Replacement Ring Pictures: Tell Me What You Think

poorman9

poorman9

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I'm rebuilding my engine (first time/have no idea what I'm doing) and I recently read on several different pages (1, 2, 3, 4) that you could save some money and buy piston rings made for several different Honda Acura's, read the links above if you're interested in details.

So for $40 I picked up 4 sets of rings, they looked fine when I first pulled them out as you can see here: (new right, old left)

Rings_all-8359.jpg


But here's some close up comparisons of the individual rings -

rings_top.jpg


Rings_center.jpg


Rings_Oil.jpg


Now, all the rings physically fit, but if this were your bike would you feel comfortable installing them? Should I just have paid $70 from Mike's? Is there any reason these should look any different? We're talking like milmeter differences here, should I not worry about it?

Thanks
 
Technology has progressed since the 80's, or whenever the old rings were installed. Use the new ones.
 
That's what I was hoping to hear. You think even the ones from Mike's that are made for the XS would look a little bit different from my old ones?
 
what i would be worried about is if the ring end gap clearances ended up being in spec. push the rings into the bore with out being installed in the piston grooves (you can use the piston to do the pushing, helps get the rings in nice and square) then take a feeler gauge and measure the gap between the ring ends. as long as they're too tight you can file the ends down into spec and they'll probably be fine, if they're too loose well maybe you can find another acura owner

that oil control ring is the one that would have me a little worried
 
If i were you i would check compression dry first before you fire up motor. The top ring is smaller and may wear different. Ring gap is very important but size of ring is also important. My worry would be not enough ring in piston and heat up and snap.The groves are not just there for looks and the holes in them create pressure to keep rings tight and if you have space that ring is only flooting. I have build a lot of street and race motors and when you are playing with something different you take that chance to go BOOM! Has someone else done this swap and have good compression and has over 200 miles on motor.JUST MY OPION take it for what its worth.
 
Thanks for the advice, when you say check the compression dry, what exactly does that mean? Also, if for some reason I put this assemble everything and the engine isn't getting good compression, I'd have to break it back down, buy a new set of gaskets and replace the rings, does that sound right?

Thanks again.
 
Just another 'new guy' with an opinion... I am REALLY glad you posted these pics. I was planning on buying a set of the honda rings. I won't be now. I have built several CAR engines and the difference in size you are showing in the pics just isn't right. It may work for awhile, but for the long term its gonna be bad news. That extra room is going to be a problem, its my opinion that it will allow the piston to rock slightly, and the higher rpm you run your engine the worse that rocking is gonna be. A piston doesn't simply move up and down...

Time to belly up and spend the extra $30... if someone told me I could spend $30 and save my engine rebuild from a catastrophic failure, I'd do it.

My 2cents, no purchase necessary, your mileage may vary, batteries not included??

Good luck what ever you decision ends up being.
 
Well Hell, so far I've got "Technology has progressed since the 80's, install them" and "Save your engine from catastrophic failure." Maybe I'll should take them somewhere and have somebody who knows what they're doing actually look at them. It's been to long to return them now.
 
ringlands break even with the correct rings... putting a narrower ring on only increases that possibility. When someone says save money, I'm usually on board, when I see compromised reliability... count me out. :thumbsup:
 
I have way more than $30 worth of questions about it, myself.
 
Well this is bad news for me too I ordered a set of rings saturday and I wish I would have seen this before I ordered them. Since the info about these rings has been out for at least a couple years hopefully someone who has used them will chime in with their $.02
 
Yeah, exactly how I feel. Maybe when you get your you could compare them really close to my pictures and find out for sure if we are in the same boat.
 
I read all the same things you did and assumed by the specs they were the same rings. What brand rings are those? I bought the mahle (perfect circle) rings
 
Well mine will be here tomorrow or friday so I'll take pics and some measurements and post them up here. If they aren't going to work people need to know so they don't waste their money
 

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