Tubo rings -Gapless a bad idea?!

[350kmileford]

I was all for getting gapless rings until I read this:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/techarti ... rings.html

They claim that gapless rings are a bad idea because heat issues cause hte rings to expand too much and break. They actually recommend that one allows for a larger-than-stock ring gap.

Thoughts?

Recommendations for rings?

 

[Does10s]

We've run them in the past. Worked fine for us! We've used the Total Seal brand with good results. We did switch to just normal Sealed Power rings for this last motor mainly for the cost savings and that JE Pistons recommended them for their pistons.
Also note that the article says "top ring". The Total Seal brand uses the second ring as the "gapless" one.
You do have to increase the end gap on all rings for turbo or supercharged applications. Shoot for .018"-.020" end gap on the top ring. Second ring can be a little tighter; around .015"

Later,
Will

 

[FalconSedanDelivery]

Tried The Gapless in several different engines ( only difference was cost ) , the problem with a leakdown test is that its static and not really representive of the real word, also in a boosted engine , ( turbo or supercharged ) the gaps need to be bigger , AND the last 5 combos I put together for customers were with the Larger gap on the second , not the top as use to be recomended , All the top Ring Companys are now pushing this setup , and It works

 

[XPC66]

That's interesting. I use 0.0026mm/mm bore size both rings on NA. For boosted I use 0.0046mm/mm bore top ring and 0.0037mm/mm bore for the scaper.

I also make sure the side clearance is slightly more on boosted e.g. 0.03mm for NA and 0.05mm for boosted on top ring and 0.02mm on the scraper for both.

What's the advantage of making the scraper gap smaller?

 

[MustangSix]

I have gapless rings in the crossflow and the leakdown is very, very low. TS makes both a gapless top ring set and and a gapless second ring set. I'm using the gapless second.

The term "gapless" is kind of a misnomer because the ring set is actually designed with two rings in the groove that overlap. Each of them has an end gap.

Usually the gapless top sets are for racing applications. I'm not sure what the reasoning would be to not use one of the sets for a turbo application. Seems like if heat or pressure were an issue the gapless second set would still work fine.