Piston ring gaps

G'day, I have taken the rings off the pistons and have measured the gaps with the rings being inserted into the bore as the Kawasaki manual says to do on page 151 (1977 KZ 1000). In table H26 it says the gap should be between 0.04-0.08 for the top ring and 0.03-0.07 for the 2nd ring. Is this fair dinkum or is this a misprint. I can believe 0.4-0.8 of a millimeter but not 4 one hundreths of a millimeter. Maybe I am wrong and all the rings are worn and need replacing because all of my measurements are around the 0.3-0.6 mm. Any ideas, regards Neil

3cav84a wrote: G'day, I have taken the rings off the pistons and have measured the gaps with the rings being inserted into the bore as the Kawasaki manual says to do on page 151 (1977 KZ 1000). In table H26 it says the gap should be between 0.04-0.08 for the top ring and 0.03-0.07 for the 2nd ring. Is this fair dinkum or is this a misprint. I can believe 0.4-0.8 of a millimeter but not 4 one hundreths of a millimeter. Maybe I am wrong and all the rings are worn and need replacing because all of my measurements are around the 0.3-0.6 mm. Any ideas, regards Neil

Perhaps confusing H26 groove clearance with H29 end-gap clearance

Note thickness gauge for H26 is between piston-land and side of ring.

Good Fortune!

Thanks just went out to shed and saw the error of my ways, thanks

3cav84a wrote: G'day, I have taken the rings off the pistons and have measured the gaps with the rings being inserted into the bore as the Kawasaki manual says to do on page 151 (1977 KZ 1000). In table H26 it says the gap should be between 0.04-0.08 for the top ring and 0.03-0.07 for the 2nd ring. Is this fair dinkum or is this a misprint. I can believe 0.4-0.8 of a millimeter but not 4 one hundreths of a millimeter. Maybe I am wrong and all the rings are worn and need replacing because all of my measurements are around the 0.3-0.6 mm. Any ideas, regards Neil

It's easy to estimate: nominal ring end gap is always in the ball park of .003" - .004" per inch of bore diameter. Sorry that's not in metric, but it's right. The maximum limit number is probably about twice that.

all of my measurements are around the 0.3-0.6 mm. Any ideas, regards Neil

I think that would be about .012" - .024" which is probably in spec.