[SEL] Lindsy Alamo Piston Ring Qustion, now, off topic

[MaytagTwin at aol.com]

Hi Bill,
I concur with the ridge forming where the pinned ring end run.   My Hudson 
Hornet had pinned rings, and, at overhaul, there was a  ridge.  Boring to .030" 
oversize took care of it, and new pistons  turned from blanks, without the 
ring pins, were installed.  They  worked well.
 
An old machinist working in a shop under an auto parts store did the  
overhaul.  I was going to summer college classes, and I brought the engine  in and 
asked if he would only work on it when I was there to observe as I  wanted to 
learn a little about how he did it.  He agreed, and I spent an  hour a day for 
several weeks as he did a major overhaul.  One neat part was  the fitting and 
then balancing of the pistons.  He worked with each until  it would just slowly 
fall down the lightly oiled, bored and  honed cylinder.  Then, he got out his 
balance pan scales and shaved  the heavy ones from the inside until all 
weighed close enough to each other to  suit him.  Hi piston turning lathe has a cam 
arrangement so that the  pistons were oval rather than cylindrical in shape.  
He explained that he  thought they became cylindrical as they were hot and 
working.  At the  college end, the physics class was doing classical experiments 
such as  determining coefficient of expansion in different metals, sound 
resonance in  tubes, refraction in water, and, lenses, and much more.  What fun 
summer  that was.  Then, in the fall, the Hudson was on the road with a much  
stronger engine.  Life was, and is, good.
 
Ron Carroll
Clearmont, Missouri USA
 
In a message dated 4/15/2005 2:05:29 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
bill at antique-engines.com writes:

You'll  wear a ridge where the ring gap is.