Interesting?

Put my motor together, wasn't happy with something so I took it apart. When I did, I found this and one of the oil rings was bent. I only rotated the motor a hand few times.. is this gonna be an issue... picture is below

 

tagged for the repost.

 

Was there oil in the engine? What kind assembly lube was used?

 

It may be OK, as long as the scoring does not "hang a nail". (yeah, bore does look dry)

Drag your finger nail slowly around the bore (red) and see if your nail "hangs" on any of the (blue) "lines".

The only thing that is really any concern is the area of the two blue lines by the green X and the "wide" area.

Pretty much normal of moving the pistons in the bore during assembly and rotating the crank, they often look worse than they actually are, being very light marks on the honed surface.

(I use ATF on the bores, never dry)

 

Yeah, what TrunkMonkey said!
The wide gray area looks like it has a ditch in the iron

 

I always coat the cylinders and piston (and ring compressor) with motor oil before I install them. It's messy, but I don't like that scraping sound of a dry piston going into a dry cylinder and they slide in much easier. When I was a youngster, I would drop each piston into a bucket of motor honey before installing. Not sure how you bent a ring, but it may have been too dry.

 

So, I have a ball hone. Should I run that up and down the cylinder?

 

So, my fingernail does hang up a little (very very little) on the blue mark that's all the way on the right. All the others are smooth. I really only spun the motor 3 or 4 times total by hand. The very bottom oil ring is bent and sticking out of its groove

 

I use WD40, then found out that’s what Total Seal recommends, not engine oil.
Engine oil makes the rings glide/slide over the cylinder walls.
WD40 provides just enough light lubricant so the rings can actually scrape against the crosshatching and seat.

 

Ok, ran the ball hone up and down the cylinder. You can't feel anything, maybe the extremely slightest groove, but its really really slight. If you close your eyes and run your finger around the cylinder you'd never be able to tell where it was. I added a picture of the oil ring, I would assume it should be replaced?

 

Eek! Is that the only one like that?

 

brian, you mean the ring or cylinder? i guess either way, yes. it appears that somehow the bottom oil ring popped out while i was assembling the motor

 

Besides what’s going on with that bent ring and the fact that your oil ring rail gaps are not set 180 degrees apart like they should be, it looks like from what I can see that your compression rings are not right for the depth of the ring grooves in the pistons.
A compression ring should not be able to duck into the groove by more then .005” to .006” max!

 

I've taken engines with a lot worse scoring than that to the engine machine shop and they said they wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure you are checking/adjusting the ring gaps and staggering them appropriately. Assuming you checked to bore diameter to make sure it hasn't been bored and you got the correct rings.

 

Make sure the expander for the oil ring is NOT over lapping itself, very easy to do!

 

Dr. Roger, yes ive checked (atleast i brought them to the machine shop and he didnt say anything)
Mark, ok, i will check. I bet thats what happened

Steven, according to the GM manual, oil rings gaps are supposed to be together

 

BUT, your NOT using GM rings.
Follow the ring manufacturers instructions.
They know best on how to install their products.

Tom T.

 

thanks telriv, i didnt know that

 

I'd have NEVER guessed that. Not even with "GM" rings.

Seems crazy to me.

GM deliberately leaving a small oil trail up the cylinder wall for "top cylinder lube"?