Piston Rings
 

I recently pulled my motor which has about 900 miles on it to install a windage tray and main cap support(I should have done this to start with) and decided to take a better look at the motor to see how things were inside.When I pulled the pistons I discovered that the second compression ring on six out of the eight pistons where broken which explained the carbon build up with such low mileage.I know I gapped the rings to spec so what in the hell could have happened?I suppose I could have over stressed them when I installed them and yes I did use a ring spreader but I doubt it though.The rings where Federal Mogule and Im thinking of going to Total Seal.I am running a Vortech "S" trim so my two guetions are,What made the rings break and do I get rid of the K.B. Hyperutecs and go to forged pistons.With only 900 miles on the block I havent beat up on the motor at all thats why the piston ring breakage has got me concerned.Thanks in advance for any in put.

My guess is that even though you checked the ring end gap, it still wasn't enough. Remember you're running a blower, and that's a little extra heat. Either that, or mebbe you were given the wrong rings, or even a bad set. Sorry about your luck, dude. http://www.mustangworks.com/interact...oard/frown.gif

If I remember correctly, the second rings are perfectly square. My concern is if they were put on upside-down??? Maybe yours are shaped and supposed to go in a certain way??? Hope you find the problem, it sounds pretty severe.

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Capri306, Moderator, The Mustang Works Online
1979 Mercury Capri, 5.0L -- C4 -- 2.73
1987 Mustang LX Notch http://smilecwm.tripod.com/net3/wink2.gif <--- New Timeslips

Yeah ditto on the blower thing. Did the ring instructions come with a gap setting for blown orr nitroused engines? I know they need to be gapped due to more heat and from my understanding the KB hypereutectics are really demanding when it comes to ring gap and piston clearence! Might want to contact there tech dept. (KB). Anyways I've heard of more than a few sets of KB pistons going south because the guys building the engines just slapped them in.

I could be wrong but I don't think they recommend running superchargers with hypereutectic pistons. You should either be running Federal Mogul: Plasma-Moly, Pro-Series, and Hellfire Top Rings. The gap should be between .024-.026 for the top and second ring.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the input guys,I spoke with the people at Total Seal and the said the same thing so it looks like Ill go with the forged pistons while I have the motor apart.Thanks again.