WAIT!.. stop and think for a second here bud! This is HIGHLY CRITICAL precision work.. and you would surely destroy that engine the moment it got hot if you ran it with such a small end gap like that. I would heavily caution you to not underestimate the need for proper fitment/clearance and installation techniques for piston rings. Which I assume is why you bought file to fit rings in the first place, right? Check the piston/ring mfgrs rec's and use those as a proper clearance guide. Around .004-.005 PER inch of total bore size is pretty normal for moderately powered N/A street motors. There is ton's of info right at your finger tips and a little study time spent now.. can save you tons of time and cash later by helping you to avoid getting it wrong the first time. http://www.circletrack.com/howto/1818/ I didn't search much.. but it would really pay to study up on this process(or engine damage and/or lost/short lived performance WILL result). And although this is far too long.. it seems to have a few good tips mixed in there. As he shows towards the middle of the vid.. you can mock a single piston with each finished ring into its proper location to create a "piston square" for properly locating/measuring the rest of similar. And from the little I watched.. is another good one too. I usually start start out gapping one complete assembly of the expander/oil tension rings first(many times they need no work.. but still need to be checked).. install a single finshed oil package onto a piston and use it as a square to finish locating/squaring the rest.. then move to the second rings so you can use a piston with one finish gapped ring installed/mocked in place to square for the rest of similar.. and so on till the top rings are all done. This helps speed up each locations test fits as you do them all in stages from the bottom side of the piston up. When you're all done fitting every ring to their respective bore.. you should have the one assembled piston which you used as the "piston square" with all its rings installed. Those moly rings can easily be chipped.. so extra caution is needed there too. Heck.. you can even file them the wrong way if you're doing it by hand.. so learn proper technique first.. then file second. PS.. this is also considered to be "clean work" so proper bore cleaning and final piston/ring cleanliness is very important to avoid damage to ring lands and bore on breakin. Even dust floating around in the air from an open door in a less than perfect "clean room" can cuase contamination. Plastic(boxs or bags) are your friend to keep thing clean during storage and assembly.
Greg went over a lot of things and the Moly is a little more sensitive to chipping and that is the reason you should make an investment in a set like this. One of the most important things is to get all of the filing on the rings perfectly square...........not at an angle. The other thing is I never like to put rings on pistons until they are ready to go into the motor.................unless you have a ring expander...........which I would highly recommend anyway since it's been a long time since you rebuilt a motor, it's just too easy to twist a ring and break it or scrape the edge of the piston land........................I think you can buy them a Sears and maybe Harbor Freight...........easy to use and not too expensive. Anyway..............the first thing you do is to check the piston lands for any burrs, and also check the rings for burrs. You need to just slide the ring, top, middle, bottom...........into each ring land on the piston to make sure they don't bind or fit too tight............this is just good practice...............check everything at least once or twice. Although Greg puts the rings on the pistons I have never done that, but you do need something to square the piston rings when you put them in the bore, and you need to put them at least 1" below the surface of the block and you can always turn the piston upside down to square the ring up in the bore. Use your feeler gauge to measure the gap and then decide what you are going to do. If you are in doubt give the manufacture of the rings you purchased a call and talk with tech line.............they will help. Just take it easy and don't rush and it will work out fine. This is how I've gap'd rings for over 40 years and have yet to have any rings/ring lands fail...........IMHO http://www.jegs.com/i/B&B/128/41001K/10002/-1
I'll admit I haven't read all of this but I would like to suggest 2 things. First, a hand crank ring grinder isn't that expensive, get one to keep end gaps square. After using the hand cranked grinder/file, clean the edges with a small file. We use a point file. Do all 4 edges of both ends of the ring. No burrs, it will mess up your gap and cylinders. Second, take an old piston (a junker with a flat edge completely around the perimeter). Drive 3 washers into the top ring land of the junk piston at equal distances around the piston. Turn that piston over and use it to push the piston ring down into the bore to measure end gaps before and while grinding. Keeps the ring square and puts it in the same place to measure all the time. If that's too confusing drop me a line and I'll post a picture of the grinder and our homemade ring squaring tool. We made ours out of standard bore pistons and use it for up to 060 bores. I also think ring gap is so important, I actually go bigger than smaller if you are unsure. A .012 to .014? I would go for the .014 and not accept .011. Gap is extremely important. SPark
I'm not sure if this is a stupid question.. but the oil ring.. do i need to fit those as well? It seems not too many people worry about that, but some do. If i do fit then, do i just take needle nose pliers and gently and every-so-slightly compress them?
the better engine builders take most any opportunity to check tolerances when the motors sitting on a stand. Would take you all of about 5 minutes to slip them down into the bores to about their normal TDC location and run a feeler guage across them to have piece of mind. Also keep in mind that engine builds can easily go far beyond budget if things go terribly wrong.. so it surely pays to get it all right the first time around. Which makes it really tough to measure anything too much.
