piston rings?

[high winder]

How do you remove the tension on your oil ring ?

[Mike Pearson]

Total Seal can sell you oil rings in several different tensions. To fine tune the tension you bend the end of the expander to either tighten of loosen the tension

[Myron Piatek]

For reference for the OP, I found "standard" tension rings to be in the 18-24lb range.


I've also used the fish scale gauge to check the drag of the oil ring using the "dynamic" method. Like most gauges, weather stations, etc., the calibration will vary, plus other factors. So I use the same one for my comparisons. "Your results may vary."

[Ed Wright]

I may do it wrong, but I use a fish scale, hooked to a zip tie around the rod cap, oil the cylinder wall, turn the block so the cylinder tested is level, parallel with the floor. Put the piston in upside down (rod toward me), with only the oil ring on it. Pull it with the fish scale. I do it a couple of times to make sure it repeats. Steady pull. My backwoods Okie method. Gotten by with it for over 50 years. There are likey better ways to do it.

A rep for Speed Pro told me many years ago that their "low tension" oil rings simply had expanders for a.030" smaller bore. May not be that way now. That was probably 20 years ago. I can tell you .060" smaller expanders pumped oil & smoked in my old '56 Chevy Jr Stocker. LOL

[Larry Hill]

Thanks Mr. Ed.

[carl hinkson]

One thing that is over looked using a fish scale was the block plate honed or was the scale test done on cylinders that were not plate honed ??

If the block was not plate honed once the heads are installed not its a whole different ball game as you dealing distorted cylinders ( Not Round cylinders )

I plate hone all my blocks which is more important with OEM blocks as they are pretty frail.

Do a search on Torque plate honing.

I have seen circle track engines that were not plate honed and even after 2 or 3 years running still no ring seal and poor leak down numbers.

Ring can never break in when cylinders are not round.

Fish scale tests depends on cylinder finish.

[Kdw1403]

keith at total seal said he had 3 packages. 5lb,11lb, and 13 pound. for the 4mm oil ring that lt1s have to run i might have to go with the 11lb ones. any thoughts anyone?

[Myron Piatek]

With my limited experience, I believe that anything much lower than 11 lbs would probably work better with vac-u-pan system or vacuum pump, which aren't legal for Stock. As mentioned earlier, ring seal and life is influenced by the precision of machine work and maintaining round cylinders.

[Mike Miljanovic]

Trying to get back in Stock after a 15 year lay-off (shifter-kart/stock car racing with my son), so I am a little out of date. I used to use discarded standard bore oil spacers with .030 over rails, giving 8-9 lbs vertical pull(wet), with no smoke. On LS6's, using deck plates did not make a difference on the pull. Is that still acceptable today?
Also, has anyone tried installing empty heads & hand-honing from the bottom with the block upside down? I experimented with that once long ago & ended up smashing my hone (gave up!).
What is the current upper ring combo today, or is that a big secret? Last time, I used a Dykes upper ring with a back-cut 2nd backed up with a spacer.
Thanks for any help.

[older racer]

Originally Posted by Myron Piatek

With my limited experience, I believe that anything much lower than 11 lbs would probably work better with vac-u-pan system or vacuum pump, which aren't legal for Stock. As mentioned earlier, ring seal and life is influenced by the precision of machine work and maintaining round cylinders.

I find you have to use a napier second ring with lower tension oil rings. you can run 6 # oils with napier and engine will run dry. without vac pan setup. breathers only. been using this in small block mopars last number of years. wall finish can impact results also.