Advanced Ring Filing Techniques

Here we go over some tips and tricks to help you get a good seal from filing your piston rings.

[@joeestes8114]

I really like the information we are getting from these posts! Keep them coming! We run you're pistons and rings in all of our motors! We have never had a failure! Joe estes

[@streetmusicfortheblockreco8580]

Simple and to the point ! ! ! 2 Thumbs up...

[@TunedbyMMT]

Very informative video!

[@SilverStackers]

i would love to see a close up of the actual process. and how to keep a straight edge while filling. good video btw!

[@mahlemotorsport]

alfred rodriguez Thanks for the feedback, maybe we'll look at doing something like that in the future.

[@roguewavemichigandiving2754]

Great video! Loved it!

[@hammadmadi4285]

That was great.. Thank you sir !!

[@tiemze]

my left ear learned alot!

[@mikeadams5432]

I need a damn piston ring grinder and cannot find one any where, outside of online of course. I made my own.

[@mikeadams5432]

Good vid

[@jackbacic868]

being precise is important

[@scottgillett3835]

Would squeezing the ring together while using a grinding wheel eliminate a squaring issue. Pinching the wheel with the ring

[@flesh199]

nice video thx you Mahle :)

[@mahlemotorsport]

+flesh199 Thanks for watching!

[@soloM81]

do you guys sell a machine to cut piston rings Iam having a hard time doing it by hand

[@Hopeless_and_Forlorn]

Great information. I had never thought about the ratio between small bore size changes versus ring gap changes, but he is right. A bore size increase of one-thousandth of an inch results in a diameter change, and end gap change, of 3.141592265358979323846264 thousandths, plus change, no matter what the original bore size is. Where have I seen that ratio before?

[@RG-vx1kj]

PI

[@user-nu4gv3pv2t]

Buenas, cortador de anillos lo venden,le escribo de Perú,Saludos

[@JimD3123]

Do I understand the video to say cut both ends of the ring? The other videos I've watched shows cutting just one end. I guess if you cut both ends at the same time the gap would stay square. Looking forward to input from this question. SBC drag car motor is what I'm dealing with. Thanks

[@mahlemotorsport]

Theoretically you want to cut both ends so both ends would be square, you are correct.

[@JimD3123]

I've not seen anywhere else on the net advising to cut rings that way, even the ring cutting tool manufacturers show cutting one side or the other. I've got some spare rings I'm going to try it. Thanks for the reply

[@donr62]

3:14 when using the manual ring filer as shown in the video, is the topside of the ring facing down or upwards?

[@mahlemotorsport]

The ring is facing up.

[@lampim]

This is probably a stupid question but why dont they just make spiral rings that go around twice or rings that have a taper on the end that overlap so they're always sealed and can expand without needing any gap etc?

[@kayzrx8]

like a slinky?

[@zealvespinhal6839]

let me try to understand something here, a piston ring is supposed to be a perfect circle inside the cyilinder wall so that the engine holds compression. if i file a ring and install it to the engine, as the engine heats up will the ring continue to be a perfect circle or will become oval shape since i took some material of it? i hope someone understands my question

[@mahlemotorsport]

There will be some deformity due to the heat and cylinder pressure but with the tension of the ring against the cylinder wall, it should conform to the shape of the bore to a certain degree. With larger, stiffer rings this effect will be minimal, whereas smaller, more flexible rings maintain this contact with the bore better and generally leads to a better seal.

[@zealvespinhal6839]

thank you for the reply, well thats what I tought about. the ring does some pressure outwords. But im a bit concerned about this thing. i have a set of total seal rings to be installed in a 4.6 ford mustang engine. as i insert the ring theres no gap at all. and by the chart it says i have to file 0.02 inches. It looks minimal. but im a bit scared of having issues later on.

[@mahlemotorsport]

As a general rule, it's always better to have a little more ring end gap than too little. If you have too much ring gap, the worst case is you have a little more blow-by and slight loss of power. If your end gaps are too tight, worst case would be an engine failure.

[@zealvespinhal6839]

thats super correct. actually im just scared about the oval shape. i would be more confortable if i had to file very little material as possible, i mean, do very small corrections so that i dont mess with the perfect circle, because taking to much material it could lead to that oval shape as the ring expands. but i see many people does it, but i no one explains this little aspect. maybe its insignifican.

[@awd_gli9632]

I could've swore you're only supposed to file one side of the ring, not both. Please advise your reasoning for filing both sides.

[@Tom-xn7zc]

He already explained it in the video... If you take a little out of both sides instead of just one side, you reduce the risk of grinding the wrong angle on your grind. Someone without much experience could push the ring sideways into the abrasive disc instead of rotating the ring into the abrasive and when that happens on just one side you will quickly develop a pointy looking end that is hard to correct. But when you are more experienced and know what you are doing then it's no problem at all to do just one side.

[@TheJagjr4450]

Why are these top level race teams not running Gapless ing sets? Every NASCAR IHRA NHRA and SCCA engine we ever built used GAPLESS rings. Much better sealing and you only need to run the top compression ring set. Our engines took less than 10lbs on a torque wrench to turn over fully assembled, were consistently in the top 5 finishers in the series in which they ran, and were extremely reliable.

[@mirisu8749]

What about oil consumption? Do your engines take much oil?

[@Zohar-Modifier]

Is this guy Eric Grilliot :)? Did Mahle forged his eyes now :) now he don't seems to wear spectacle

[@jdawg1627]

Luv u mean.nO homo

[@devonswindell9735]

maysure

[@alycestapleton]

Did he just say file both butting ends of the ring , umm wrong you only need the grind one side not both butting edges and only the back butting side or closer to the back of the engine . Because then you do not have a straight reference from the original also you’ll get blow by lot of it . Mahle America what are you on about

[@DaveMcLain]

I've never seen ring end gaps make much of a difference when it comes to blow by. We were just talking about this the other day when I was running an engine on the dyno for a customer. He noticed that it had almost no noticeable blow by coming from the breather under load and he asked me if I had remembered to gap his rings with additional clearance like he had told me because he intends to run some nitrous later. I had given extra end gap but the engine still leaked very little.