[outbost]

How hard should it be to put in the lower oil ring on a piston??? (the one with the wavy brass looking thing) I'm having to pound it a good bit with a small wooden block and I'd it's [email protected] pissing me off. I'm about 99.999 percent sure that the rings are the wrong ones. I matched the part #s but there is no way they should have to be "pounded" in.

 

[James92TSi]

None of them should be that hard to install. If you're using old pistons, you need to clean the crap out of the grooves before putting the new rings on. Even if the pistons have been hot tanked, you'll still have some crap to scrape out of the grooves. You should also squirt brake cleaner through all of the oiling holes in the piston so you get any loose junk out of there too.

To put the oil rings on, you put one of the thin outer rings on, so it goes all the way to the bottom of the piston (move it down past/below the groove for the oil ring). Then install the ring that looks like a chain (the "wavy brass thing") into the groove. Then you install the 2 outer rings into the groove (pull the first one up from the bottom of the piston where you put it, and put the second one on from the top).

Also check this thread for more tips about rings... http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=57663

 

[outbost]

The pistons are new. The problem was that they sent me the ring set for the 94 and below pistons. The shop I bought them from had the wrong part number listed. Problem solved.