[Vwdiesel] about to re-ring, scuff question

[Nate Wall]

I put Jack's Grant Rings in my '85 TD three years ago (about $35/set) . I
got 50,000 miles out of it. Oil usage steadily increased over the three
years the motor was in there , 'til it got to a quart every 300 miles. I
then called it quits. My reason for re-ringing--a broken compression ring.
The bores (and pistons?) were worn out when I began, though. Motor had
208,000 miles on it. That may have been part of the problem. You should be
fine for a year. I honed w/ a 3-stone drill-powered hone and took heating
oil (diesel works) and flooded the crank area when done to get the hone
debris out. At 250,000 when I retired the motor, I disassembled and the
mains and rod bearings looked great, so I got all the grit out.

--Nate

Gary Shea wrote:

> Hi --
>
> After discovering that my Rabbit's compression ranges from 250 to 300,
> I have decided to do something about it.  My plan is to pull the engine
> this week and re-ring it.  I plan to do the absolute minimum -- pull off
> the old rings, put on the new ones, and put it back together again.
> Next year I hope to put the TD in there, but I can't afford to rebuild
> it properly now, and I don't really want to put any money into the
> Rabbit engine, since I will be pulling it in the spring!
>
> I got my rings from Jack Ewald at vwdieselparts.com, turns out they're
> Grant rings.  In the last couple months I've heard a number of horror
> stories about Grant rings not seating.  Just to improve my odds, I'm
> trying to think of a way to scuff the cylinder walls to help the rings
> seat.  I don't want to use a hone, as I'm too afraid of the metal bits
> it'll generate.  I was thinking of using an oil-soaked Scotch-Brite pad
> to rough up the walls a bit.  With care, I could avoid having any crap
> drip into the engine... I hope.  What do you think?
>
>         Gary
>
> _______________________________________________
> vwdiesel mailing list
> vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel