TOPIC:

I have not confirmed the cause of the oil loss. The head gasket was definitely blown which contributed to a lot of it, however I noticed oil on the #4 spark plug so I believe the #4 oil control ring is bad. The PO replaced the valve guide seals and the engine doesn't smoke on start up so I believe they were actually replaced. When I reinstalled the jugs last year I did it alone trying to compress all 4 rings with my hands at the same time. I wouldn't doubt one of them snapped. I'll have some help this year so the plan is to put new rings on all the pistons and hone all of it. Ill take a look at that website to make sure I'm honing it right

Replace the seals with Viton seals just for GP.
Steve

Do not hone any cylinder you are re-using the rings on.
Only hone if new rings are being fitted to that bore.
Make sure the rings have not been installed the wrong way up.

zed1015 wrote: Do not hone any cylinder you are re-using the rings on.
Only hone if new rings are being fitted to that bore.
Make sure the rings have not been installed the wrong way up.

I know many people that rehone when reusing rings, and while it may not seem necessary I've yet to hear of any issues resulting from this approach.

Make sure the rings have not been installed the wrong way up.

just what I was thinking.

were the ring gaps checked and within spec?

The finish from a pro after a rebore seems different from what I used to get with my drill mounted 3 leg honing tool, I think it is so important to get just right I will leave it to a machinist in future.

You always take a gamble re-using rings, my thoughts are if you must then use some non synthetic oil and avoid soaking the rings in oil - I think the first few minutes running time is critical to rings bedding-in. so ride it rather than leaving it idling.

What you need to use is a bottle brush type, all it does is get rid of the glaze on the cylinders. Do not use a regular type hone on a used cylinder, those were designed for freshly bored cylinder which are true. The bottle brush style can be used on used cylinders because it can actually break the glaze in cylinders that are not truly round any longer. I always de-glaze cylinders on any engine that I have taken apart even using used or new rings.
I have had really good luck over the years re-using used rings. As long as they are not damaged and the ring gaps are within standards I will re-use them. I will take them off the piston, clean the ring grooves and re-install the rings on the same piston.

www.brushresearch.com/brushes.php?c1=2

I pulled the cylinders off today and saw the base gasket had a big rip in it so I believe both the head and base gaskets were leaking a lot of oil. The rings on the 4th cylinder were installed upside down. I have all of the parts ordered to put it back the right way. I've decided to use the flex hone tool instead of a regular cylinder hone like they sell at sears. What size would I need to buy to do it right?

nickleo373 wrote: I pulled the cylinders off today and saw the base gasket had a big rip in it so I believe both the head and base gaskets were leaking a lot of oil. The rings on the 4th cylinder were installed upside down. I have all of the parts ordered to put it back the right way. I've decided to use the flex hone tool instead of a regular cylinder hone like they sell at sears. What size would I need to buy to do it right?

Check out the enginehones.com link I provided earlier and read what they have to say. I think you can use either a 60mm 240 grit hone or a 57mm 320 grit hone.

nickleo373 wrote: I pulled the cylinders off today and saw the base gasket had a big rip in it so I believe both the head and base gaskets were leaking a lot of oil. The rings on the 4th cylinder were installed upside down. I have all of the parts ordered to put it back the right way. I've decided to use the flex hone tool instead of a regular cylinder hone like they sell at sears. What size would I need to buy to do it right?

OK, personally, I think it is really poor economics to use those rings again. Especially if one set was installed upside down! There is a reason rings are ground and marked with a top and bottom!!
Now the truth is I have reused a set of rings a few times but always ran a bottle brush up and down a few strokes to rough them up a bit to form a fresh wear-in seal

Agreed, I wouldn't think of not giving it a 45* cross hatch before reusing them.
Steve

I reordered all the parts a couple days ago. I decided to redo the entire thing replacing all the gaskets, seals and piston rings. I got the flex hone bottle brush which should be here some point next week.

nickleo373 wrote: I reordered all the parts a couple days ago. I decided to redo the entire thing replacing all the gaskets, seals and piston rings. I got the flex hone bottle brush which should be here some point next week.

No disrespect but I think you are crazy to replace rings that only have 200 miles on them. I'd replace the rings on the hole that was burning oil and run the others.

Of much greater importance is the quality of the gaskets you purchased. I hope you bought OEM Kawasaki gaskets. Aftermarket gaskets are inferior and the quality varies from passable to downright criminal. Athena in particular (light green base gasket) are epically crappy and deserve to go in the fireplace. On second though, maybe not. They will probably give off toxic gas and kill you. Don't take a chance.