Swain coating piston skirts

Robert Legere rlegere@snet.net
Fri, 27 Dec 2002 09:25:01 -0600


--- Jay Whitely <jwhitely2000@yahoo.com> wrote:
For any given piston size, whether it
> be a standard grade piston or an 87mm Arias piston,
> having that extra 0.0015" to 0.0020" in the bore
> diameter will increase the ring gap needed

*****Why not go for a gapless second ring (e.g., Total
Seal), and live with the larger gap on the top ring?
This is for a turbo application, correct? Higher heat
from a turbo will put more heat into the top ring, and
the end gap will get tighter under duress from
expansion. Maybe not enough to make up for ALL the
increase in gap, but a slightly larger gap is a better
thing than a butted end gap. The gapless second ring
will certainly improve ring seal overall. In fact, my
only complaint with gapless rings on Nissans has been
a noted increase in oil consumption from the improved
ring seal and therefore greater pumping capability. A
change to a remote crankcase breather rather than the
normal crankcase-to-intake evacuation cured that.
     On another note, you could always order .005"
oversize top rings (plasma moly) from a company like
Total Seal and hand file-fit the end gap to your
finished bore. This is my prefered method, even if
it's a little bit time-consuming.

Bob Legere