Air leaking past piston rings?

N1ce2k1llu said
What I did was compare old ring to new ring and cut the end to match then filed my cuts. Did not file outside diameter. New rings fit around the piston but left no gap for expansion from heat. Compression test was done cold and dry so that's why test numbers were low. I'm thinking if rings were to much gapped then I would be burning oil, but I'm not a professional auto mechanic just an elevator mechanic who's a weekend Warrior.

OP, the procedure you describe is worrying me. How did you cut these end gaps? After 'cutting' down the end gaps, did you then put all of the rings into their bores with an inverted piston, one at a time, using the inverted piston top to push the rings perfectly flat in the bores, and then check the end gaps with a feeler gauge? If you did not, NOW you are truly 'in the suck' as YR says. I see your comment that you ended up with no gap for expansion. If that is true, then a disaster WILL occur the first time you warm this engine up. The top 2 rings for a stock setup will typical need around .015" end gap for heat expansion, and the oil rings a bit more. Please explain further; not trying to get on your case at all, but this is very worrying and we/I are trying to prevent a disaster. (Send a PM if you prefer to discuss offline.)

And BTW, your pressures aren't going up much more than you have. It's a stock compression engine and being in the 120-140-ish range would be normal. The bigger the cam, the lower these readings will go.