
Originally Posted by
Rico
I'm sorry I forgot to mention this VERY IMPORTANT note about reusing the pistons.
Whatever you do with the pistons, if you're installing new rings, make absolutely sure there is no carbon in the ring lands. New rings and carbon do not get along. The carbon will decrease the amount of compression distance for the ring when they get up to temperature. If the ring has nowhere to go when it expands it'll wreak havoc on the cylinder walls and possibly break the rings or snap the lands. Just another common mistake of the novice.
An easy way to clean the lands (chemicals won't help here):
Take an old ring and snap it in half
Use the broken ring to scrape the carbon from the lands
Make sure you can see nice clean aluminum at the bottom of each land
Try not to remove any aluminum from the land surfaces that are perpendicular to piston travel
If the ring has to much play in the land it will twist back and forth on every cycle and eventually snap
Let me know if you're installing new rings and I'll explain how to check another very important thing: ring gap
Hope this helps