|
Next, the rings are put onto the piston. This particular piston kit uses a 1/16, 1/16, 3mm set with nitrided steel top rings and Napier second rings that Brian Nutter says offer "excellent oil control and phenomenal sealing. Many dyno facilities with blow-by meters (including Wiseco's own in-house dyno) confirm these hi-tech rings often have the lowest amount of blow-by they've ever measured. The key to this is superior ring machining for the flattest, roundest, and finest surface possible. Although this technology seems like overkill for a street engine, Wiseco feels these racing technologies are more important in street-driven engines due to the life expectancy required." Again, the updated `X' piston kit includes rings said to be even better! At the suggestion of Judson Massingill, Wiseco also sent us a different set of oil ring expanders (from a 4.020-in. ring set) to use in order reduce oil ring tension and free up even more power. According to Massingill, piston and ring friction accounts for around half of frictional losses in an engine, with the oil rings representing up to 60 percent of ring-related friction, so gains here can be substantial--the ring set can amount to 15 percent of BHP, he says! While the tradeoff will be a bit of additional oil consumption, this is not much of a concern on an engine that isn't destined for daily driver duty (after all, we're by no means shooting for fuel economy on this build). View Related Article
|
|