Well, yeah, .018" is way too much gap. The cylinder must be really worn if you received the correct ring. The stock spec is around .003" or so, but Frank actually recomends a gap of zero. An option would be to send the piston and cylinder to Frank and see if he thinks a custom made ring would save the engine or if it is just plain worn out.

If you have a compression gauge, anything under about 70 lbs. of compression makes a two stroke engine tough to start.

AV8TOR