Piston ring supplier

[jason b]

Right, sorry about yet another post!

I thought I had a supplier for all the engine bits I needed, however I now find out that the piston rings are NLA from them. Could anyone tell me who they use to get piston rings for the C30NE engine please?

Also It turns out the timing chain kit doesn't come with the two gaskets (not the water pump gasket but the two main gaskets) - any ideas where to get them from too?

Any help much appreciated!!!

Thanks
Jason

edit: After phoning a good few companies it would seem that the goldtop has a slightly different ring set to the normal 30NE... A normal 30NE has 1st 2nd and 3rd rings of 2mm, 2mm, 4mm respectively whereas a goldtop apparently has rings of .175mm, 1.5mm and 3.5mm respectively. Can anyone shed any light on whether this is true or not? (I have yet to pull the crank and pistons as I want to keep it bathed in oil for as long as I can before taking it out.)

[melinx]

Have you tried this company ?

http://www.fwthornton.co.uk/8.html

[jason b]

yup, tried them along with: KAR, Ultrapart, Enginestuff.co.uk and my local engineering works.Thorntons couldnt supply the correct size (1.75, 1.5 3.5) but they could supply a 2mm 2mm 4mm set for £200!!

My only lead so far is the goetze piston ring part number which is the same as the one for the 2.2CIH engine (Part number: 08-306500-00)

[melinx]

Pardon the question if you have already considered it, but is the matter not further complicated by the need for a stepped top compression ring if you are just going for a set of new rings ?

[jason b]

Not really. Whilst there is a very very very slight bore step I am sure that after I have honed the main areas of the bores up to the step properly then I can focus the tool a little on the bore step to carefully remove it. Obviously this has to be done after all the main honing operation on all bores as focusing the tool on the bore step will wreck the stones.

Just my 2p, but as I say the step is practically non-existent. The engine is in remarkably good condition for a 100k miler. Some of the main and big end bearing shells still have a little of their initial machining tool mark from manufacture in them!

This is why I didn't want to complicate matters by looking for anything other than a standard set of rings... which is proving hard enough!!

Thanks
Jason

[melinx]

Just my 2p, but as I say the step is practically non-existent. The engine is in remarkably good condition for a 100k miler. Some of the main and big end bearing shells still have a little of their initial machining tool mark from manufacture in them!

Are you saying that the rule of thumb that there is 1 'thou' of bore wear per ten thousand miles is not true for the Carlton engines ?

It would be pleasant if that were so because personally I wouldn't class a 10 'thou' step as insignificant.

Edit: whoops I've changed it to 1 'thou' per 10,000 miles

[jason b]

In all honesty I can't quantify it, however it certainly seems like a very very small bore step. I am more than certain that it can be dealt with by hand prior to and during the honing process if needs be.

I certainly am not thinking about needing to get it reamed out. That and getting any kind of piston ring is hard enough, why make the task harder.

Thanks for your input though!

Jason

[jason b]

Been doing some more searching today, and whilst I have yet to pull the pistons from the block I think I may have to... I can't be sure 100% whether I need 1.75mm 1.5mm 3.5mm rings or 2mm 2mm 4mm. I haven't found conclusive proof either way...

Has anyone on here rebuilt a Goldtop engine who could help?? I have no idea if the goldtop C30NE piston rings are slightly different to early 30NE ones. (or if they are the same as C30SE ones...) I have looked on opel EPC, haynes, internet parts catalogues and can't find any conclusive proof either way!

All that is left really is to pull the piston and get the digital calipers out and measure the rings. (I havent had time to do this yet)

I would love to learn about any subtle differences in goldtops if anyone has any good information. (aside from the much larger valves which is quite an obvious one )

Thanks again!

EDIT: just got hold of a copy of OPEL TIS software and had a look... I think one or two of the companies I phoned might have been having me on a bit... on the TIS software I have looked up the details for piston rings for the 30NE/C30LE/C30NE, the C30SE and the C24NE.

Nowhere can I find any evidence for a first and second ring of differing thickness (i.e. 1.75mm and 1.5mm) nor can I find evidence for a 3.5mm oil ring. The sizes the opel software gives are (approx) 1.5mm 1.5mm 3mm for the C24NE and C30SE respectively and 2mm 2mm 4mm for 30NE/C30LE/C30NE (C30NE being the goldtop?). This is as I would expect as I can't imagine that they would have changed the rings for the goldtop when the rest of the bottom end is the same?

Just some thoughts... any input helpful!

[jason b]

I pulled the pistons tonight and began measuring... I will continue tomorrow. However for interests sake this puts a couple of things to rest.

The rings fitted to my goldtop (and I imagine all gold tops) are 2mm 2mm and 4mm thick respectively. This helps a little (but not much) in finding rings should I need them (I think I probably will).

Also I can confirm with some confidence that the borestep really is as little as I thought. I used the piston ring as a measuring aid by putting it first in the worn part of the bore and then in the unworn step and measuring the gap each time with feeler gauges. Apply a little bit of circumference = pi x dia. and work out the change in diameter and hence borestep. There is only approximately 2 thou of borestep in the worst case and I have yet to properly clean the bores and the stepped bit.

This leads me onto the next observation; I can still see honing marks in the bores, which I wasn't really expecting to see to be honest...

All of the Big end bearings are in immaculate condition as well. I bought the engine from stealthstylz as an alledgedly 100k engine and am not sure who owned it before that, but it has either survived remarkably well, or someone has chucked a hone down it in its recent past...

All that is left to do is measure up all the piston ring gaps to determine if new rings are needed. Judging by cylinder one then I think they are. Book clearances state 0.4-0.65mm for comp and 0.25-0.4mm for oil ring and I measured between 0.8 and 0.9mm (if I remember correctly).

Bit of a ramble but it might help someone in the future, who knows...

[redtopaholic]

I rebuilt me c30se and the engine shop sourced new piston rings :O