Question: Piston Ring HELP!

[bgdowski]

I recently began rebuilding my 1973 1.9L motor and I ran into a little bit of confusion during the rebuild process. I went to OGTS and ordered a set of standard piston rings, but when i pulled them out of the package, they looked completely different from the old rings that are currently on the pistons.

The ones from OGTS look as follows....
Top ring: Single Ring (I get that)

Middle ring: Single Ring and a ring with waves running in relation to the top and bottom of the piston

Bottom ring: Two thin rings and a ring with waves running in relation to the top and bottom of the piston and a ring with waves running in relation to the piston wall and the cylinder wall...

Was I sent the wrong pistons? I went into my shop manual and the piston rings that they show in the manual look nothing like the ones i got from OGTS.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am on a time crunch to get my GT running again.

[Anonymous D]

Some ring sets have a design variation.

I believe (though, this can vary with the ring manufacturer) that the "3-piece" ring, is the middle ring (when part of a 5-piece set).
Top and bottom are generally single rings (Note: This is contradicted by the factory Opel manual).

The locations of the gaps is suggested to be staggered (not parallel, top-to-bottom), to help your compression.
(This excludes performance applications, like Total Seal gapless rings, and similar).
More detail on this topic, is in the Sept/Oct 2007 OMC Blitz.

[bgdowski]

Call me engine retarded, but that didnt help me at all man.... Someone please chime in!

[Anonymous D]

Which shop manual are you using: Opel, Brooklands, Chilton, Clymer, Glenn, or Motor's?
Is the ring set in an Opel package, or is it by another manufacturer?

On the 1973 Opel manual (available as a download on this website), page 6A-21 has an illustration
#6A-35 which shows a multiple-piece ring on the bottom groove. Offhand, I'd guess this is an
Opel factory ring, which might differ in design from aftermarket ring sets.

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by bgdowski Call me engine retarded, but that didnt help me at all man.... Someone please chime in!

How about this? Do you have two thin rings and one convoluted one? The convoluted ring goes in the bottom groove. It is the spacer for the two thin oil scraper rings that go in on the top and bottom of it. Usually this is explained on the wrapper they are packaged in.

HTH,
Harold