Ok I had my block I bought from a friend honed at a machine shop because the bore wear wasn’t bad and the LT1 pistons I had from another block that has been put on hold, installed on the PM rods that came with the engine (one I just bought has stronger rods than the ’94 LT1, go figure). It is a '92 crate engine built for a '79 and earlier, non-smog cars even though mine uses smog stuff since it's an '85 TPI. The heads that it came with have the port for smog in the center by the intake side. That is the only thing that the smog system needs, right? I’ve ported them out and bought a custom, dual pattern cam (I rushed myself to quickly and ended up finding a better combination of cam timing, but it’s too late to say I want to exchange it. I used Dyno2003 for my figures. Should be better as far as MPG go), and am keeping the stock crank for now because it did have chamfered oil holes and rolled fillets, but I didn’t get the block balanced because of money issues (If I end up tearing it apart I will get a eagle crankshaft and get it all balanced). ARP bolts in the rods and they are really a tight fit and ARP head bolts. Anyhow the rings that they ordered were $100 and said to be moly which I don’t really doubt, but I want to make sure because I don’t know the brand and I can’t seem to find them online (not specifically for the rings I got). What do you think? Can you tell by the pictures? Ever heard of them? Will there be any problems using LT1 pistons in a non-LT1 block? I see oil holes at the top of the piston, is there anything different about the LT1 block or assy that lets oil go up to the piston and through those holes (remember reading something about it, but didn’t fully say)?

 

Don't bother building it if you're not going to balance it.

 

I can get the crank balanced maybe, but not the whole thing. With the pistons already installed and the connecting rod ARP bolts being as tight as they are, I don't want to mess anything up. The machine shop that put them in doesn't have a rod seperator so I can't get it done there and don't feel like going to someone else and losing more time. This engine needs to get built.

 

After my experience with Enginetech rings, I wouldn't put them in my lawn mower. I stupidly didn't mention what kind of rings I wanted when the engine was originally built, and thats what I ended up with.

They never seated right, and it burned oil like crazy. I asked a reputable local builder about them, and he says they're a budget ring that he would only use if asked, and he wouldn't recommend them. I rebuilt it over the winter, had the block honed again and installed Total Seal gapless. Hasn't smoked since.

BUT - That engine did wipe a cam lobe on startup with the Enginetech's, which didn't help things.

 

Wow, so far I've never had a problem with Enginetech's products, and I've used quite a bit of them. Problem with saying that the Enginetechs didn't seal, is that there's lots of issues that affect ring sealing ability, and one of the main issues is cylinder wall finish. I'm not trying to say that your block wasn't machined properly, but there's a lot more to ring seal than JUST rings.

Anyway, like I said, so far so good with Enginetech's stuff, I've been very impressed...

Oh, and those are definetly moly rings. You can tell because the top ring has a lighter color around the cylinder wall sealing surface.

 

Thanks for the input. I talked to them and they sond pretty reliable. They are official suppliers to IROC

 

i'd suspect the wrong finish is the cause of the rings nor sealing more so that the rings being the problem. cheap rings usually seal very fast, just don't last long.

 

Please feel free to suspect what you'd like as being the problem, but here's what I responded to:

An opinion was asked for, and it appears both myself and Joel07 has or is running this brand of rings. So whether they supply IROC, NASCAR or whatever, it doesn't matter......I ran them and had a negative experience with them myself but I hope you have better luck.

 

along the lines of what confuzed said, i won't run clevite parts anymore in anything of my own. i returned a set of bearings for a BBC to jegs 5th ave. store and the guy took them and when i said i don't use them any more he got all pissy saying NHRA, IROC, NASCAR, etc. all used them with no problems. does anyone really thing any of them buy their parts off the shelf at the local parts store.

 

LOL!! Got that right!! Stuff like that, all you can really go off of is your personal experience. I've used Enginetech rings, but they are definetly a budget ring, like confuzed said. I didn't mention that in my response. All the motors I've used them in were stock, or mild motors. If I was really building one up, I'd go with Sealed Power rings. Never been a fan of Total Seal. Anyway, I'm getting OT here. Good luck with the build!

 

ok, called around and just posting this as an FYI. This is what I also learned, or heard yesterday:

There are 2 different manufacturers that make rings, but different companies call them and have them build their rings to certain specs and that's how you get the different qualities. The ppl at the machine shop said they were basically sealed power, moly rings, in a enginetech box and fedural mogal makes sealed power so I can imagine that they are one of the 2 manufacturing companies. Anyone have any more input on that or corrections?

BTW, the cheap rings seat faster because they are cast iron. Moly rings should take 2x as long or something close to that (he also said pasma moly and moly were the same thing, but I could have sworn I've seen then sold with both names and the plasma-molys were more expensive and that there were crome ones?). He also said the moly was electrically attached to the metal rather than by heat which I think he said was better.

Last question, but did you make sure to stager your rings so they don't have much of a chance to align and leak that way? Are you sure the oil ring expander wasn't overlapping or the holding rings for it might have missed a groove?

 

Doesn't surprise me. Just like cams, lifters, and a lot of other stuff. I knew Enginetech didn't make their own parts, but really didn't know who they bought from.

You're right about the cheap cast rings. Seat quickly, don't last a long time. We use em in the race car all the time, since it'll be torn down and refreshed at least once a year. As far as moly vs. plasma moly, they both have a moly facing. Plasma moly has the moly facing plasma welded to the ring. Plain moly just has the moly facing cast into the ring. Not a huge difference, but the plasma moly's should be slightly stronger.

There's also chrome rings, which OEM's sometimes use, but they are extremely hard, and tend to wear out bores unless there is a super-hard cylinder wall surface.

One more thing, I cringe everytime I hear someone say "chrome-moly" rings. There's no such thing!!!

There's chrome, and there's moly, but no chrome-moly...

 

i thought engine tech's stuff was manufactured in brazil ? Anyway, no experience with them, I'm running the skinny sealed power moly rings.