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Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:27 pm

Ive read on here your not supose to put oil on the rings when installing new??? Ive built quite a few v8s and always have. Whats the deal?

Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:13 pm

It's not like you're dipping the piston in oil before you install it in the bore, I've done everything from painstakingly applying a thin film to each ring before it was installed to just lightly oiling the cylinder. Either way I've never noticed a difference, something tells me the pistons get more than enough oil from the crank flinging it around as soon as it starts anyway.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:36 pm

This is another one of those hugely debated topics that nobody will agree on.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 2:11 pm

My own method - after cleaning the hell out of everything, I give it all a wipe with oil.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 2:48 pm

I've done both with success. If you don't end up oiling the barrels, oil the piston skirts.

Mark Tucker says to "knock the tooth off", meaning to smooth out the high spots from the hatching process of the final hone. This will give you better compression and avoid ring damage. I agree with him. I've never done it before, but it will become a regular practice for me because it's just too easy to do. Use 3M pads or the hard green dish scrubbers to rough them up. Just by hand. Afterwards clean really well and wipe them with a white cloth until no more residue can be seen on the cloth.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:36 pm

got it ! thanks

Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:35 pm

I don't use engine oil, but do wipe a thin coat of gun oil on the cylinders. It provides very little lubrication, but excels at preventing corrosion and that is why I use it. Even though I bag my engines when I'm not working on them, humidity does get in.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:31 pm

I assemble dry. After the engine is complete I fill with oil and with the engine on the engine stand, rock or tilt the engine over to each side for 30 seconds or so. You will lube the pistons, cylinders, and valvetrain. I then squirt a squirt or two of oil in each spark plug hole with my oil can luber.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:53 pm

The idea is to avoid excessive oil in the combustion chamber and ring grooves, the old method of dipping the ring in oil then fitting it does this, so modern builders usually oil the cylinder, or apply a thin film to the outside edges of the ring with a finger. This is the preferred method if using a cylinder treatment such as quickseat or DFL.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:10 am

i agree...

the thing is.. with newer engines or actually most engines aside from ours

you install the piston from the top of the block/bore

if you oil the rings too much.. oil the bore like its bleeding LOL
its fine.. think about it
when u install the pistons by way of ring compressor and tapping it with a mallet

the rings will scrape the oil keeping it below itself on the oil ring and skirts
so from the get go.. theres not much oil that will get to the chamber on start up, even after installing all4 pistons or even all 8 on a v8.. rotate the crank over and over.. and it will have minimal oil above the ring pack (piston crown) cuz the rings scrape it...

for us.. most install the pistons from under the barrel..
so the rings scrape the oil yes... but to the top LOL

so, we must work around that , knowing the oil gets scraped by the rings during assembly and crank rotation before start up...

Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:43 am

No matter what you do, it's all gone in the first five seconds after first start up.
Insignificant in an engine with a life of 160,000 miles or so

Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:58 pm

VWCOOL wrote: No matter what you do, it's all gone in the first five seconds after first start up.
Insignificant in an engine with a life of 160,000 miles or so all gone??? your kidding your self.
I dont use scotchbrite or anything like that on cylinders or any part of the engine(gm acctuly has a tsb on that stuff,it cause lots of issues)I use 400 wet in my hand.or with my sunnen hone(jhu820 or an 501I think is the an #)sometimes ehu820.
it's funny how ring manufactures say "use no oil" in the ring instructions. I wonder why?????????????I gess they dont know shit.like me.!!
did you also know wd40 can kill an engine????boom kanock kanock thump bang!!.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:47 pm

all gone burned to carbon deposits stuck in the chamber

all different quality and amount per chamber
making 4 different combustion strength/quality for the rest of the engine's life

8)

Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:25 pm

I believe it's actually carbon or other gunk in the ring grooves is the main problem.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:05 pm

mark tucker wrote: VWCOOL wrote: No matter what you do, it's all gone in the first five seconds after first start up.
Insignificant in an engine with a life of 160,000 miles or so all gone??? your kidding your self.
I dont use scotchbrite or anything like that on cylinders or any part of the engine(gm acctuly has a tsb on that stuff,it cause lots of issues)I use 400 wet in my hand.or with my sunnen hone(jhu820 or an 501I think is the an #)sometimes ehu820.
it's funny how ring manufactures say "use no oil" in the ring instructions. I wonder why?????????????I gess they dont know shit.like me.!!
did you also know wd40 can kill an engine????boom kanock kanock thump bang!!.

Oh, sorry. I think I took your info along with someone else's and mashed them up. 400 grit wet? That's what I'll do. ScotchBrite is a metallic scrubber, isn't it? I mean that plastic-ish abrasive scrubber.

Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:25 pm

Well i think thats really logical that between the compresion and oil ring there shouldnt be any type of oil. Cause its gonna stay there for ever and logicaly stick in the groove as carbon.

But another thing i learned on this forum on those type of questions which looks like Religion is do it any way you want it, your engine is going to run, and will run pretty fine.

There are people running 40 years putting oil on rings and there engines are fine, as they are running 20w50 oil :p

Mon Feb 03, 2014 11:30 pm

scotchbrite is the plastic stuff,keep it away from the engine.
you do not oil the rings with quickseat either Ive used it formany many years. (techline product)
if you ahev ever pulled apart an engine with low milesthat some guy built that did not have a clue as to just what oil does and you can see the oil still in the chamber,in the ports,inbetween the rings, mostly a nice stickey goo. oil is for brarings& other lubrication.the rings will get whatever they need by the oil CONTROL rings. you can if you wish add a small amount of spray oil to the cylinders after the pistons have been put in then wipe it out and turn the motor througha few times then wipe out again. this is about the only place that wd40 wont hurt the motor.if used sparengly & wiped out.or 10 wt then wiped clean, and not alowed to get to the top ring.another thing you could use is 2 stroke oil then wipe out, you could probably leave a little thicker coat in there for long term storage, or fogging oil.these types of oil are ment to be burnt.engine oil is not.

Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:31 am

mark tucker wrote: VWCOOL wrote: No matter what you do, it's all gone in the first five seconds after first start up.
Insignificant in an engine with a life of 160,000 miles or so all gone??? your kidding your self.
.

OK. Maybe...but I got half a million or so KM on five or six fresh engines - street and track, VWs and V8s - that says otherwise

Tue Feb 04, 2014 5:01 am

I use WD-40 if it's goint to be run soon,Rings seat very quickly :wink: If built then stored/shelved I use fogging oil

Tue Feb 04, 2014 8:58 am

madmike wrote: I use WD-40 if it's goint to be run soon,Rings seat very quickly :wink: If built then stored/shelved I use fogging oil thats a good way to do it,the wd isant realy a lub but does a little and keeps rust away in short term situations.under no sercomstance(there's that spellen thing again) spray the crank or bearings or cam with wd40,dont do it,wd is a barrier spray and can& will keep the oil from touching the parts it is sprayed with.and can leed to over heated parts/burnt bearing with little lube even though they have oil. the wd will shed/repell the oil. if you do use it for spraying off parts to keep flash rust off make sure you get it off before assembly.(thats what rustlick is made for,so parts dont rust when coming out of the washer and it's oil soilable,wd isant)