Hastings Piston Rings Gap

Hastings offers piston rings for nearly any application worldwide from automotive and truck to agriculture industrial small engine as well as marine and high performance.

Hastings piston rings gap.

This prevents the ring gap from scratching the piston. Once installed rotate the gaps so they don t coincide. The ideal situation sees this gap held to an absolute minimum. One place where these small things can pay off is with the piston ring gap.

Hastings recommends a minimum of 0035 gap per inch of cylinder diameter. When winding compression rings downward it s a good practice to use a small screwdriver to keep the gapped end of the ring away from the piston. To find the proper ring end gap multiply your bore size by the ring end gap factor listed on the chart i e street naturally aspirated 4 000 bore x 0065 gap factor 026 total top ring end gap. For over 100 years we ve never wavered from our first and only mission to make the best piston ring possible.

It stands to reason that a large gap at the end of the ring makes for an easier leak path. Your hypereutectic performance piston will expand less than typical cast or forged pistons. Maximum ring gap is an important part of ring performance in that too much gap results in lost compression power loss and ultimately poor oil control. Because piston rings need to be expanded to fit over the diameter of the piston itself before they find their home in the ring grooves they have to be split in some way in order to allow installation.

There is a rule of thumb for ring gap where you set it to 0045 times the bore size in inches for a street build. 4 bore x 0035 0 14 minimum gap. At hastings we manufacture a bold and broad offering of piston rings one that spans thousands of applications for virtually any engine. Hastings revolutionized oil control ring design with the invention of the hastings flex vent oil control ring and it is now the accepted standard in the industry.

There are circumstances where you might want to run a little more gap check your ring piston manufacturer s spec for your particular ring set and circumstances naturally the more heat the more gap is required. Setting the correct ring gap on aftermarket piston rings is crucial for proper performance and engine longevity.