Which piston rings to get?

[92ShoOff]

Well I decided here in a few weeks I'm going to tear the bottom and top end of my motor back apart and change all the gaskets and do the rod bearings, main bearings, and the piston rings.

So question for today is: Where should I get these bearings and rings from? I know AutoZone has them, but where would all recommend getting these from? AutoZone has .000" .25mm, .50mm, and .75mm rod bearings, and same thing for the main bearings. They're piston rings are available in .000", .010", .020", .030", .040". How do I figure out what I need for the bearings and pistons? Can I do any of this with a feeler gauge or something? I'd hate to have to find a way to get the car to some shop with the motor all disassembled to figure out what I need. I had to redo the rings in my El Camino because I over-revved it one day.... but it had a new block with 2k miles on it so we went with the standard size rings from Keith Black (which was what was already on there) after re-honing the cylinder walls.

And about how much $$ am I looking at to do all the bearings and the rings? I hope not more than $300 or so! Thanks everyone!

-Andrew

 

[rangerj]

The way to determine what sized bearings and rings to buy is to "mike" (measure with a micrometer) the crankshaft rod and main bearing journals, and then the cylinders.

If any of the crank journals are out of round or damaged they will need to be ground to perfection. Then the size of the bearings will need to be matched to the amount of material ground away, For example if the journals need to be cut .002, then .002 oversized bearings will be needed.

Then if the cylinders need to be bored, again the amount of "oversize" has to be matched, say .010. Both the pistons and rings will have to be oversized.

If no machine work has to be done, then stock sized bearings and rings should be used. BUT, check the clearance on the bearings with plasti-gage because the journals may be acceptable but worn.

Check the end gap on the rings and install the rings in the cylinder where the end gap is about in the middle of the acceptable "end-gap" clearance.

The cylinders will have to be cleaned of any ridge at the top of the cylinder and deglazed and honed for a "crosshatch". The crosshatching is necessary to "seat" the new rings.

As for brand name rings I would go with Perfect Circle, and the bearings Clevite.

Check your wrist pins also.

As long as yoou have the block out of the car, I would have it magna-fluxed for cracks, then cleaned (boiled), and have the deck checked for "level" within tolerance.

I would have the engine balanced, but then I tend to be **** about an engine the turns in the 7000 RPM range.

As for cost, the rings and bearings are not very expensive. The machine work can get very expensive.

Lastly, clean, clean, clean, and then clean some more.

rangerj