Seating Rings with Rust?

[Patrick67BJ8]

You know, I did hear one story, and by God, it was by the original owner of a BJ8, so it must be true...

His recolection was that Duesenberg used to set the freshly machined cylinder blocks outside (unassembled) for *a period of time* for them to "season"

I presumed him to mean the molecular grain structure to (for lack of a proper term) <span style="font-style: italic">relax.</span>

Maybe that's how rumors get started...

...and I once believed that Austin Healey frames were supposed to flex and I still do to an extent that if they flex they're getting old.

Oil in cardboard...yep. I remember those. How about oil sitting out in the open in a glass jar at a "Filling Station" with just a metal spout and no cover? I think the reason they called them Filling Stations was because they just didn't do gas but also water for the radiators and oil for the engines. Getting gas was just part of the process at a Filling Station back then.

 

[Randy Forbes]

... Oil in cardboard...yep. I remember those. <span style="font-weight: bold">How about oil sitting out in the open in a glass jar at a "Filling Station" with just a metal spout and no cover?</span> I think the reason they called them Filling Stations was because they just didn't do gas but also water for the radiators and oil for the engines. Getting gas was just part of the process at a Filling Station back then.

Yes, "bulk" oil; as a kid, I used to play with the pumps that filled up those glass jars.

My first real job (after a paper route, cutting down trees and landscaping jobs) was at a full service station, and even when somebody came in for just "$2.00 worth" it was in my job description to wash/wipe all the windows (even if it was a station wagon) check the oil & washer fluid, and "offer" to check the air in all the tires. You can't help but to think the cars going down the road back then were a little better off from a maintenance standpoint (if only, as today's average car is much more crash-worthy, compensating for its idiot operator...).

As I started that job in 1970, bulk oil tanks (and glass jars) had already given way to 55 gallon drums in the storeroom using pneumatic pumps supplying product to metered dispensers on hose reels mounted above the center bay.

 

[Richard Dickinson]

A smoking rebuilt engine is not always the result of poor piston ring seating or other cylinder problems. It can be from a worn rocker arm assembly leaking too much oil or other valve problems.

 

[BoyRacer]

I bought a Healey in the 70's that smoked like crazy. I took it to a shop. He pulled the head, and dropped the pan. He told me that the clearances were fine but that the rings (chrome - I think) had not properly seated. He either honed the cylinders, or installed new rings --- I can't remember --- and put it back together. No more smoking.

 

[PAUL161]

A few comments, some just off the wall, and some in response to posts here...

First off, I've read nearly everything published about Ferrari, the man, the factory and the cars, the racing team & mechanics. Nobody ever mentioned this technique, either in an official or unofficial manner.

I've been around people working on cars since my pre-teen years, and I've never heard anyone say they put Bon Ami in an engine; maybe to scrub some external parts, way before we had access to such modern solvents.

The water trickled into the intake I have heard of, and seen demonstrated, but no personal experience. In "the old days" it was quite common to "de-coke/de-carbon" an engine, so it might've been a stop-gap process, perhaps meant to be done inbetween head removal jobs (and "flatheads" were a lot less involved to remove).

When I started building engines, and we still had cardboard quart oil cans, I used to let the assembled pistons "soak" overnight with the rings submerged in oil. I may have even used white lithium grease on the bores.

Nowadays, the ring manufacturers instruct us to assemble the rings dry. I've used Total Seal rings almost exclusively for the past twenty-five (>25) years, and more recently, been using a product they offer, which is almost solvent-like and a treatment on the rings as the engine is assembled (of, I have pictures of this, and maybe I search for them later__too much to do right now...). They also offer a polymer treatment, perhaps a graphite compound, to aid with cylinder wear and ring-seating.

Yes, nowadays, there's a product for anything that ails ya!

While watching the Military Channel a few days ago about the P47 Thunderbolt they talked about the newer version and it had water injection to give it a boost when needed but I don't believe they used it unless they absolutely had to such as a ME-109 on their tail.

P-47s weren't the only AC with water injection, we had some left over Corsairs in Norman Oklahoma for mechanic training and water injection was on those engines. When you turned the water on, it was only to be used at full throttle and no more than 5 to 10 seconds at a time. If left on, which has been known to happen in a panic situation, the exhaust collector ring has been burnt completely loose from the cylinders due to the high heat build up. Needles to say, the cowling and flaps were destroyed, but most made it back. One tough old bird! PJ