Ring Choice?

[NE57]

If I interpret things correctly, and I've been known not to, cast iron rings will cause less cylinder wear than moly or chrome given equally and adequately filtered air and yet be just fine for a carbed street application.

So if I have to go .060 overbore to clean up my cylinders and the first set of rings after that eventually need attention, I might be able to simply rering? Because availabilty and cost of another set of pistons is going to be problematic. Anything over .060 means a custom forged piston and shakey wall thickness?


If I've got that right, it seems to me iron might be the ticket for a motor that may not have any more standard rebores left in it after this one.

Thanks

[George]

Iron won't last as long....

[mart]

Iron won't last as long....

---------------------------------------------
Agreed, but cast iron rings will seat faster and be
easier on the bores. If you're building a engine that's
going to be torn down frequently for maintenance
and don't mind changing rings occasionally, than cast
iron would fine. For street use and unblown racing,
moly rings would be better, - just a bit harder on the
bores - and probably the best *compromise* between
wear and longevity. For a blown or turbo'd application
though, I'd definitely (and only) go with chrome rings.
They're harder on the bores, take longer to seat, but
will better survive the higher temps and particularly,
the borderline (or worse) detonation conditions
common with boosted applications.

mart
==========================================

[DblAdigger]

I've had really good luck with ductile iron rings.

[NE57]

Thanks for the input, fellas.

I had this line of thought...this should be a daily driver hemi(its there to be used and enjoyed) Lots of short runs to work and back and some Sunday cruises. I had originally thought I would build for max power within the budget but honestly the nearest track is like maybe a hundred miles away(Englishtown), how often will I really get to go? The engine will be running cold a fair amount of the time. But I have to go at least once or twice, for the timeslip, its mandatory, right? If I go with forged pistons and hard rings, when the thing is cold the piston is going to flop around in the bore, straining the rings and accelerating cylinder wear. My guess anyway.

If I go with hypers(I know, some folks hate 'em) and softer rings, cylinder wear will be less. This might be the last time this block could be bored(unless it gets sleeved next time but that's right up there cost wise with a replacement block plus add another set of pistons).

Lots of hi performance engines use hypers. If I take extra care to set the top ring gap just right and tune the motor to avoid detonation and just don't beat the crap out of the motor on a daily basis...I'm wondering if hypers and soft rings might be a good choice. I don't mind yanking the motor for a rering at some point. I think it makes sense to sacrifice the rings to save the cylinders in the long run. So while future maintenance will include a teardown, the actual useable life of the parts might be longer.

Does this sound logical and practical?