Kip, if the cylinders are worn to the point where the standard ring gap is to large, then you’ve got more than ring problems. Your probably gonna get some piston slap which you would be hearing now before re-ringing it.
Years ago when all they offered were cast iron rings they would wear out before the cylinders showed much wear. So it was practical to break the glaze with a hone and just do a ring job. As the chrome rings came onto the scene they lasted longer but at the expense of more cylinder wear. If the cylinders are worn then just a ring job won't cure all the problems. At that stage the proper fix is to have them honed or bored and fit new pistons with the correct clearance, which should only have .0015" to .003" clearance. So you see, if you have .006” or .008” taper in the worst cylinder then they would need to be bored to .010” over for .010” over pistons and ring sets.
Many people who haven’t worked with close tolerances find it hard to adjust to or accept that we’re talking about clearances that are the thickness of a human head hair (blonde of course) on many of these parts.
Get your self a good (calibrated) 1” mic with a vernier scale to the tenth and pull one of Blondie’s curly locks while you watch the Ed Sullivan Show tonight. This will give you some incite for exactly what .001” or .0015” feels like, then when you start to check for wear on your L6 you may have second thoughts about whether you should use those original pistons in and cylinder that is .005” or .006” over size. I’d guess that about 95% of the guys that are rebuilding engines here don’t have the measurement instruments to properly measure a 3.5” cylinder bore or piston or even a 2”-3” mic to check a crank journal.
Is it gonna run if you just put it all back together with out measuring everything for wear? Probably, but is it going to be reliable enough to drive out of state to Kansas City for the Big Show next summer, probably not, and your most likely still gonna have some gremlins and odd noises under that thar bonnet.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
OOps, just noticed, that be 3.5625" bore fo you Kip. And also we haven't even talked about the connecting rods and the wrist pin fit, that you taint gonna mess with your self unless you work in an engine shop of have access to a Sunnen hone.
Last edited by Denny Graham; 09/17/2009 10:57 PM.
