good cylinder??

[450R_lover]

I'm going to replace my worn out stock piston this winter sometime and was just wondering if there was anyway to tell if the cylinder is still in good enough shape to use, without using a bore gauge? i dont have a bore gauge and just dont feel like spending the extra dough on one, unless i really need it. is there any way to know if its ok to use, like if its out of round and stuff.. without a bore gauge?
Thanks..

[lumi]

if its a stock piston and the cylinder only been threw one piston... im pretty sure you will be okay, just make sure you got crosshacthing in the cylinder to break in ther new piston and rings... throw a pioston,rings, and pin in there with some new gaskets and you will fine as long as u got some crosshacthing... i would say maybe the third piston swap just check but even than can be too early.



-lumi

[450R_lover]

alright thanks man.. ok.. one thing i want to get straight on also is, what about gapping the rings? is there a good way to go about this without a ring gap file? can i use a regular file? if so how do i do it?
thanks lots

[ricks450]

how many hours do you have on it? motor didnt blow up are anything did it? you can take your finger and finger nail and rub up and down where the piston rubs on the cylinder.right where the piston stops at the top and bottom you will feel a slight rise where the piston stops. meaning where piston rubs up and down will be lower. if you feel anything its probably worn out. i seriously doubt your cylinder is out of round unless you overheated it or something. and if you can still see the cross-etches in your cylinder your fine. you are suppose to have .004 clearance between your cylinder and piston you can take a filler gauge and check that, they are cheap. local advance - auto zone-pep boys will have the gauge. like $10.00 at most. if it is not .004 all the way around the cylinder its out of round or warped. you will have to check that clearance with your new piston thow. not trying to explain this like your dum just i dont know how to really explain this without showing you. so dont take me wrong in anyway.

[ricks450]

Originally posted by ricks450
how many hours do you have on it? motor didnt blow up are anything did it? you can take your finger and finger nail and rub up and down where the piston rubs on the cylinder.right where the piston stops at the top and bottom you will feel a slight rise where the piston stops. meaning where piston rubs up and down will be lower. if you feel anything its probably worn out. i seriously doubt your cylinder is out of round unless you overheated it or something. and if you can still see the cross-etches in your cylinder your fine. you are suppose to have .004 clearance between your cylinder and piston you can take a filler gauge and check that, they are cheap. local advance - auto zone-pep boys will have the gauge. like $10.00 at most. if it is not .004 all the way around the piston its out of round or warped. you will have to check that clearance with your new piston thow. not trying to explain this like your dum just i dont know how to really explain this without showing you. so dont take me wrong in anyway. i cant type worth a**** nether takes me for ever.

[450R_lover]

nah man.. i would never take you wrong for trying to help me out. thanks for explaining it the best you could. What i was askin' though, is if i could use a regular file to file the rings to get the right ring gap. Can i do that? I would like an explanation on how to go about it... like how do i file .. and how do i know how much to file and stuff.. thanks alot

[450R_lover]

haha.. i really appreciate your help, i know it takes alot more heart to type all that when you arent a great typer. haha.. i understand what your goin' through man.. Thanks alot..
:blah:

[lumi]

depdnds on the piston u get and rings.... if so it should come with instructions not sure of the stock oem valve spec gap...

dont forget to set them right..... stock is something like 100 degree's away from each ring gap.... top ring,second ring, oil ring, second oil ring..... im pretty sure its all in the service manual.... i can link u the 04,05 manual if u need it... helps alot.

good luck

-lumi

[450R_lover]

thanks lumi, i got a manual though. i just didnt know if it explained how to gap the rings. how do you know how much to file and stuff is what im wondering. i know that you put the rings on the piston then put it in the cylinder, and put a feeler gauge between the rings and cylinder to see what the gap is. then how do i know how much to file off the rings if it needs to be filed to get a bigger gap? thanks

[450R_lover]

oh .. and its a JE 13:1 thermal coated piston.. if that helps to explain anything????

[ricks450]

Take your rings off the piston and stick them in the cylinder one at a time and measure the gap of each ring. Most likely you won't need to gap your rings because of a little cylinder wear, but if you do, you can take a skinny file or a piece of emery cloth to file ring gap a little bit at a time until you get the proper gap. Make sure you file evenly (straight). Depending on how hard rings are, you might not be able to file them.

[ricks450]

Originally posted by ricks450
Take your rings off the piston and stick them in the cylinder one at a time and measure the gap of each ring. Most likely you won't need to gap your rings because of a little cylinder wear, but if you do, you can take a skinny file or a piece of emery cloth to file ring gap a little bit at a time until you get the proper gap. Make sure you file evenly (straight). Depending on how hard rings are, you might not be able to file them.

Another way is to hone your cylinder, but you can't go too far with that because of the nikacile coating on the cylinder - you don't want it too thin.

[450R_lover]

thanks ricks450r .... everyone keep em' comin'.. trying to gain as much knowledge as i can.. before doing this
Thanks

[lumi]

yup^^^


heres a good read,,, read the captions....


http://www.circletrack.com/howto/4639_maximum_power_piston_rings/



good luck


-lumi

[450R_lover]

thanks again lumi! keep em' comin' everyone!
Thanks

[BSTURDIVANT]

Clean up the cylinder with a skotchbrite pad and check the top ring area like he explained-you can feel a step if worn very far.
Use your stock piston (with the top ring on) and use it to square up the ring in the bore before checking with a feeler guage.Put the ring slightly down the bore and use the top of the piston (upside down) and push the ring down until the top piston ring on the piston touches the top of the cylinder. Most manufacturers have it down to a science when designing rings and the gap will be perfect- we have only seen a few that actually required filing!