Sick the hounds on her!

 

Right now I am going to wait and see what happens. The Total Seal rings are expensive as heck. I am thinking about just buying one piston and also a set of rings for just the one broken piston and then put new bearings in it and put it all back together. If I some home have the money then I'll spring the gapless rings.

She still has a few things here. I have to go find a lawyer today and go from there. I'll let the lawyers talk that way I don't get into trouble. Because I have really been having a heck of a time keeping my mouth shut. But if I was to let loose it could make things way worse.

 

If you go with the Total Seal rings, install a regular ring for the top one, use the Total Seal on the second ring & Total Seal oil ring. Less blow by & less oil consumption. I used them on a race engine (355 Chev) & it ran 3 years without trouble. We were running consistently at about 7500 RPM at the end of the straight, 5800 coming out of the corners.

Sorry to hear about the missus, but sometimes life takes a right turn into the wall.

 

Mark,
Not trying to argue with you but that is the opposite of what the guy from Total Seal told me to do. He said that using the gapless ring on the second ring was for engines that were more worn and the top gapless ring was for new engines. Also that you lost 15-20% of the power gained by going with the gapless ring in the #2 position instead of the top.
Now you're giving me real world advice so that seems to be better advice than just something I got from an employee.

 

Thats also in a better CHEVY motor.

 

Because ENGINES are supposed to blow smoke out the tail pipe, rattle and leak oil like it's got holes poked in it right?

 

Wow. This a great thread on the engine build. And extra info from all. Hey you, has some great info as well. All the others input to go with it is like a compleat how to book. Iv bin collecting parts for this build as well so I'm taking notes ( screen shots) yup, I am that lazy..lol . I'm in no rush, so I'll learn from you guys.... I really have nothing to share, or add so iv just bin reading along. I have used the same heads, and rockers. Impressive improvement I thought. Very sorry you have to go through all this separation, and lawyer crap. Iv bin there and survived. Just barely.... But that was a life ago. I found the right amount of crazy to marry this time. A balance is important.

 

Pictures are worth a thousand words I tell you what. They(the pics) helped me to determin that the builder had no clue on what he was doing. DO NOT use gappless rings with KB HYPER slugs. Without the top ring there is no point. KB Hyper slugs require a ring gap factor (not factory spec) on the top ring or you will break the ring land. KB HYPER slugs dont expand as much to heat. There also slightly larger for a slightly tighter fit without the rings(less expansion)but with a proper ring gap should be no tighter then any other slug. You mentioned the slugs were tight to remove. This leaves me to believe that the builder did not follow KB ring gap factor. With long stroke motors(here where chattin about a mopar 408) where the slugs have a short compression height and the wrist pin leaves a gap there in the ring land. Special care needs to be taken with the oil control spacer. This spacer needs to be installed on the bottom to support the oil rings. Looking at your pictures the builder installed this spacer on the top. Big no no with these types of slugs and a factor why it burned oil in all cylinders as your pictures show. On Mopar small block strokers the bottom of the cylinder bores should be clearanced(grind small half moon) for the rod not the rod bolt or oil pan rail. Most of the time the rod doesnt hit the bore so nothing has to be done but the clearance there should be checked. Oiling and bearings. Full groove champfered bearings. Full groove for better oiling and champfered because well you have to with a stroker crank. oiling mods all over the block to help direct the oil were it needs to be. Like matching the oil pump to main cap. There is a slight off set there. Theres more but gotta chat about how cam timing changes the compression of a motor.

 

ClubCab,
Please explain some more on what your saying. What spacer are you talking about? Also you say there is more info you could add about oiling and such so plz add!!! When I get ready to put this engine back together I want to make sure I am doing it right. And based on your statements I should not run the gapless rings period with the KB slugs. So what rings do you recommend for my application? Moly or chrome? I read the special instructions that come with the KB slugs about gapping the rings.
Also on the Hughes Engine web site they have a list of oiling mods for our engines. Is this what you are talking about needing to be done? Share you knowledge please.

 

Here are the vintage Herb McCandless oiling system mods for the A-engine - I'd take the part about the Milodon oil pan and swivel pickup with a grain of salt for street builds:




A ENGINE OIL MODIFICATION


In an A engine with a solid or roller lifter cam, we highly recommend installing the Chrysler P4120603 lifter oil block off tube kit. Regardless of whether you use a hydraulic, solid, or roller cam, we recommend the following modifications.


Purchase an 8” to 10” long 9/32 drill bit. Remove the main caps. On the mains number 1-2-3-4 there is an oil passage which goes from the top on the main saddles to the lifter galley on the passenger side on the block. Slowly drill these 4 passages to 9/32”. Cast iron is very hard to drill without the bit trying to hang up, so do not try to rush this job. If you happen to break the bit, you will have real problems.


Take your oil pump and drill the neck of the pump (the section between the rotor and the main cap) ½” Take a sand paper roll (the kind used in porting heads) and go in the pump above the rotors and debur and slick the area above the rotors. You will need to slick the hole in the pump neck that you have drilled also. Drill to ½” the rear main cap where the oil goes through and polish with sandpaper roll.


You will need a 10” long ½” drill bit for the next step. With the rear main cap removed, look in the hole where the oil goes into the block. There is a 9/16” freeze plug which diverts the oil through the oil filter. Remove this plug by inserting a ¼” rod through the hole where the oil pressure gauge goes in the top side of the block. Drill the hole ½” up to the lifter galley where the plug was removed. Remove the oil filter and any adapter plates from the block. Remove the pipe plug from the block that is under the filter. Drill to ½” both holes that go from the filter to the passage that leads the lifter galley. Now remove the pipe plug in the rear of the block behind the oil filter and drill this passage to the center of the oil filter bolt ½”.


DO NOT DRILL PASSAGES FROM THE MAINS TO THE CAMSHAFT. DO NOT RESTRICT THE OIL TO THE ROCKER ARMS.


Once all passages are drilled, completely clean the block very well. We use Milodon #34010 brush kit to clean all the oil passages. Once the block is clean, replace the 9/16” plug that diverts the oil to the filter and the plug under the oil filter. If you make the above modification, you have greatly increased the volume of oil that fees the crankshaft and the bearings of your A engine.
We highly recommend the Milodon 10 quart oil pan with the swivel pickup. This system comes with a pump cover and a 1 ¼” rotor. Using the long rotor greatly increases the oil volume. The swivel pickup makes sure there is always oil at the pickup. Also use fully grooved (wide groove) main bearings. We do not recommend stock type oil pans that have been cut and deepened as these pans can run out of oil under acceleration or deceleration. They are not baffled properly. While the cost of a good oil system is expensive, it is not nearly the price of a new engine.