piston ring gap

[mrdude1400]

i am in the process still of putting in my new pistons and i am fina;;y getting ready to put everything back together, but i want to do it all right the first time. I bought a JE piston and it says that thy highly recomend that i file the ends of the piston rings, in the gap. Can i do this with a file, or should i take it somewhere to do it, or does it really even need to be done? thanks

[mojoe2878]

you need to put them in the cylinder and measure the ring gap to determine if you need to file them down or not.
you can use a hand file to do it, its easy to do and doesnt take long, just be sure to file a little at a time and then check the ring gap again. if you file off too much then you will have to get new rings, just remember you can always file a little more off if you need to but you cant add the matal back on if you file off to much.
i would use a fine file. im not sure what the ring gap should be on the ring set and piston that you have but it should tell you with the card or clearance info sheet that you should have gotten with the piston or ring set.

[F-16Guy]

The oil ring (bottom groove on the piston) does not get gapped. Carefully place one of the top rings into the cylinder about 1/3 way down and square it up in the bore by sliding the piston up from the bottom. Measure the gap. As a rule of thumb, there should be about .004" of gap per inch of cylinder diameter. You can file the rings by hand, but your local auto parts store should have an inexpensive ring filer that will give you a nice clean edge. Always make sure that there are no burrs on the outside edge of the ring from filing before reinserting the ring in the cylinder. Repeat for the next ring, and you're done.

[mrdude1400]

thanks... that helps alot.... now i get to go put it back together. thanks again!