Vance pretty much covered it on the rings. I used them on my last race
motor. We really ran that motor hard (12 races) and the rings held up well.
It seems like they were only 30 percent more expensive than the Grant rings.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@Autox.Team.Net [mailto:owner-6pack@Autox.Team.Net] On
Behalf Of Navarrette, Vance
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 11:56 AM
To: Sally or Dick Taylor
Cc: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: [6pack] Total seal piston rings
Dick:
The gapless rings do allow for expansion and yet are gapless,
that is what is clever about the design. One design works like this
(this is ASCII artwork showing the two ends of the ring as installed in
the piston)
------ -------------
| |________ Gapless
|________ |
------------- ----------
------- --------
| |
| | Conventional
---- -------------
Simply stated, there is a "step" in each tip of the ring. When
installed in the piston the steps overlap such that there is no open
path for the exhaust gases, but the tips of the ring are free to slide
past each other as the ring/piston expand. Very clever. In my ASCII
artwork above it looks like there is a gap in the vertical direction,
but in fact there is none.
Total Seal uses a completely different design, here is the web
page describing their technology:
http://www.totalseal.com/TechPage.aspx#trGaplessPistRings
Total Seal uses a second ring to seal the gap, rather than the
stepped ends on a single ring.
Racers like em because they are supposed to give you the extra
horsepower or two. They don't care about cost, but power and durability
are everything. I have no idea how much more the gapless rings cost...
Vance
|