<VV> Advice on Rings

[Jay Pitchford]

Michael Leveque did those heads. I have a difficult time thinking it's
in the heads.

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 10:32 PM, Mark Corbin <airvair at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Tom knows how to put in the rings. He's worked with that brand ring many
> times. So I doubt that is the problem. I'm wondering if there's something
> wrong with the heads. I looked over one of them before they were installed,
> and I was not impressed. Neither was Tom.
>
> -Mark
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: Jay Pitchford <jay.pitchford at gmail.com>
>> Subject: <VV> Advice on Rings (was Help - Oil Out Dipstick Tube)
>>
>> The PCV system was clear. A compression check was done, and it showed
>> 145-150 lbs on three of the six cylinders. Two of the other three
>> showed ~90 lbs, and one was ~65 lbs. My mechanic Tom drove the car a
>> bit more, taking out to the 4-lane and opening it up a bit.
>>
>> He reported back late in the day Friday 9/3 that the blow-by had
>> reduced drastically, and that perhaps we had the rings seating in. He
>> offered me the car for the holiday weekend, which I went and picked
>> up. The premise was I'd put ~300 miles on it and bring it back up to
>> him for another compression check and hot adjust on the valves, which
>> had been cold adjusted to within a 1/4 turn per Tom.
>>
>> One bank ... the one reading two cylinders low ... was smoking a bit,
>> but our thought was maybe the rings were still seating. I drove it
>> carefully, generally 3500 revs or less, but never over 4000 while
>> upshifting. The mild Isky cam had 5k miles on it already, so that
>> wasn't a concern.
>>
>> 48 hours and 150 miles after picking it up, I started it and blew
>> clouds of oil smoke out of the bank, the one that was slightly smoking
>> earlier. Temp stayed normal; no oil light; no clatter other than a
>> slight valve tick expected before the hot adjust. I'm convinced I just
>> blew one of my brand-new rings, and I'm hoping it didn't score the
>> brand-new full fin jug.
>>
>> Question: Is it possible to put a ring in 'backwards'? If so, you
>> figure a guy that doesn't know the difference would have a 50/50
>> chance at it ... and I was reading low on exactly three cylinders
>> after a ground-up rebuild.
>>
>> Any thoughts and/or advice would be appreciated.
>>
>> Jay
>>
>
>