To re-ring or not?
 

I'm considering to re-ring my race engine. I did the blowbye test before we took it apart and it came up quite nice. Most cylinders 2-4% and worst (one) cylinder leaked 12%. Didn't see anything wrong with that cylinder or valve seats. There was no edge on the top of the cylinders that I could feel with my fingers, but it could be seen of couse. All the pistons came out of their holes nicely.

So should I use 400-500$ for honing and new file-fit rings or is it waste of money and time?

I'd re-ring if I had it tore down already.

I'm with dparker, on this one if you had one cylinder down 12% you had some kind of problem. Rings lost tension/too much end gap, etc. But i would not use .004/.005 clean-up, just go back with a nice cross hatch, and put file fit rings. NOTE !! if you use nitrous, end gap should be a little more, use ring specs.

JMO

Zip.

Re-Ring it is cheap insurance

4x

If you have run the engine enough to think you might need to re-ring..then you dang sure need to replace them lifters..I learned the hardway on the lifter thing this past March..a Broke lifter will cause you much more headache then you can imagine :!: ..i know this was not your question i just try to save people the headache and expense with my costly experience....in the future if i do ANYTHING to an engine it will be to replace lifters. :D

X2 EXPECIALLY IF IT IS A ROLLER

I lost a very good 454 block because a roller lifter broke...busted the block.

Thanks, but I'm going to reuse my lifters. Under 50 passes on them since new. Valve lash didn't change during season no more than + - 0.010"

Also I rolled them on my hand pressing the roller with my thumb and the needle bearings rolled perfectly without any rought spots.

I do check the valve lash after every raceday, one pass or eight passes. Also I keep log if I have to adjust them so I will know if something is going to some direction.

thats cool...the lifter failure is one of those things that just happen anyway. i could not remeber a situation where somewhere could have felt or saw a flaw before it failed.. ..it just happens...
depending on the lifter i would probably re-use them also if just 50 passes on them....

One thing for sure if ya break one you will know it. :shock: :D

Good luck with your re-build.

Brian

My friend noticed a valve lash in his Super Comp BBC that had to be tightened again and again. Pulled the intake an the roller lifter was almost dead. You could really feel the roughness in the needle bearings when you rolled it in hand. I guess he was just lucky to spot it in time.

I had a friend that had the same thing happen. One of his lifters went out of adjustment .002 and after a couple more passes it was out of adjustment again. When he got home he pulled it apart and that lifter was going bad.

I run a soild roller on the street for my daily driver and just for safty I replace lifters and springs once a year, dont even check to see if they can go longer.

i had 7 hydrolic lifters turn into solids , dont know how
motor ran great for a few weeks, thn stomped it bent 7 valves,7 pushrods 7 lifters,and the poly lock nuts were trashed,and rocker studs were stripped

time for arp,and comp cams lifters,costly :oops:

Sounds like an electrical problem.

I read if you can't fix it with a hammer it must be an electrical problem :lol: :lol:

Curtis

I would stay away from the Comp lifters from what i've seen.

my 2 cents

Re ring or not
 

The simplest way to trace a problem when doing a leakdown test is with your ear! 12% is way too much for a race application and when doing each cyl. always listen for blowby at three locations. The intake port, the exhaust port, and the crankcase. Once you start comparing sounds from good cylinders to bad you will know where your problems are. Intake noise, probably needs some valve or seat work. Same with noisy exhaust. Noisy crankase means ring problems. Of course I am assuming the engine is on a stand to make this fairly simple. Phil D.

x2 the one I had break was a comp and was not very old either

I have Comp lifters with about 80 passes on them and from what I am reading I think I had better upgrade them before one fails and ruins a lot of other parts. What are some good lifters to get and where are the best prices on them for a BBC? Thanks.

Isky Red Zones are being used by alot of top engine builders. I went overkill and went with Isky EZX .904. Not cheap but how much is your engine worth? I'm glad i didn't get in a hurry this last summer with my engine, as i saw Crane Ultra's fail,Crower HIPPO's fail and 2 sets of Comp's. You might get lucky and get a good set but i wasn't going to take that chance. I couldn't afford to build it twice. JM 2 cents.

I should say the problem I had was several years ago AND they were the cheaper COMP lifter not their top shelf stuff.

Morel Lifters no doubt the best on the market for the money.
They make them for several brands. I've seen most every brand fail at some point, not seen a Morel lifter fail yet.