Looking at the head shims, they are absolutely clean. So.... I'm putting my money on a warped cyclinder. The ring is still free to move in the groove, ie not built up with goo yet. (heck its only 2 gallons old).

I would move the ring gap like someone mentiond but the ST ring will only fit two ways, and changing the it from one to the other would only rotate the ring about 5 or 10 degrees leaving the dark patch of the cyclinder still in the same region of the ring it was in before. (the dark patch covers almost 1/4 of the cyclinder from about 9:30 to 11:30 as you look down on it)


Thanks, (if anyone is interested, I can try to take a picture of it tonight... just let me know so I can plan my night.... Vikings Packers game tonight ya know!)