01-29-2019, 05:11 AM
A quick update........................
I purchased a new set of rings from the same vendor (how's that definition of "insanity" go again?). Fortunately I ended up with a different set of rings than the set that came with the rebuild kit. With this set the top/1st rings in this set had an end gap of .018 (vs .024) and the middle/2nd set were .016 (same) but had a different shape/bevel on the inside, bottom side of the ring. I put the block back together and moved on to the head.
I tore the head down, lapped all of the valves, replaced all of the valve stem seals with a new set of Fel-Pros and put the head back together.
I installed the head on the block and put the engine back into the car. Once I got it fired up again I ran it for about 100 miles using the "moderate revs up and down" (aka hard) method to seat the rings. 100 miles was probably more than I needed but considering there were about 200 miles taken off of the fresh bore by the previous set of rings I decided a little more couldn't hurt.
I rechecked my valve lash (.006 and .007 cold), brought the engine up to operating temperature and did a compression test. All cyclinders were still at at 150PSI.
At this point I'm content with the compression and power I have and have my fingers crossed that both will get better as it continues to break in. I'll post and update if anything changes one way or the other. Most importantly it isn't burning any oil. I'll never know whether it was the rings or the valve stem seals that fixed that issue but at this point I'm very happy with these results, consider the problems solved and have moved on to my next project where I'll be attempting my first ever 5spd gearbox and transfer case teardown/refresh in wife's Tracker. Wish me luck
Thanks for all of the feedback, input and suggestions.
JC
I purchased a new set of rings from the same vendor (how's that definition of "insanity" go again?). Fortunately I ended up with a different set of rings than the set that came with the rebuild kit. With this set the top/1st rings in this set had an end gap of .018 (vs .024) and the middle/2nd set were .016 (same) but had a different shape/bevel on the inside, bottom side of the ring. I put the block back together and moved on to the head.
I tore the head down, lapped all of the valves, replaced all of the valve stem seals with a new set of Fel-Pros and put the head back together.
I installed the head on the block and put the engine back into the car. Once I got it fired up again I ran it for about 100 miles using the "moderate revs up and down" (aka hard) method to seat the rings. 100 miles was probably more than I needed but considering there were about 200 miles taken off of the fresh bore by the previous set of rings I decided a little more couldn't hurt.
I rechecked my valve lash (.006 and .007 cold), brought the engine up to operating temperature and did a compression test. All cyclinders were still at at 150PSI.
At this point I'm content with the compression and power I have and have my fingers crossed that both will get better as it continues to break in. I'll post and update if anything changes one way or the other. Most importantly it isn't burning any oil. I'll never know whether it was the rings or the valve stem seals that fixed that issue but at this point I'm very happy with these results, consider the problems solved and have moved on to my next project where I'll be attempting my first ever 5spd gearbox and transfer case teardown/refresh in wife's Tracker. Wish me luck
Thanks for all of the feedback, input and suggestions.
JC