BigsmallBlock
Apr 5th, 04, 6:14 PM
Last summer I built a 383 stroker, and drove it weekends throughout the year, so the motor only has a few thousand miles on it. A while back, the motor started to use oil and smoke out the pipes. It has an independent dual exhaust, and both pipes are smoking, so whatever it is, its on both engine banks. The heads were brand new but I checked them out anyways, but the guides and seals were still good. Replaced the intake gaskets twice. Tried changing/plugging PCV. Still smoking. This weekend I finally pulled the motor out to check out the rings. Figured since both banks are smoking, its probably multiple unseated/broken rings (unlikely?) or maybe I somehow installed the rings wrong. Well in tearing down the bottom end, I discovered that 5 of 8 pistons had the ring gaps in the top two rings right in line!! Now I KNOW I didnt install them that way, so here's my question: How are the rings turning in the bores? I assume they move around a little, but what would cause over half of them to let the gaps line up, and apparently stay that way for some period of time? When I built the engine this summer, I had the block bored and honed, etc., and the whole rotating assembly is brand new. I would like some opinions on this before I simply put it back together with the ring gap placement corrected. Any input would be appreciated.