The V8 Owners Forum -

If the engine has not done that many miles, and the bores and piston rings look ok.

Is it ok to just put the pistons back in.

I want to ovoid a re-bore / Anti-glaze, as its going to be hard to run the engine in correctly.

I am going to change the shells and fit studs. as its only going to be used for racing.

Thanks
Leigh

If you are not changing the rings (and gaping them correctly) then don't hone/deglaze the bores. If the bores are not glazed then don't deglaze!!
I would just measure everything up and check everything is to spec and the bores are round and put it back together.
Mike

Thanks for that, thats what I thought.

How important is it to gap the rings. and could I gap the old ones.

Thanks again
Leigh

Hi
If you are building a standard ish engine I would just use pre gapped rings for the bore size you have, they tend to be generous (to say the least) but will do the job with a bit of blow by.
If you are deglazing and rehoneing bores to use existing pistons and new rings then you are going to be taking the bores to the upper limit for the pistons and the ring gaps will be wide to say the least (and will probably vary quite a bit). In this case I would buy un-gapped rings and do them myself, it is an afternoons work, (and £15 off ebay with postage for a ring gapping tool) and what you end up with is the job done right.
If you are building a performance engine then definatly do your own rings (with most forged pistons you can't get pre-gapped rings anyway).
Mike