I seem to be all take and not much give at the moment so apologies!! New set of rings, old pistons, bores have been glaze busted... seems very stiff to turn over - needs approx 20ftlbs on the crank to turn it over - I've only got the heads held finger tight with 2 nuts to keep the cylinders in place and no plugs in so there is a smidge of compression there but not too much. I'm worried about going further until someone assures me this is normal! It seemed much looser before (obviously) but is this too tight? the new rings did have a lot of spring in them and I'm wondering if they are gripping the bores a bit too much??
Plugs out - I have re-oiled the bores by pulling the pots up far enough to expose the gudgeon pin but not pop the rings out. I think I'm being a bit over paranoid but I don't want a breakage or seizure after all this work!!!
There will be a fair bit of resistance , the rings are new and will take time to bed in . Also there will be the compression ,
Not sure if this applies to VWs, but did you gap your rings to your barrel bores? Paul Weeding will know if this is necessary on your engine build.
Yeah, new rings on their own will need gapping!! well at the very least checking... really easy to do, pull the rings off the piston, and insert them one at a time in the barrel... haynes lists a feeler gauge measurement for the amount of gap between the ends of the ring If it's tight, then you can pop the ring out and gently file the end to increase the gap
New rings and honed barrels will feel tight, but in a good and rather reassuring way. As you've posted I think you'd be wise to do as the boys say and gap the rings. Careful you don't break one. You should only really need to do one ring as they're a set but if it's tight you might want to check them all.
Rings have been gapped, everything is within tolerance or I wouldn't have saved the old Bs and Ps. I did only do the top compression ring at various points down the bore. I was just concerned that it was so tight but didn't want to ASSUME it would bed itself in.... Pistons are standard so if anything the gaps are a smidge on the looser side, but I'm happy to potentially sacrifice half a percent of compression for safetys sake.
Going back to your original post (as I jumped in on silvers tag) Is that 20ft/lbs on the crank pulley nut?? If it is, then that's about normal for a new build
theres no real tight spots as such - it obviously feels tighter as the pistons reach their limit and then return in the opposite direction, but all of the pistons move easily on the small ends and the big ends moved nicely on the crank so all I'm left with is "ring friction" (there's a joke there somewhere!) I've commited now and torqued the heads up - engine in soon and I'll soon know if its ok or not!!!
When I do a fresh build start, I get oil pressure, and then give the engine a good 15secs worth of cranking to make sure everything is well oiled You can often hear a note change as the galleries fill up with oil too!!
Yeah i always crank it over loads with the coil disconnected As paul says it allows the oil pressure to build and oil to circulate everywhere Also if there are any problems id rather find them with just the starter cranking the engine over rather than it firing as you have more chance of saving it
