Re ring 1 cylinder on a very worn out motor.

I had this conversation with my girlfriend ( yes that is possible ) where in she lamented her and family did not know a single person whom could do automotive repair and virtually none could change a flat tire. All they could operate was their bank debit card. Why is it now in 2025 every little or big project MUST be done to some highest level of standard. Hone a cylinder or break the glaze with wet-or-dry paper on your fist ?? Yup, done that on farm or ranch equipment. $5 repair or $800 new engine ? Finger hone a brake cylinder, yup. Just did that on a Dodge PU. Works fine. I'm not Charles Atles, my cars are not 100 point show cars, my house is not on Architectural Digest and my girlfriend used to be a bar tender in a strip club. AND for all of that I am about 82% happy. Which is what counts, for me anyway. Fat, Dumb and Happy.

Personally I enjoy the challenge of building up junk-box engines. Takes imagination. Anyone can purchase a crate engine ( motors are electric, engines are combustion type ).

 

I think you are being very conscientious and are learning a lot more than you realize as you work thru this project. You are finding that many things can kill the engine and while there is room for some less that perfect parts reuse, that it may be better to fix more things than what you originally considered. This happens to all of us, and you learn as you go.

And Yes, you do need to remove the whole ridge ring. That's what often breaks rings when dis***embling an engine. You did not do anything wrong. IF.........you have the engine rebored, the boring operation should remove more than just the ring groove diametrically, but if there is a little that doesn't clean up at the very top of a cylinder, it shouldn't hurt anything either.

The dial bore guage you have is graduated in .001 increments (one thousandth). If you are not sure whether you are measuring 8 thousandths or 80 thousandths, just take a dial caliper and double check the size. It won't be as "perfect", but you will be able to tell the difference, and once you do it a few times you will get better at measuring things. I always tell people to think of their measurement as being money. Instead of .001 of an inch.........think of it as an inch is 1 thousand dollars. .001 = 1 dollar
If you use a micrometer, the scale on the mic will have designations for .100,.200,.300 so 100 dollars etc.

Within each .100 are 4 graduations, so the first graduation is .025 ($25).Second graduation is .050 ($50)
3rd graduation is .075 ($75), and the 4th graduation gets you to the 100....$100.

As the thimble is rotated you can count the single digit ($1) (.001) designations and add them to the .025/.050/.075 to get the actual size. .025+.004=$29 (.029) Its really simple once you do it a few times. Micrometers can be bought used off Facebook pretty cheaply these days. You have to check them and might even have to adjust them initially, but for $150 or so you can find (may take awhile) enough mics (not some perfect set) to measure 0-4". If you buy a dial caliper, try to get a liquid filled one as they are much better quality, but the cheap ones will get you started. If you don't have any mics, look at some videos or diagrams on line about reading a mic and think about the $ thing.



Edit: Just one more thing.......Using the $1 = .001 (1/thousandth) idea, .0001 or one ten thousandth of an inch would be equivalent to a dime (10 cents) so $1000 = 10,000 dimes. Machinists normally refer to a ten thgousandth of an inch as "a tenth" so the dime works out well.