Ring Gap Question

[CU Zcar]

I have a set of Beck-Arnley rings for my '83 Turbo engine I'm building and the end gaps are all at about 0.0200", where the specification is 0.0075" - 0.0130" (from Haynes manual). Those are just the top rings, I haven't measured the second or oil rings yet. I put the rings about 3" down the bore, squaring them with a piston. My knee-jerk reaction was to say "hm they're a bad set" and ran to Nissan to order a set, but the $120+ they'll cost, especially if they're off the same amount, is $120 I really don't want to be spending...but if they're right it would be worth it to me. What are your opinions? Is 0.0200" excessive? Have any of you gotten away with, or even had, this problem? I know of one guy who had this very problem with Beck rings, but he hasn't completed his motor yet (though he decided to use them). Since I've spent the money on most of the other "good" parts I'd kind of hate to handicap this motor at this point from being cheap...but at the same time it'll never get done if I keep spending $ like this do you suppose maybe it's just that the bores are worn from a couple of instances of honing (I think this motor was rebuilt in the past)...

[sigh] so many questions, sorry. But thanks for any input.

After I decide on a course of action here, I get to go back into my overly-preloaded R200 LSD rearend, to figure out whether to modify the pinion shim, get new shims, then see if the pinion height and then backlash are anywhere in the ballpark...guuuuuuuuuuuh.....

[turbobluestreak]

it sounds like you should have gotten oversized rings and then would have filed down the rings on the sides to get them to the right gap. I will tell you that for sure that your ring gap is to excessive because thats where mine was and I burned oil and lost compression in the sixth cyclinder so I'm ordering oversized rings and doing just as my Factory service manuals tells me to do, oversize then file down the rings to fall with in specs. I hope this helps you out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

tbs