DIY – Piston Ring Replacement

Overview: This article will show you how to replace the piston without

removing the motor.

Difficulty: 4/5

Time: 8-10 hrs

Materials/Tools Needed:

4″ cylinder honing tool

Sockets: 3/8″= 19mm, 17mm, 14mm, 12mm, 10mm, 10mm allen socket for the head bolts,

swivel socket, 3″ extension & 5″ extension, spark plug socket.

Torque wrench 3/8″ (long handle click stop)

Standard 3/8″ ratchet (you all have seen these)

Piston ring compressor 4″-7″

Pully puller (for the main pully)

Tie rod separator (for removing the steering tie rod)

Piston ring plyers (I never figured out how to use this one)

Screwdrivers, flat and phillips 4″ & 6″

Scraper for getting the old gaskets off.

Plastigage

Feeler guage for measuring end gap and ring clearance.

Micrometer for measuring tolerances.

I think that was it….I may have used a couple of other common tools.

I also purchased a engine gasket kit with everything. It was better than not having

what I needed.

I used the Permatex spray copper gasket stuff as well as the ultra copper and ultra

black gasket makers.

Procedure
Piston rings and rod bearings.

Look at that mess! lol

I purchased standard size rings and bearings. But that was because I measured the

cylinder walls, pistons, and crankshaft journals for tolerance.

Lucas oil stabilizer and assembly lube.

Quakerstate with slick 50.

New oil filter and fuel filter.

Get a compression tester to check compression before you start and after you complete

the rebuild to make sure everything is good.

I did most of my shopping for parts on Rockauto and tools I got from Harbor Freight

Tools. The total cost for me was around $225.00 for everything…including the beer.

lol

I had her finished in 10 hours including breaks. I hope this helps someone else.
Here is the first piston I took out, the rings were in very bad shape and so were the

bearings. I replaced rings and bearings.

Here is the crankshaft, it was in good shape.

Here is the first piston I did before honing.

And this is after I finished all cylinders.

This was very simple to do and I feel very confident about doing it again if I had

to. I welcome any comments or experiences to add to this topic.

Other things to Consider during the build

– clean the block after the honing.
– It should be washed with soap and water, and wiped with a paper towel, then

repeated until the towel doesn’t get dirty from the wipe. Tide powder detergent

used to be recommended.
– Wash all the honing grit off the crankshaft and bearings. To do this in the car,

you may need to (after washing the cylinders thoroughly) remove each bearing and

wash each thoroughly. The grit undoubtedly will get down the side of the bearings.

A website on how to break in your motor:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

Comments or questions about this article can be found in this thread. How to Replace Piston Rings