There has been much controversy over this. The debate is whether the sealing gains against the cylinder wall justify the frictional losses of two rings. There are small cart engines with NO rings. They run a rich mixture of methyl alcohol and caster oil. If you have access to a ball-hone (sometimes called a Christmas tree hone) use that in the bore at about 500 rpm going rapidly back and forth to give a nice cross-hatch pattern. 15 seconds with a 240 grit will do it. Wash the cylinder religiously with solvent then soap and water then solvent again. Your cylinder should look new and work perfectly with a single ring piston. When re-installing the cylinder, throw away the base gasket and instead seal it with permatex Ultra-grey. Apply it as thin as a sheet of paper, you hardly need any. This will reduce your squish band by 0.012" and give better throttle response and a little more mid-range and top-end power. You can run the saw an hour later.kf_tree said:
I prefer the Ultra-grey. There are many Loctite product out there for sealing cases on outboard motors etc, but many manufactures now recommend Ultra-grey. Ultra-copper will take more heat but doesn't seem to have the same resilience to gas and oil. In any case the temps are well below either products maximum.dufrain said:
Not hey do not. Avoid using spring loaded, brake cylinder type hones. Those trash cylinders.
