How To Properly Gap Piston Rings

[EricTheCarGuy]

Piston ring gap is a critical part of performance engine building. Kevin has some fancy tools to do this efficiently, but the same thing can be done with a file in a vice. Just be sure to do it like Kevin says in the video and only file in one direction.

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[Mike]

I really enjoy these engine-building videos. There’s a world of info in them.

[Steve Johnson]

Now I feel guilty for using the bench grinder instead last night, but I it was all I had.. I wonder what type of ring compressor they use that will pop them right in on the first try,There are so many that are just junk.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Skillz” post=179518]Now I feel guilty for using the bench grinder instead last night, but I it was all I had.. I wonder what type of ring compressor they use that will pop them right in on the first try,There are so many that are just junk.[/quote]

That’s in the next video.

[James P Grosso]

The bore size specific, tapered piston ring compressors are great.
I like the grinder with the indicator. I have the inexpensive manual hand crank version and count how many cranks of the handle it takes to get the ring gap close, then check, grind, and repeat till I get the correct gap.
Also, on the GM sized parts like rods, bearings, piston pins and even over bore sizes when building non-GM engines (usually some sort of stroker engine) is mainly based on the lower cost and wider selection avaliable for those parts. While 0.030″ over pistons are common, some common over bore piston sizes are odd sized so a more common (and less expensive) piston ring pack can be used.

[Author]

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