reuse a bottom oil ring???

Hey guys, i went to put my cylinders on my pistons today and fucked up one of my very bottom oil rings. I still have all eight identical rings that came out. However i dont know which cylinders they each came from, and i know a few cylinders were having blowby and burning some oil. Would it be a bad idea to reuse just one old bottom ring?? Itll cost me $67 (shipping included) to get a new complete ring set for one piston. Talk about an expensive mistake. Just looking for your opinions if you would just swap it out an not worry about it. Thanks in advance.

That's a tough one. If your intention for the bike is high I'd just grab the wallet and do it right. That said, I think you should be able to get away with reusing the old rings. I'd measure end gap, both inside the cylinder and out, and inspect them close first though.

cafebrat wrote: Hey guys, i went to put my cylinders on my pistons today and fucked up one of my very bottom oil rings. I still have all eight identical rings that came out. However i dont know which cylinders they each came from, and i know a few cylinders were having blowby and burning some oil. Would it be a bad idea to reuse just one old bottom ring?? Itll cost me $67 (shipping included) to get a new complete ring set for one piston. Talk about an expensive mistake. Just looking for your opinions if you would just swap it out an not worry about it. Thanks in advance.

I couldn't put an old ring in because it would drive me crazy. And I did the same thing as you (broke an oil ring putting it back together). If you plan to keep it and ride it, $67 isn't much to do it right.

Before I put my cyl on Jay at Ape and the owner of Redline told me both that the main thing is to watch that I don't roll over a oil ring...... that plus reading on here that several others did it on theirs just about had me a nervous wreck. All I could imagine was scoring up one of the pistons or cylinders. Was worried sick till it started.

I'll let others with more experiance tune in on buying a new one but it would worry me to death too.

Yeah i used a vernier caliper and feeler gauges to check the old rings and none were worthy of going back in. Ill have to order a new set. Fortunately its rent day for my friends who rent rooms from me lol and its tax return season so i can use that mentality to get over the close to $70 mistake i made today. And ill have two new oil rings in case anytjing happens the next time. Thanks for the input guys

Chalk it up to experience. Though little consolation, the error expense will be a drop in the bucket if you keep the bike for awhile. You will be glad once its done right, and only then be able to forget about it. Otherwise

I used to work for a farmer in my teens who told me "the man who never mad a mistake, never made F**k All" I often think of that when I embarrass my self by doing something silly or by rushing.

I messed up something on my main bearings on my V8 by not thinking correctly when I was rebuilding that, new is the only way to go for peace of mind and the satisfaction of a job done well.

daveo wrote: Chalk it up to experience. Though little consolation, the error expense will be a drop in the bucket if you keep the bike for awhile. You will be glad once its done right, and only then be able to forget about it. Otherwise

Yup paying for a new set of rings is better than taking the top end off for that one ring later on.

OEM rings? My Wiseco's are $12 a set.
Steve

1 pc, replace, 3 pc. reuse. On strong built motors I clip 1 notch of the expander of the 3 pc rings to reduce cylinder wall tension. Never noticed any added oiling issues or consumption.

Les

I don't know if you had a bore job or anything done, but if you end up doing that, tell the machinist you want a good chamfer on the bottom on the cylinders, when I do mine, re-install is easy, no ring compressor or anything used, pistons just slip in with a bit of tension put on the rings by hand.

I honed the cylinders, not bored. Everything would have gone together pretty easy if that one ring didn't roll over.

Swest, my model calls for different rings than every other model( part# 13008-5055). I can only find them direct from Kawasaki