Partial quote:

"unfortunately like you say the older engine has the single ring piston which is pretty lousy. In my opinion so far the best set up is to find the older engine and then get the new style two ring piston to put in it."


To be fair to this lowly design:

(1) What did the end gap of this piston ring measure?
( 2) Was the ring face and sides free of any nicks,or scratches?
( 3) Condition of the bore it was asked to run in?
(4) Did you check the ring on a surface plate ? (Glass plate with a new piece of ~ 1000 grit oiled wet/dry)
(5) What was the piston ring groove to ring clearance?
(6) Is the piston groove completely contamination free?(no burs,nicks,or contamination)

Some folks call this "blue printing", measuring all the basic stuff, before messing with the mods.

Just an old mechanic wondering....

It would seem unfair to dismiss a design that has proven very effective in minimizing friction in countless high performance applications,due to missed concepts,with such a blanket statement.