piston ring Q's- what gap to use, what order do they go in?

[andrave]

I ordered some rings for my engine (nissan parts) and they came but they aren't clearly labeled as to which is which, and I don't know which ring is which. I could compare them to my stock rings but.. I took them off the pistons already.Anyway the fsm doesn't say anything about it. There are little paint codes on the side of the rings, one is yellow and one is white, I believe?

Also, what clearances should I run? the rings are within the tolerances in my FSM the way they are (at least on cyl #1) but my brother advised me to run the maximum or slightly over the maximum because he said turbo cars heat up the rings more, causing them to expand and possibly buckle.

Anyway if anyone could advise me as soon as possible, I'd appreciate it.

[huguetpj]

I don't know about the order and such... but I would run the same tolerances as the FSM says.

[andrave]

yeah thats what I was thinking. as for the order, anyone here know? I'm assuming the altima must use those paint colors for the order but I don't know what order they go in. one has an "a" on it and the next "2a."2a has loser tolerances so I'm guess its the second ring.

[WDRacing]

I'm pretty sure 2a is the 2nd ring. Make sure you put them on right side up as well. If there is a marking for that anyway. I know the last rings I did on a RB26 had markings for that.

WD

[andrave]

yeah mine don't have a hard ring but they just have those little places where they say "2a"the fsm says if the rings have any markings, install them with the markings up, and it says the markings are usually little stamped dots. Mine has no dots but I'll put the "2a" and "a" markings facing up anyway.