Alright, i did use a "cheaper" brand moly ring set, but they shoudl have still sealed up.

I used Hastings moly rings... After the max of 3k miles on the engine and 4 oil changes since, she has blowby, i now use sae50 wt oil to minimise the blowby...

My question is, how come they did this in such a short amount of time?

I do have slight pinging above 4krpm, that i seemingly cant get rid of, and compression on all cylinders is fine. Do i doubt i broke a ring from pinging.

What other charactoristics could cause this to happen so prematurely?

Bores were torque plate honed, all were perfectly round, pistons here Powerforged... Clearances were all to spec... This has got me stumped...

 

if the rings aren't broken the only thing i can think of is there was still some material from the honing stones left in. it takes a lot of scrubbing with soap & hot water to get it all out.
after you get it apart check the end clearance of the old rings.

 

are you sure the rings are right side up and in the right groove. did you use a groove cleaner o nthe pistons, if you aren't careful they'll cut the groove. hasting makes a good ring and have been around for years. if you have a problem with ping there's a change it's hurt a ring, or piston but i doubt it could happen in 3000 miles.

 

I agree. A good autopsy will be time well spent. Anything worse than making a mistake, is pulling an engine for the third time because you made the same mistake again.
Things to look for:
Ring end placement. (what o'clock the gaps are on the piston)
Rings upside down? (easier to do than you think)
Ring side clearance. (that picture we've all seen with a feeler gauge and ring in the piston groove)
and as stated, check the ring end gap after teardown.
As for the pinging, if the engine has blowby, it will consume oil. Oil in the combustion chamber will cause pinging in an 8:1 engine.

 

funny thing is she always pinged... the first few days she pinged with very little timing, and with a lot she pinged just as much. We figured something as far as running lean, but never actually found that to be the case. But above a certain rpm, or a certain strain on the motor, she'll ping... use 89 octane and you cant get past 2krpm before she pings. We assumed the compression was way too high with iron heads... if i use cheap 93 octane, she'll run decent, i guess the water in the gas and what not actually overall increases the octane.

I hope to find something simple, the build was all perfect.

Some people told me hastings ring were ****. I had always thought they were reputable. What would you say?

Are file fit rings a good investment for a N/A motor reving to 7k?

 

First part: need DCR info including quench distance. (actual piston to deck measurment) to see why it pings.
Second part: if the build was perfect, there would be no blowby.
Third part: File to fit rings are more important in non-standard size finished holes, like to get the piston clearance right you would have a ring gap too big on a stock ring.
This is in blower and nitrous apps where stock bore clearances are too tight for the piston.
More important for 7k revs are thinner (like 1/16") rings which will normally give more blowby than stock rings. (aw, shoot)
Hastings rings, along with all modern rings, have come a long way. Properly broken-in, installed, with clean air, and regular oil changes should run over 200K miles.
I'm running stock size moly rings in mine and there's no blowby until it passed 6K. So I have some blowby from 6000 to 6500 from ring flutter. I can live with that. For the street it's better than a little blowby all the time.

 

well engine is coming out within 2 weeks, to be disassembled, and rerung... simple.. will be a great time to check if any other premature wear happened in its first few thousand miles. Doubtful, but possible... Most likely a simple rering with hopefully better tolerances...

and hopefully a clue to my pinging problem...

 

Let us know what you find so future searchers can avoid the same problem.
Here's a checklist:
1. Ring end gap
2. Ring side clearance
3. Ring land & groove condition (detonation damage?)
4. Ring end placement (what o'clock for each ring)
5. Ring orientation (dots, bevels facing up or down)
6. Piston to bore clearance
7. Bore condition (shiny smooth or hone marks still present)

 

definately will...

can anyone recomend a good quality total seal or file fit ring? I see the ones in summit and jegs, and wonder are there any others? $130 ring set isn't bad, but can i get better for the same price...