The Hodaka Club Forum

It's my understanding that the Wiseco piston kits sold on Strictly Hodaka are made exclusively for S.H. and are not for sale directly from Wiseco. That said, in terms of piston ring end gap, is the info found on Wiseco's website under the FAQ section all I need to adhere to? (below)

"Wiseco 2-cycle Powersports piston rings are designed with the proper end gap for most applications. However, Wiseco does recommend verifying the ring end gap when assembling your engine, as the end gap can affect the engine working properly if not set correctly. As a general rule, most engines will require .004" per inch of bore diameter for intended ring end gap minimum. More extreme engine applications, where the piston and ring will experience excessive heat, it is recommended to use .005" per inch of bore diameter ring end gap minimum. Generally, when measuring ring end gap, it is most always better to have too much than too little; a tight ring end gap can potentially cause the ring ends to touch during operation, which may cause a failure. Some marine and snowmobile engines do require additional clearance, so Wiseco does recommend additional allowance for these applications. See your Wiseco piston installation instructions included with the piston kit for more detail."

Measure what you have, I doubt you will have to open it up further. .004'' per inch of bore is standard. The gap will increase after a several minutes of break-in, another reason for a thorough break-in. Lots of things happening in the first few minutes. Easy does it I always say!

Max

PS--On our short-trackers from the past, we replaced the ring weekly to have maximum compression. With a 50mm bore the gap was .008 even if we had to file down the next bigger size. A newly bored engine opens that gap quickly as the bore and rings smooth out but the racers only gained a few thousandths between races. Probably overkill but everything adds up in racing.

Thanks Max! I'll take the measurement when my new piston kit arrives and go from there.