Whatever the position on piston ring side clearance, before installing the new piston rings, the ring end gaps must be checked, as they should. Make sure that the piston/connecting rod assemblies and the new ring sets are laid out in pairs with same piston and cylinder for the end gap measurement and during the time of final engine assembling. Slip the top ring into the first cylinder with the ring close to the cylinder liner bottom through pushing with the top of the piston. To determine the end gap, one has to fit feeler gauges between the ends of the ring until one is achieved which fits with slight friction. In case the spacing is either of it larger or smaller than the claimed value, check the rings once again. If the gap is too narrow, it has be increased to ensure that it does not close up during the running of the engine since this will cause a lot of damage. This can be done by making a point of filing the ring ends while being very careful not to file in from the inside out. More end gap is not an issue if it is not 0.040-inch and above so ensure the correct rings for the engine are identified. Perform the same on all other rings in the first cylinder and the remaining cylinders with matched rings, pistons, and cylinders. After that, use a finger to examine the end gap of the ring, and if necessary correct on the required dimension, and finally fit the rings on the pistons; the oil control ring has three parts. Insert the spacer/expander into the groove with the anti-rotation tang entering the drilled hole and then install the lower side rail; to prevent the damaging of the piston ring, do not make use of the piston ring installation tool. Align the narrow flat edge of the side rail and insert it in to the groove and then in the same manner insert the upper side rail of the bed. After the installation of the three oil ring components, this must be ensured that both side rails are now able to rotate in this groove. Next, secure the middle ring with the stamped side up, and depending on the ring manufacture the instruction on the package should be followed. One disadvantage when using it is that the top and middle rings are inter-changeable since they are made with different cross-sections. The middle piston ring should be fitted using a piston ring installation tool, with the identification mark uppermost while the ring is put in the middle groove without compressing it fully. Last of all screw on the top ring in the similar way being keen to note the mark facing upwards and do not interchange the top and middle rings then do the same to the other pistons and rings.
