Please post: Thoughts on aftermarket piston ring choices for 1FZ-FE rebuild (1 Viewer)

[thetoyotaman]

Warning: Non purist content ahead. Not interested in a debate/lecture on stock rings.

For those who have rebuilt their stock motors with aftermarket rings, please post up which rings you used, what oil you are using, how much mileage on your motor and oil consumption you have. Thanks!

 

[cruisermatt]

What pistons are you using? How much overbore?

 

[2fpower]

NPR rings. @half k cruiser pointed me that way.

I notice no oil consumption after break-in. But I only have 4k miles since rebuild.

 

[half k cruiser]

I think I'm at about 12k miles post refresh on the 94 with NPR rings. I believe they are actually the OEM supplier for Toyota rings. The truck runs great and consumes almost no oil over a 5k mile period.

 

[scottryana]

CP ships their pistons with NPR rings

 

[thetoyotaman]

Haven't decided on Pistons yet. Arias uses the top 2 rings from NPR and the oil control from Hastings. Thinking about trying ITM or DNJ pistons unless I discover a compelling reason not to. The ITM worked well on my last 2F.

 

[thetoyotaman]

And as far as the overbore, still waiting to hear back from the machine shop.

 

[thetoyotaman]

So what oil are you guys using?

 

[Kernal]

Anyone have experience with gapless rings?

 

[Howard705]

I think I'm at about 12k miles post refresh on the 94 with NPR rings. I believe they are actually the OEM supplier for Toyota rings. The truck runs great and consumes almost no oil over a 5k mile period.

^x2 on conclusion of being oem supplier. They have a great catalog online but have several surface types-chrome-etc that require specific plateau honing.

 

[half k cruiser]

^x2 on conclusion of being oem supplier. They have a great catalog online but have several surface types-chrome-etc that require specific plateau honing.

Correct, they do provide a spec sheet with the rings that needs to be taken to your machine shop so they can hone it out to NPR's specs.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Their spec sheet is pretty generic according to my machine shop. I used NPR in my Trooper with good results.

 

[btslaser]

I think I'm at about 12k miles post refresh on the 94 with NPR rings. I believe they are actually the OEM supplier for Toyota rings. The truck runs great and consumes almost no oil over a 5k mile period.

Where can you purchase NPR rings?

 

[half k cruiser]

I ordered mine from Perfect Engine last year for $131.59 Spoke to the sales rep over the phone and he asked me what the thickness of the bottom ring was, apparently there can be a difference. I ended up having to run out and measure one. The ones I ordered were part # NPR SWT10184 the ordered itself was completed by MAHLE who i'm guessing is the American dist of NPR rings

 

[sbman]

I used Hastings rings with my rebuild on new OEM pistons @ .020" over, they are made in U.S.A. I used standard 10W30 oil for breakin, had 1/2 quart loss in 500 miles. No additional loss after another 500 miles. Changed oil to 15W40 Rotella T6 Diesel oil and now have an additional 3000 miles with zero oil consumption. I filled it to the top of the fill mark and 3000 miles later it's exactly where I filled it to.

When I was measuring things, I checked ring gap of every ring in the set and was not able to measure a difference from ring to ring with feeler gauges and could not find any tool marks or defects whatsoever. I did not have to size a single one of them, they were very precisely made.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Wondering how many have used Hastings. I've used NPR rings once on my Isuzu and they required no filing either. However, I used Hastings on my 2F and it used some oil. I don't know if that was the rings though or more to do with the design of the engine or something else.

 

[sbman]

I think a lot has to do with breakin, you can be too gentle with things. To break in rings properly you need high cylinder pressures to press the rings into the cylinder wall, and you need this to happen before oil glazes into the honing marks, so the sooner can get on the road and produce some power, the better. As soon as I had it on the street, I was sure to not be too easy on the throttle all the time. After some confidence was built in the cooling system and other systems, I went and found some long steep hills to climb at full throttle. You need 20-90 minutes of high cylinder pressures to get the rings broken in properly. If you baby it for 2000 miles and never use more than 1/2 throttle to 'take it easy', the rings may not get seated. I'm not saying that happened with your 2F motor, just that break in is pretty critical to ring based oil consumption. If the cylinders glaze before the rings seat, you'll never get them to seat without re-honing the cylinders.

I'm sure auto manufacturers do ring seating on a Dyno machine before the end user ever sees the engine and a prescribed load is put on the engine for a prescribed time. The aviation world does this on high end rebuilds, the engine is put into a load cell and run at high cylinder pressures for as much as 2 hours to get the rings seated. It is more difficult to break in rings on an air cooled engine because the cylinders glaze faster with the higher temps the cylinder walls reach.

 

[thetoyotaman]

Thanks for the post. I've read similar engine break in ideas and performed that on both engines. It wasn't much oil consumption and nothing the machine shop would consider any, but I did notice the differences. He says these Toyota blocks are incredibly tough and harder to break in and prevent oil consumption. He deals with this regularly on 22rs.

What made you decide to go with Hastings over NPR?

 

[Howard705]

plain vs chrome rings- chrome is very critical on hone pattern /grit and finish-takes much longer to break in and lasts much longer. I beleive only 1 compression ring is chrome. Is lots of info on this on other forums/etc.

 

[rc51kid]

Sorry to hijack this thread but i have a question. If i had a 200,000 mile motor with REALLY NICE looking cylinders, no marks or damage at all. Would it be OK to "freshen" it up with new rings using the same used pistons and NOT re boring the motor? Is this a acceptable approach or is it a half ass way of doing things?