Ring install tool

[cheese9988]

I have been looking for tools for when I put in my new pistons. I see at Sears that they offer a round looking tool to put them in, I havn't looked into how exactly they look. The car manuals suggest a pliers looking version and go into more detail. Anybody with experience have any input on these?

 

[swanny]

Install your rings in the correct order,

Gap them if necessary,
Get a ring compressor that fits your piston,
Apply a little assembly lube to the sides of the piston
Put piston in ring compressor,

Tighten compressor til rings are compressed,
Use a rubber mallet to push the piston out of the ring compressor into the cylinder.

 

[cheese9988]

Hrrm, "looks" easier than I thought, a picture is worth a thousand words. I might use that then.

 

[swanny]

I'd look into the ring gapping and shit more, I'm no pro.

 

[reikoshea]

yeah it is pretty easy. Just get rings for your application. if you need to gap them you can use a band (sp) saw or something. the compressor is definitely a good tool to have.

 

[hcivic.com]

Quoted post[/post]]
yeah it is pretty easy. Just get rings for your application. if you need to gap them you can use a band (sp) saw or something. the compressor is definitely a good tool to have.

NO BAND SAW. hell no
1) take the ring insert into cylinder nice and level, then check the gap with a feller gage.
2) repeat 1 at a couple diffrent points
3) if you need to increase the gap, use a fine double side file, then open the ring up and slide it up and down on the file.
4)after filing take the burs off the new edge with a light stroke of the file towards the inside or the ring gap, once in both directions on each side.
5)recheck the gap and repeat

 

[reikoshea]

We totally used a band saw when we did the LT1...some kind of table saw n e way. oh well...his car is running great. Daily N20 and hasnt blown a ring.

 

[hcivic.com]

was is a machine with sandpaper made for ring gaping

 

[reikoshea]

might have been. The dude who own the camaro own a engine building shop out here. totally possible.

 

[GSRCRXsi]

what about ring expanders to get the rings actually installed to the piston? i think thats what he was asking? anyway yea im gonna need osme of them, where can i get them? are they totally necessary? or can yo install the rings without them? also how exactly do you check gap? dont you have to compress the ring to check the gap? how do you get a feeler guage in there to check the gap like that? pics of checking ring gap would help. its explains it in the helms but i cant figure out how they are gtting the feeler guage in there

edit i figured it out. you put the ring in the cylinder WITHOUT the piston. thats what was confusing me. i thought you had to put the ring on the piston, then the piston in the cylinder and check it that way, lol.

 

[cheese9988]

Maybe the tool I was thinking of was a ring expander?

 

[cheese9988]

Sure, the manual isn't very good at explaining how to do it. You put the ring inside the cylinder to figure out the gap using a feeler gauge right?

 

[lude9593]

you can measure the gap without the rings being on the piston. if that wasn't the case, getting the right gaps would be a tremendous time-consuming bitch. the gap is just the amount of space between the ends of the ring. just measure it and file it down a little each time. remeasure and repeat process until the gap is right. then work the ring onto the piston. a ring expander isn't necessary to put them on but it may make it easier. i've never used one though.

 

[cheese9988]

So just take the ring out of the package and measure the gap?

 

[GSRCRXsi]

no, you have to install the ring into the cylinder. put it in a ring compressor and use a piston to push it into a cylinder. then measure the gap with it in the cylinder

 

[MikeBergy]

The rings I got with my CP pistns were perfect, no gapping was necessary. I walked all of my rings around the pistons, without using the ring expander, and had no problems, but a ring expander would have saved me about 5 minutes. If I didn't take a lot of time doing everything else, that 5 minutes might have been worth something. And you measure the gaps with the rings once near the top of the cylinder, and once near the bottom, the helms is pretty clear on that. Orientation of the rings is pretty crucial too, so make sure to do that right.

 

[97CTR]

Me too, I just put my rings on by hand. And your you are right it would have saved about five mins. I guess it is a little safer though to use an expander. For all of you who like pictures here are some from cspeed about ring gap checking.


Ring endgap checking