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Troubles with Wiseco piston rings

3K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Lotus 
#1 ·
This is honestly more of a rant post than anything else bc I'm ****ing pissed. I'm currently building a k24/20 motor with forged internals. I purchased Wiseco's 87.5mm 10.2 compression k24/20 piston kit. I took my block to a machine shop to get it bored out to 87.5mm, with .0025" of piston to wall clearance as specified in Wiseco's spec sheet.
I started gapping my piston rings after I got it back from the shop, 1st rings went fine, I needed to gap them to a little over .017", and all the rings came out of the box with a gap of .011-.012", which is plenty small enough to start gapping with.
Then I got to the 2nd rings, I need a gap of .019" (as specified by Wiseco's spec sheet that came with the pistons). ALL of the rings were too big, ranging from .021" to .025" gaps. I was pretty pissed, and it also happened last Friday past 5PM, after Wiseco's offices had closed for the weekend. So Monday I called them up, explained my situation, and the rep said that the specs in the spec sheet are technically minimums, so if they were at like .021" it would be fine, but that .025" was definitely too big, and he'd send a new piston ring kit out to me free of charge. I was still a little upset bc my engine build was delayed by another week now, and I currently don't have a car to drive, but thankful that they seemed to resolve it so easily.
Well today I finally get the new piston ring set, and it's the same goddamn ****. 021" to .025" out of the box gaps. Wiseco's offices have also closed again, so now I have to wait until Monday to call again. I guess I'll just ask for them to send me an 88mm ring kit this time around? I honestly have no ****ing idea why this is happening. Like before I decided to bore my block out and go with Wiseco pistons, I ordered some eBay piston rings, and all the gaps were perfect, but a supposedly reputable brand can't do the same thing???
Has anyone else had any problems like this with Wisecos? At this point I really really wish I hadn't decided to go forged internals, really feels like so much more time and money than it's worth. Ugh.
 
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#2 ·
before you rant, measure bore size. I’d not be surprised if the bores are not what they were supposed to.
metric piston rings in std sizes are normally spaced for precisely that bore, so in your case 87.500mm.
have you always measured the ring gap at the same depth in the cylinder?
Was a honing brace mounted if the block was bored with one? If not, bores will be slightly distorted without a head or brace mounted.
 
#3 · (Edited)
before you rant, measure bore size. I’d not be surprised if the bores are not what they were supposed to.
metric piston rings in std sizes are normally spaced for precisely that bore, so in your case 87.500mm.
have you always measured the ring gap at the same depth in the cylinder?
Was a honing brace mounted if the block was bored with one? If not, bores will be slightly distorted without a head or brace mounted.
Yeah I've thought of that and I'm kinda worried about it. I don't have a micrometer that goes 3-4", I guess I could try with my digital caliper, but I don't think that would give me the accuracy I'd need.
I'm just confused because the 1st rings were perfectly fine, and I gave the shop my pistons so they could bore the block out with .0025" of piston to wall clearance, so if they did do that, then ig maybe Wiseco sent me pistons that are too large?
I have no idea if they used a honing brace or not.
I think 88mm rings will resolve my situation, but I just hope that they send them to me for free, as I really don't want to pay $100+ for a full ring set when I just need the 2nd rings.

Edit: Yeah I measured the ring gap at the same distance in the cylinder. Used an 87mm piston with the 2nd ring on to square ring in bore
 
#6 ·
When I asked a shop about an honing brace, they did not have one for a K20, but offered to make me one.
So now I am the owner of a like 2” thick aluminium hone brace, a set of head bolts and an old head gasket to go with it. I had a second block done with it and shipped it to a friend for an other engine.
 
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