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Old 07-08-2021, 01:14 PM   #1
Pete
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Default Piston rings

For those that might be interested, there is an excellent article in this month's AERA magazine on narrow, ported piston rings and the hp to be gained with them.
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Old 07-08-2021, 05:02 PM   #2
Jack E/NJ
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Default Re: Piston rings

I wonder if they break easier being scored like that? 8^) Jack E/NJ




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Old 07-08-2021, 07:13 PM   #3
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Default Re: Piston rings

I haven't heard of any breakage in the 1-1-2 packs.
I don't know anyone running the .7-.7-1 packs yet.
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Old 07-09-2021, 08:32 AM   #4
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Default Re: Piston rings

Interesting development. May be standard practice some day on flatheads but did notice that special attention has to be given to the cylinder bore finish.




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Old 07-09-2021, 12:26 PM   #5
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Default Re: Piston rings

I've been investigating narrow ring packs for about 6 months.

I noted in the article that they didn't test low tension 3/16 oil rings or that they didn't compare what the ring life might be of the .7mm rings.

In looking into this, I found that the oil ring tension is where the 3/16 ring causes the most loss of HP & TQ.

I was looking a ring packs of 1mm x 1mm x 2mm vs 1/16 x 1/16 x 3/16 and found that there is a 20/22 HP gain, between them and 1/2 of the friction lose of the 1/16 ring pack, was do to the std tension, oil ring. Just by making the oil ring, low tension, you pick up 10 HP.

The cost of the 1mm x 2mm ring pack is twice the cost of the low tension 1/16 x 3/16 or $125 vs $250 so, I've gone with 3/16, LT oil rings for my stuff.

But, for a "all out" flathead build, 10 HP is hard to come by and would be worth it for that type of engine.

The heat thing, might also be beneficial but, would be based on bore area and a 3,312 bore has 17% less area than a 4" bore. I don't remember it giving the bore but, I would guess it was at least a 4" bore engine and the same might apply to the HP lost.
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Old 07-09-2021, 05:03 PM   #6
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Default Re: Piston rings

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Too much information is missing to make a quick judgement. However, as I explained in my book, there are obvious, minimal, advantages to reaction characteristics, weight and tension reductions associated to thin rings with some request fiction reduction.
The performance of these same ring sizes with properly gas ported pistons, as I show in my book, would have been interesting to see in this example.
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Old 07-09-2021, 06:12 PM   #7
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Default Re: Piston rings

Roger on all of that. While that article was about Total Seal rings, I have prefered Mahle rings for the engines I could get the sizes for. Mahle is the biggest ring manufacturer in the world and I like their top ring port design better. We have been using 2 ring pistons with low tension rings for about 10 years now. The hp gains have been published by various authors many times and are well worth persuing. It should also be noted that there are several things that go along with narrow low tension ring packs that are essential to realize the maximum benefit from them. You can't just put them in any engine and expect big numbers.
While discussing all of this, it should be remembered that most of these parts are for all out racing. Maybe some day some of the developments will trickle down to 100K mile street engines.

By the way John, is there a "fiction" reduction also? LOL (just kidding)
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Old 07-09-2021, 07:03 PM   #8
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Default Re: Piston rings

Yes, and requisite, also.
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Old 07-09-2021, 07:46 PM   #9
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Default Re: Piston rings

Quote:
Originally Posted by JWL View Post
Yes, and requisite, also.
Hee hee.
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Old 07-10-2021, 02:44 PM   #10
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Default Re: Piston rings

Is that a 22 hp gain on a Flathead,,,,?
Or a 22 gain on an all out racing engine ,,,like a NASCAR piece ?

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Old 07-10-2021, 06:03 PM   #11
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Default Re: Piston rings

What I researched was in the minimum 4" bore size but, I would say that it would be relative to the circumference of a bore and it may be relative to the stoke length, also.

It was also dealing with 1/16 x 3/16 vs 1mm x 2mm rings, and not the common wider compression rings of the flathead.

The key to getting a idea of how much HP they can save, is to measure the TQ required to turn the engine, after they are installed.
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