tobb14

Looking to get advise on piston rings I have the following mods:
forged pistons
forged rods
A&A S/C si
longtube headers
meth kit (as now performance)

I was thinking about purchasing a set total seal rings but they were priced at $400. Just curious if there is another option out there that people are running. My goal is 800rwhp. There a lot of stock bottom end doing it with OEM rings but I'm looking for something a little safer without breaking the budget.

Dano523

Remember that what kills rings (and the pistol with it), is the gap of the rings, and the amount of heat that the ring is going to see.

Normal N/A gaps for the LS motors is about .006", but when you are inducing above normal N/A temps to the rings, then the rings will heat swell to close the gap isntead.

In a Nos motor, you gap the rings at .025~.030", since again, the increase heat will have the ring metal expand more, and the last thing you want is the rings to go to zero gap, and cause the rings to bind against the cylinder wall will no gaps, and this cracks the top of the piston above the ring off isntead.


Also, keep in mind that the ring metal is not only expanding in longitude the hotter is gets, but the thickness of the rings as well. Normal axial gap of the ring to piston groove itself is .001'~.002" on a N/A motor, but for a motor that will see more heat, then this axial gap has to be increased for the more ring swell in that direction as well.


Simply, since you are going to run S/C, and have picked out a piston, then see what rings are recommended for the motor running S/C. Rig gaps can be ground as needed to achieve those needed dimensions, but if the axial gap is not correct, then the piston ring grooves have to be widened instead.

As for gap'less rings in S/C, all depends on the amount of pressure you pushing, and keep in mind that you have just added another area that can carbon accumulate as well. Hence not a problem is plan on doing a lot of tear downs of the motor to clean such areas as needed.

cv67

What does your piston mfr recommend? Id take their advice

schpenxel

I'd tend to agree... are you putting the engine together or is a builder? What does the builder recommend?

And to Dano's point.. end gap will be extremely important on a FI setup, but I'm sure you (or the builder) already know that.

tobb14

I will get with the dealer on the piston ring selection, problem I run into is the seller usually doesn't know much about performance building and they just sell the parts. When asking them about the pros and cons to each they simply lack the knowledge to give a good answer. I'm fully aware that the piston ring gap is important as this the main reason i'm rebuilding my engine. I had a ring that wasn't gapped properly and it busted up one of my pistons. I'm redoing the build myself and looking for some feedback on different rings that people are running on FI c6 vettes. I was thinking of total seal gapless rings but they are super expensive and I know that there are other options out there that are also good.