I am installing piston rings in a 1949 Buick 248 straight 8. Unfortunately the new old stock piston rings I purchased came with no instructions. The top ring has an indent on the side but it doesn’t state whether this indent goes up or down. It doesn’t appear to be beveled either. The second groove from top has a thin and thick ring which go in the same groove. It doesn’t show whether the thin ring goes above or below the thick one within that groove. This is show in the photos below Hopefully someone can help. Thanks, TR
Were you the first person to open these rings?? To me, that ring with the spacer would be for the top groove. The reason I say that, if the top groove in the piston is badly worn and needs machining, the spacer takes up the gap from machining the groove, and sits on top of the new ring (this spaces the new ring slightly below any bore wear /lip that has been removed.. But seeing as the two of them fit in to the second groove, I would fit the spacer on the top.. If the rings have a machined step on the edge (either internal or external) it was '' internal step goes up, external step goes down''.. It will be interesting to hear others opinions.
My book covers 1940 models, and the 248 underwent some changes after the war. The indent in the top ring goes up, but not sure about the second ring. My thinking is the thin ring goes below the thick ring for oil control.
http://oldcarmanualproject.com/manuals/Buick/1948-49/index.htm Note that the rings you got are not the same as the factory rings, so the missing instructions from Ramco are what you probably need. Good luck...
Found an ebay ad for ramco groove spacers. Shows the spacer on top of the ring. If the ring has a little indented dot on it, that side goes up.
It makes sense that the spacer would go above the ring...the ring seals compression against the bottom of the land, so the ring itself should be contacting the bottom of the ring land.
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