Sportsman Bracket Drag Racing Basics
Building Your Own Motor
Piston Rings
Piston Rings come in a wide range of Choices, Sizes, and Thicknesses. You will have to know which Pistons you are going to use before you buy your Piston Rings. Some Pistons will only accept certain Piston Rings. You will need to know the Bore Size of your Motor, Is it Oversize or Stock Bore size? There are 2 different kinds of Piston Rings as far as Hardness is concerned. You have Cast Rings and Chrome Moly rings. Cast Piston Rings will Seat faster (mate to the cylinder walls) and are better for Drag Racing. Chrome Moly Piston Rings will work better for a Motor that is going to see years of driving use.
Piston Rings have to have their End Gaps checked and adjusted. As a standard, you should have .004 Ring Gap for each inch of Bore size, so for a 4 inch bore size you should have an Piston Ring End Gap of .016. This is adjusted for Piston Rings for each Cylinder, approximately 1 inch down into the bore. So, once you have adjusted them by filing the ends of the Rings carefully, they need to be placed on the Pistons for the bore you adjusted them for. Some Piston Ring Manufactures or Piston Manufactures may have different suggested Piston Ring End Gaps and they should be followed. Whenever placing Piston Rings on Pistons make sure not to scratch the sides of the Pistons. The used of Piston Ring Installers comes in handy and they are dirt cheap.
