I have to pull out the new motor already b/c the rings are shot after only 1500 miles. While I'm in there, is it a good idea to replace the bearing too or if they look OK should I leave them in? It seems best to replace them b/c I'm going to have to go through the break in procedure again anyway b/c of the new rings, but it's just something I've been debating. What do you guys think?

 

"if" they look good, why replace them? that is the answer.

would you replace a music cd with the same music cd in the shame shape? I guess if your one those "for $hits n giggles" type poeple u could. lol

 

why are you replacing rings after 1500 miles? i think it'd be foolish not to replace the bearings even if you had 1 miles on them, they're still used, and even worse you're going to have to handle them again

 

They're being replaced b/c like I said, they're shot already. Not sure why, but hopefully I'll find out when I take it apart. I think I'm going to go ahead and replace the bearings too. Can't hurt. Thanx guys.

 

If the rings failed after 1500, the thing you want to replace is the guy who built the engine...

 

You want me to replace myself?

It was the first motor I put together myself. Once I got the motor finished and in the car I had a lot of overheating problems which I think substantially weakened the rings and they eventually cracked. They were gapped and installed properly so I don't know why else they would have gone bad so soon. We'll see soon!

 

I dunno, seems like if the engine got hot enough to damage cast iron rings the poor aluminum pistons would have liquified.

What end gap did you use for the compression rings?

 

I seem to remember, the problem here is oil burning....

If you "cracked the rings", the symptom would be blowby, not oil burning. Oil rings don't "crack".

I also seem to recall that replacing the intake gaskets would be "too much work" to just shotgun and thereby eliminate as a possible cause.

What has changed, to suddenly make you want to tear the whole thing down to its nuts and bolts? Heads, intake, bottom end, exhaust, R&R, the whole nut? Or is there more to this than you've posted so far?

Do you actually know yet why it's burning oil? If not, you might end up doing all that ring changing and stuff, put it all back together, and it still be burning oil.

I'd suggest sitting down, clearing your head, and thinking about it a little bit, and attacking the problem in a logical fashion, rather than getting frustrated and just ripping it to shreds. The problem might be something really simple and easy to fix. It might save you a whole lot of work and money.