Greg is correct, you should always check the end gap on all three rings. The nice thing about a freshly bored motor is that there is no tapper in the cylinder....................so all you need to do is square up the ring about an inch below the surface of the block. Good Luck
these are some of the reasons I let the shop build the long block...they have the tools and know how. if anything comes loose, it's on them. ...kind of like insurance... you seem to be wanting to save a dollar or two...paying them may just be doing that... there are tools and gauges to buy and learn how to use ...I myself have never wanted to "learn" how to build a motor or to own the tools to do it...JMO do you have a degree wheel and know how to use it to install the cam? you need to know the specs. of every bolt and nut from the...balancer bolt to the flywheel bolts....breather nut to oilpan drain plug, the orientation/position of each rod and main cap.... along with all this, there is the need to check behind the shop to see if they did what they were paid to do (all cyls. the same bore, crank mains/rods turned to specs., all freeze plugs installed , ets., ets.) and the parts to be assy. are correct. and you say you have two other people to teach at the same time...most builders like to do all this by themselves...no talking on the phone, texting or any other distractions. I had a block once that one cyl. was bored out of round...my builder caught it because he had checked for it...it had happened to him once before so he knew to look... people have to start somewhere when learning how to build a motor, myself it would be on a 3.5 Briggs... Good Luck...:Handshake
And I always thought Frank was a motor guy..........................but he does have a point. I've spent 40 years collecting tools to build motors and work on cars....................some of those I have given away but most of the motor tools I have keep......................and if I'd have to go out and buy them today I'd have to spend a pretty penny. Having the right tools can mean the difference between finding something that wasn't done right or is not to spec before you start the motor. As I mentioned before............you need to check everything the machine shop did...........at least once.............to make sure it is what they said it is. We've spent a lot of time talking about rings and gaps...........and they are important, but so is the clearance of each piston in its respective hole, the rod and main bearing clearance on each journal. The rod and main bearing clearance can be checked on the cheap with plasti-gauge................but you will never get a "real" picture of the bearing clearance without knowing the exact diameter of the rod or main journal and then measuring the bearing to find the exact clearance................and it will take a mic to do that. One very important part of assembling a motor (this is my way of assembling a new or refreshened motor) is to install the crank first......torque it to spec then check the end play of the crank................you should be able to turn the crank by hand without using any tools................next I install the cam and attach the timing chain gear to the cam and torque it down...........you should also be able to turn this by hand without any tools..............then the timing chain and the same thing............turn the crank with only a little resistance....................then as you install each piston/ring do the same thing although you may need a 3/8" drive..................if you have to go to a 1/2" drive to turn it something is wrong. Also, don't forget to protect the cylinder walls with some rubber hose on the rod bolts as you push the piston down to meet the crank.....................and a good torque wrench is really needed..................and don't forget lubing the threads...............never put dry threads to a torque wrench.....never! I could go on for another hour........................and also keep a written record of what you do as you install each part.............along with the dimensions of each crank/rod journal...........end gap on each piston.........never hurts to be able to go back and make sure you got everything...............I understand why Frank likes to have someone else put the short/long block together because it does take time................................but it is fun and rewarding if you ever get the chance to put a motor together and put it on an engine dyno and watch your hard work turn into hard HP and TQ numbers.......IMHO
Y'all are going to scare the boy off. While I agree that all the above mentioned things should be checked, I've put together many motors with nothing more than a torque wrench, an assembly manual and just your basic hand tools. Never had one failure either.
Wanna bet ? I'll be the first to admit many of my motors do not get checked, unless something doesn't go together the way it should. Had a 390 that had mixed up main caps (from the factory) that didn't want to turn after bolting the caps down. Had a 302 last year that for some reason had a mis-stamped thrust bearing, was supposed to be .010 under but was more like .030 or more. In a hurry to get it back together and running (was in a 92 F150 that I bought to "flip") i grabbed a thrust bearing that was well worn from another block and used it instead. Strangely enough that bearing fit perfectly. Oil pressure after starting it up was fine, ran fine too. Ran as good as anything else I've ever driven. Point is, doing all the measuring and fitting just isn't necessary unless you're looking for perfection. I do check the fit on rings in the bore now, but didn't in the past. Bearings don't get checked at all,(aside from verifying the undersize stamped into the shell) unless something as happened above takes place. Like I said, never had a failure from this. Ford engines are pretty forgiving things. They will run far beyond where many others will quit. Seen plenty that had the bearings worn almost into the shells that were still running. Pistons too. I'm not saying not to do everything that's been recommended here, but most of it isn't required to get a good engine.
Well guys, i really appreciate all the dedication to this post. Building an engine and all the work that goes into doesnt scare me one bit. I've always lived under the impression that nobody will care as much about doing something for you, as yourself. So I'm going to build this engine. Because I'm determined to do this right. I've put in bearings before, I've helped rebuild engines before, and I've done as much research as i can. I really think i have a good chance with this one. As long as i don't skip steps, and check and recheck everything i should be fine right? The machine shop is fitting the pistons for me, but my dad has taught me little tricks back in the day that I've hoped i caught on to. Plus, im really looking forward to the day i can lay this engine in the car and say, "Yup.. I built that. And that engine is mine." I still have my uncle around when i need him, and i have his tools at my disposal (hopefully) but i do need a torque wrench.. That much is definitely true.. All my dad's tools got lost.. The Bearing rod, the piston ring filer, all the torque wrench's, the piston ring compressor, the wrist pin compressor, etc... All of it's gone.... So, a lot of the work still has to be done in the machine shop.. Just wish every hour of work wasnt $90.. It all add's up. lol
I know what works and what doesn't work, that's what counts. If you're looking for every ounce of power, sure it pays to be meticulous in assembly. But for 90% of us it's just not necessary. Did I pay attention to what I was doing in assembling my 331 ? Sure, up to a point. It's been together and running for 9 years now, in two different vehicles. I don't think I did anything wrong there. And like I said, I've never had a failure in an engine I put together.
