I see several people who have widened the gap on used piston rings and reassembled the short block. No honing the cylinders just placing the same rings back in the same used bore.

My concern is how hard is it to R&R a used ring without cracking or breaking them?

How do I determine whether the ring seal is good? Or do you just run it and hope for the best?

I've personally never tried this used ring deal but see several reporting it worked. Help JD

 

Well, I've made an executive decision to re-ring the 4.8 after careful inspection. I pulled the piston/rod assemblies today and the crank shows indications of being run very dirty and the #8 rod bearing has some wear. Now the crankshaft needs to come out for at least a polish might as well freshen all the bearings and rings.

I'll chamfer the oil holes on the crank and have it polished. Time to shop around for decent rings and bearings! JD

 

Search on Ebay, there are several options. I'm thinking the same thing. I might just throw new rings and rod bearings in my 6.0. I'll pull it apart and see what it looks like.

 

Definitely many choices at this point. My goal was to verify how much power can be made on a low budget. There's no reason to build a time bomb, might as well freshen the bottom end.

The temptation is to make it a 5.3 since it's the same block.

 

check with the ring mfg for gap requirements,,, some guys use .00675 per inch or bore

 

We just built a 600+ hp Turbo 4.3 for a friends 1993 Typhoon. We used Total Seal rings and gapped them .028/.028/.015 following the manufacturers guide. His block is bored 4.030 and we honed each piston per cylinder to get .007 piston to wall clearance for his Power Forged Pistons.

These LS engines have hypereutectic Pistons; I'll have to check to see what piston to wall clearance they recommend for Turbo applications. I will set all the clearances for the application. Thanks for the responses!

Any recommendations on what brand of rings?

 

we are going to use total seal gapless top in our next engine

 

"we honed each piston per cylinder to get .007 piston to wall clearance for his Power Forged Pistons." ???

 

I've used the total seal rings, but not the gapless ones. I was very happy with them.

 

Technically it's honing the cylinder to achieve the needed clearance.

Yes sir, each piston manufacturer will give you recommended piston to cylinder clearances depending on application. A "Blue printed" engine doesn't set one size for all cylinders. You hone fit each piston to it's cylinder.

In his application with Medium boost 18-25# they recommended.007 piston-wall clearance.

I prefer to set every clearance to work the application so I know it's built right. JD

 

So you want a low budget build from a 4.8 to verify how much power it can make? But you're talking about honing to size and gapless rings?

For rings, I went to Rock Auto and got the cheapest ones they had. Gapped .028/.028. Slapped together, runs 9s.

Hot Rod made 1200hp on a 4.8 with gapped stock rings. You planning on topping that?

 

Usually no reason to replace rings on a JY turbo LS.

First, buy a ring removal tool. I've never broken a ring. You can pick these up at harbor freight dirt cheap.

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Then remove all the rings and clean the ringlands out well. Put the rings back in the cyl and check the gaps.

What fuel are you running? What kind of power do you want to make?

99% of the time the factory ring is better than the cheap aftermarket rings. I've never seen a ring gap too large to use for boosted application. MY 230k mile LM7 had .022 top gaps. Which is about perfect IMO if you are running E85. I'd open the up to .024-.028 or so for pump gas depending on how much boost you plan on running.

I've run 30+lbs with .022 gaps and never butted a ring. (5.3, e85, AND WATER/METH INJ)

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X2 on the last two posts. No need for expensive rings on a cheap piston, and the stock rings are quality enough to routinely go 300k. Have you guy seen many butted stock gapped rings, I think its become an internet fad, and I won't be gapping mine with a 600whp goal, and a 120k jy 5.3. Leak down will give you an idea of condition if you haven't already tore it down.

 

You are totally confused! Let me explain...
I never said I was building a Max effort 4.8
I explained how we hone fit and clearanced the Turbo 4.3 V6. I did say if I did replace the rings I would verify all clearances.
This 4.8 build is going to be limited to 550 rwhp to try and save the Gen3 rods. (600 rwhp if I score a set of Gen4 Pistons & rods)

I posted my concerns with running the used rings and until now hadn't received any feedback. Thank you to all who offered positive responses.

If I wanted to build a Max effort engine I would. I have no need to have anything faster than 10's maybe high 9's my goal is a true cruiser like a Grand National only faster.

With people like "Skinnies" and the Red Dragon in our area being the fastest isn't in the budget.

 

Thanks I have a Craftsman version of the ring tool. I have to change at least the Rod bearings after finding a spot down to copper on #8

My power goal is low only 550 rwhp with the Gen3 rods or 600 rwhp if I find some Gen4 Pistons and Rods.

Oops edit: 91 octane pump gas e85 currently not easy to find around here. I want to be able to drive anywhere and get fuel.

I don't foresee needing more than 12-14# of boost?

My head studs are on back order �� I grabbed the PC2464 but they're for 2002-06+ I needed the PC2465's

Thanks for the help! I only want to keep up with the Typhoon we built! ��

 

If you check out the Sloppy Mecanics YouTube channel he's butted rings on stock gap and popped the ring lands. That's at 20# and 740 rwhp. Gapping rings is cheap insurance. IMHO

My 4.8 is now tore down to the crankshaft. Thankfully I was planning on gapping the rings because the #8 rod journal had a spot showing copper! Not good and will be replaced.
My 4.8 only has 110,018 miles so I'm thinking oiling issue since it wasn't serviced properly.

All these comments are giving me motivation to run the factory rings. The pistons are smoked with burned engine oil. Soaking them in carb dip!!!

Thanks for the feedback!! JD

 

I guess I missed that Matt had done that, and I should have stated mine is a gen3, and the rods tend to bend before the rings butt. The stock pistons also tend to loose that upper land at the first sign of detonation, so sometimes its very tough to tell what caused the failure. You're right though, gapping is cheap insurance if you're in that far.

 

I've seen some top rings at .014-.016. I wouldn't be comfortable pushing those far on pump gas. It's odd too, you'd think they would all be about the same. but I had 2 tight pistons and the rest were the usual .019-.020 or so. Always best to check what you have. .024 is plenty for those goals on pump IMO. I'd set the lowers .002 higher. I also like to run a quick ball hone down the bores to make sure the rings seat well.

Honestly gen3 rods are much happier with the short stroke 4.8. 550-600 at the wheels is fine IMO. I pushed my 5.3 past that quite a bit before it let go.

Also even factory head bolts are fine at those levels IMO. No need for 300 retardo expensive ARP stuff. Cheapie china studs would be my choice.


good luck!

 

Speedmaster had head studs a couple wks ago for $103. I'm going to ck the gaps on my 6.0, the way my luck runs.

 

Speedmaster/ProComp head studs are what were going to use. We used them on the Turbo 4.3 no complaints or issues. Star Performance had the Speedmaster/ProComp head studs for $62.99 and $69.99 Naturally the ones I need they are sold out waiting on a shipment! My engine is Febuary 28, 2002 which is the switch over year for the head stud lengths. Turns out I need the 1997-02 longer studs with the two shorter outer studs. Stars new catalog just came out and they raised the price from $69.99 to $109.99 they say they will honor the cheaper price for my exchange when the shipment comes in. We'll see how it turns out.

Just to clarify you like to widen the 2nd ring an additional .002? As an example 1st ring .024 second ring .026
Your the first person who says they break the glaze on the cylinders with used rings. Curious, doesn't the rings already have an established seal? JD