Mahle Ring Problems

[Grego.77]

Has anyone experienced problems with Mahle piston rings? My first set had a 40" gap so I exchanged them for a second set they state they are Drop In. The second set has no gap so I filed the moly rings to 16" than went on to the second ring and found between a 17" and one dropped in at 26" Some had no gap. The bore/hone is not even half a " out on all cylinders with plate torqued. Have I ended up with 2 F'd sets of rings in a row??? Or is this my welcome to Mahle?

[turbotrana]

Not normal, I've built a few engines and if you put in the same bore they will measure up the same. Try measuring in the same bore, same posi just to double check that rings are the same. I did some Wiesco pistons recently and the rings they supplied measured up fine.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Was the torque plate installed while you where measuring?

[Grego.77]

Torque plate instaled while measuring. Doesnt matter what cylinder I tried their 100% identical. Theres only 1" difference between torqued and removed. Almost not worth paying the extra money. These new barra 6s are pretty good.

[Grego.77]

In the 100 or so high performance engines I have ever built I have NEVER come across this problem. Even on cheap cast pistons and rings. Im currently building a sbc and I purchased the cheapest nastiest Federal Moguls hyperutectics with moly rings and they arent 1" out. I tried checking the oil ring gap but due to it being soooo thin and flimsy its extremely hard to get an accurate measurement. Tried even having a piston sit down the bore sit an oil ring in it and sit another piston upside down over it pull the top piston out if you know what I mean. Visually the is a gap about 10" a bit tight but I can live with that but when I go to measure the gap it can continuously open due to lets call it ring warp??