gaps should be bigger than top ring gaps. Engines didn't used to be built that way, since the 2nd ring doesn't get as hot as the top ring and so the gap can be smaller without the ends butting when it gets up to temperature. The newer thinking seems to be that any pressure that gets by the top ring is lost, and trying to capture it with the 2nd ring does absolutely no good at all. Top rings work on pressure difference, you want to maximize the pressure difference between the top side of the top ring and the bottom side. So any pressure that gets past the top ring you want to let out, and the bigger 2nd ring gap helps make that happen. A little searching ought to bring up some good posts on the subject.
John
John
