Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Piston Rings

I am starting to collect the parts for my 230 rebuild with the 250 crank. I recently bought 307 pistons (Sealed Power 295AP40). These will are 0.040 over flat top pistons with the relief valve guides.

I am now looking for piston rings. Does anyone have experience with the Sealed Power Piston Rings, or the Enginetech rings?

Sealed Power Rings, Part number E245X, Cost: $42.79
Enginetech Rings, Part Number R38858-040, Cost: $19.84

I am not just looking for the cheapest option, but a good quality set of rings.

A standard set of cast rings is all you need , unless you are wanting them to seal up better?

Gapless rings? Plasma rings?

MBHD

Thanks for the input, Hank.

I am not going to put turbo or push this engine to crazy limits, so a standard set should be fine. I was just wondering if anyone has experience with Enginetech? I have not heard of them before and a little hesitant. That is one place that could be a costly repair if it goes wrong.

Sealed Power has been a great choice for over 30 years in the high performance market, so I wouldn't look anywhere else.

Thanks, CNC-Dude. That was my first reaction too. For $20 more, it may be worth it to stick with a known brand.

Yeah, Enginetech may be fine, but I tend to buy top shelf brands personally, so I wouldn't even consider other brands even though they may be good.

Hypereutectic are the ones to get.

Hypereutectic rings?

I would go with Sealed Power Rings.

Was confused, I was thinking if you wanted to know what type of rings would be good.

MBHD

Nobody mentioned Total Seal gapless rings. I have used them in other engines before and liked them, now I decided to put them on my 230. (Second rings). I did not bore the block oversize, although it kinda could have used it. Its a little loose but at the time I wanted to leave room for more expansion in case I slap a turbo on it. Then compensate with gapless. Haven't fired it up yet, we'll see.

Post number #85570

MBHD

I said the same thing when my machinist recommended them to me. lol They are a very strong and durable set of rings...basically called "Iron Hypereutectic Rings" They are easy sealing and you can twist then almost three times before they snap. I bought a set for my ross pistons and man...they are nice. There's alot of rings with Hypereutectic added to the name.

Oh darn it was there lol My bad

Thank you for the quick help. Got the rings on order this weekend.

Hi TJ . . .but to CNC-Dude's point - (and to quote my English teacher) I think we're mixing modifiers here. A reference to rings that are compatible/preferred for use with hyper-eutectic pistons (slugs with high silicon content of aluminum cast/forged construction) - is not a reference to the eutectic properties of the alloy in the rings.

Specifically, eutectic mixtures of iron and carbon soon become steel. Hyper-eutectoid steel would be high carbon . . . a poor choice for rings.

The guys at Hastings Rings talk about the three common ring types here:
Hastings Ring Composition
and the reasons for choosing based on service conditions. Whereas, this posting from HotRodders looks at it from a slug composition, cylinder wall prep and bottom oil wetness angle.

regards,
stock49

The Sealed Power rings that are .040 over from Summit Racing are only $31. See here... Sealed Power rings These have a cast iron top ring.

I have the same pistons but I upgraded to the Sealed Power rings with the moly top ring. They were double the price at $65, but I figured why not for a high performance engine. Sealed Power moly rings These have a moly top ring.

I used these rings in my rebuild. they are really good. the oil ring is pre seated. the top ring is moly and seats in a matter of seconds.
http://www.competitionproducts.com/Speed...ctinfo/E245K30/

I did a dry break in on my engine and it worked really well. they do it in motorcycles all the time and I thought I would try it on my rebuilt engine. you spray the inside of the cylinder with tungsten disulfide and burnish it in. then coat the pistons and rings with it and assemble it all dry.
then when you start the new engine without oil on piston or in cylinder, except pin I put a little there.
When I fired mine up to break in cam for 20 minutes I was amazed. there was no extra heat during break in and rings seemed to seat instantly. No smoke no heat, I did coat all internal engine parts with tungsten disulfide. worked really well.

Vman, do you think that dry way of doing things would work on a used bore that is less than round? Like a used bore with a new piston and rings? Jay6155

that is what I did. the bore was not too bad, All I did was hone it out by hand and do a plateau hone job on it. the specs were a little on the loose side, but I figured its not going to wear much if any with the use of the tungsten disulfide. Seemed to work fine.
You still have oil in crankcase and once engine starts it gets on the cylinders but you get a few seconds when its dry. I had also turned it over by hand many times dry while setting everything up.
I got the spray from here.
http://www.lowerfriction.com/product-page.php?categoryID=23
they give some directions on how to embed it into the metals. I did that on practically all moving parts where surfaces slide against each other. bearings lifters inside and out and cam and oil pump etc etc.
Did each ring and also each slot on each piston so no micro welding can happen. Also coated valve stems and guides and combustion chambers and piston top as the Tungsten disulfide is a very high temp resistance.

Thanks for the info. Will you please elaborate on how you prepped the surfaces for tungsten disulfide. Is media blasting recommended?

Yes please I want to know more about this also. Jay6155

OK, well for small parts like the lifters I did them in a tumbler with steel shot and tungsten disulphide powder. I took them completely apart and put all the pieces in the tumbler, except the little valve disks, and ran it for 30 to 60 minutes. the steel balls hammer the TD into the surface. then I take them out and clean them off and removed all the caked on powder then run them on a bench grinder with a big buffing wheel that has the TD embedded in it.
For other parts like valve stems I stick them in a drill press and polish the stems with 9 micron micro finishing strips, Then buff on grinder wheel with super fine grit. to get a shiny smooth finish.then I clean it with brake clean, blow dry, and apply a thin coat of the TD spray, let the spray dry and them buff it on the bench grinder. Make sure you use a clean dedicated buffing wheel only for tungsten disulphide, you dont want to embed any grit. You have to be careful to not build it up, the thinnest coating is all you need . also did it to the valve guides with a brass brush chucked in a drill. Be sure to degrease all parts and not touch them before you apply the stuff. Brake clean will take it right off, so make sure you do all your cleaning of the areas first. the oil sticks to it nicely. you actually end up with only a .5 micron layer on the metal so the excess will end up in the oil, wont hurt anything. I fact I put a table spoon of the powder in a quart of oil and add it to the crankcase occasionally. I coated the cam real good and bottoms of lifters. Also put it on all the engine bearings. make sure you don't have build up on the bearings as it can take up the clearance. the metal should have a greenish tinge to it when you have it very thin. Let me know if you want more detail. I polished most metal parts to a smooth shiny finish before coating particularly the working surfaces, so everything is like prebroke in.

For the rings I very slightly sand all sharp corner edges with 600 grit paper. degrease and then just spray them and buff them. Also did the grooves in the pistons. I had to make a narrow buffing wheel for the dremel to polish it into the surface of the grooves. You want the lower surface of the groove to be mirror smooth. that is where the sealing of the ring against the piston happens.

Thanks very much for the info. Jay 6155

yes, thank you. Lots of food for thought - and research.