happypappy

My Feedback: (10)

By the end of the Club 40 season I noticed my little GS-40 was getting a little soft on compression. Whether it be the 15% Cool Power or hours of WOT operation it was starting to show a little less performance. I decided to re-ring the engine. I ordered a new piston and ring from my local hobby shop and took the engine apart, cleaned it up, and tried to install the ring onto the piston. Was a factory tech rep for one of the worlds largest outboard manufacturers for upward of 20 years so this was no problem, right? Wrong. Snap! the first ring broke without coming close to sliding over the piston lip. There went $8.99! Ordered one from Tower to get one possibly from another batch and in the meantime went to Super Tigre forum and asked Bax if there was a trick. He told me to install exactly as I was doing and when I let him know this he would no longer answer. Ring came in and was even more careful.....snap! Called tech service and let them know how fragile the rings are and they said they would order up a piston and ring, try it, and get back to me. Still waiting......! Guess they found out the same thing. Sooo I ordered a couple more rings and here is how you get one to expand and slide over the piston lip without breaking. Simply chamfer the sharp edges on the inside diameter of the ring thereby eliminating the stress riser the sharp edges create. By doing this I was able to install, remove, and again re-install the ring onto the piston easily. Oh, Before assembly run some 600 grit on the inside of the liner to break the glaze. Hope this helps!

gunfighter

My Feedback: (1)

WOW!! if you wore out a ring in just one season, the Chineese Tigers definately do not have the longevity of the old Italian Tigers! But at $50.00 they are still a bargain.

I have several 20+ year old Italian Tigers that still have great compression!

Thanks for the information on the process of re-ringing this engine.

happypappy

My Feedback: (10)

Actually what nailed this down for me was when I purchased a back-up engine and broke it in. I did the same day same fuel same prop tests and saw a few hundred RPM difference consistantly. Could feel a slight difference in compression so for the heck of it I pulled the head shim and ran it and the two were about equal. When I run the re-ringed engine I should be able to see what difference a new ring makes.