The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Threw a penny in the wishing well - - -

tubman · 03-02-2017, 01:40 PM

On our flatheads (at least), the bottom ring is another oil ring. It was added as a stopgap to reduce oil consumption in the early engines. With today's ring technology, it is totally unnecessary and only adds more drag to the cylinder and other complications. Take a look at a modern piston/ring assembly some time.

Now, if your using 70 year old NOS rings, you may want to run the fourth ring, but why would anyone want to do that? Marvin is correct that rings are a stock item and it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to obtain what the OP needs.

03-02-2017, 01:40 PM	#5
tubman Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Minnesota, Florida Keys Posts: 10,316	Re: Threw a penny in the wishing well - - - On our flatheads (at least), the bottom ring is another oil ring. It was added as a stopgap to reduce oil consumption in the early engines. With today's ring technology, it is totally unnecessary and only adds more drag to the cylinder and other complications. Take a look at a modern piston/ring assembly some time. Now, if your using 70 year old NOS rings, you may want to run the fourth ring, but why would anyone want to do that? Marvin is correct that rings are a stock item and it shouldn't be too difficult or expensive to obtain what the OP needs.