How To Clean Ring Lands & Re-ring Pistons

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RustyRatRod

I was born on a Monday. Not last Monday.
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as you know, it's very difficult for me to express myself in english.
I've been restoring engines for 35 years, and believe me, it's a very complex job when you want to achieve excellence.
several publications, and a lot of mechanics use old piston rigs to clean old pistons.
never do that !!
to clean a piston only products specially designed for that.
the surface area of the piston / rings is extremely large, it does not show wear due to sanding, scratches.
you are lucky enough to live in a country where engine parts are very well priced, take advantage !!!
good engine assembly to you all
Andrea
 
with all due respect to you.
your procedure is widely used by many professionals and enthusiasts in the automotive industry.
there are chemicals capable of removing any combustion residue without scratching the pistons.
yes it works, but it's not the best method.
the gases under pressure in the combustion chamber will escape more easily.
good to you
 
I have a piston ring groove cleaning tool that a friend gave me many years ago. I use that tool and having the wide scraper for the oil groove is a nice feature. But, I still use a broken ring and run it around each groove to feel for any spots the tool might have missed and ensure that the groove is completely clean.
Thanks Rusty!
 
Great video, Rob.
The only thing that I would add to it is to put tape on the old ring or wear gloves so you don't cut your hands and fingers all up.
This is a trick I learned the hard way from doing this a few times........

Man, if you knew how cave mannish and tough my hands are, you would't say that. LOL

And for there being "better methods" sure there are. But I've bee doing this over forty years and never had a problem. No, that doesn't mean it's the textbook way.That means it's worked for ME. Thanks for the comments.
 
Man, if you knew how cave mannish and tough my hands are, you would't say that. LOL

And for there being "better methods" sure there are. But I've bee doing this over forty years and never had a problem. No, that doesn't mean it's the textbook way.That means it's worked for ME. Thanks for the comments.
how long does it take you to clean the 8 pistons?
I don't want to think about your manly hand, LOL ...
a good cleaning product, and you can save money for unpleasant work.
 
how long does it take you to clean the 8 pistons?
I don't want to think about your manly hand, LOL ...
a good cleaning product, and you can save money for unpleasant work.

About 20 minutes. As far as cleaning products, I've used a lot of them. I think I said that in the video. So far, I've not found any cleaner that removes all the carbon from the ring lands, so this is how I do it.
 
20 minutes is pretty fast. Cleaning products are not like they used to be. When I started working in motor racing in 1984, it had products that after 1 hour the engine block was completely cleaned of all residues, oil, paint, ...
a fairly easy method to use at home is to spray sodium bicarbonate with compressed air.
and in 2003 at PSIMotorsport (Porsche FIA GT race), after 40 hours of operation, I clean the piston head with the projections of coconut chips, through the spark plug hole, valves closed, and after with a vacuum cleaner clean all the combustion chamber.
 
20 minutes is pretty fast. Cleaning products are not like they used to be. When I started working in motor racing in 1984, it had products that after 1 hour the engine block was completely cleaned of all residues, oil, paint, ...
a fairly easy method to use at home is to spray sodium bicarbonate with compressed air.
and in 2003 at PSIMotorsport (Porsche FIA GT race), after 40 hours of operation, I clean the piston head with the projections of coconut chips, through the spark plug hole, valves closed, and after with a vacuum cleaner clean all the combustion chamber.
 
Old ring is what I used. Little tape around the "handle."

AND NOW ANOTHER ANNOYING STORY from the old days

At NAS Miramar, my part time job at the auto hobby shop. Bear in mind I did not work there every day, nor did I work all day. so when guys had a lengthy project, I might only see them 1 or 2 days, and then a gap of maybe 4 days. I did not always "see what they did."

One day some guys, who were re-ringing an ?? engine, came over, "how hard should it turn?"

"What do you have?
"Short block V8 with six pistons installed"
"What are you using, how hard is it to turn?"

"Breaker bar and cheater, we can barely turn it"

You guys should already see this coming.......new rings in dirty grooves, 1 x 1, as the pistons were installed the thing just got more and more difficult to turn. By the tiime they got 4 or 5 on there you could barely turn it. The sixth one, you pretty much could "not."

"Easy fix" although I don't remember if they broke any of those brand new rings. This was 48 years ago!!!!
 
How about stuck rings ? I pulled apart a 361 that was sitting for 40+ years and the rings are stuck in the pistons. 4 out of 8, I was able to remove the others I have soaked in Berrymans carb dip about 6 hours and it removed allot of the carbon and loosened a few rings but some are mighty stubborn. Heat ?
 
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