i bought the howell bottom end kit and it came with the total seal rings. Do i need to file them down or just put them on. I need help asap

measure clearances! file if needed. my total seals didnt need any fileing, but no way to say for sure about you. Measure clearances, then decide.

After your block is honed put your rings in a cylinder and measure the ring gap with feeler gages. If its too big you need new rings, you shouldn't have to file anything if its the right parts.




I got the sonic if you got the boom.

Originally posted by mrj82
After your block is honed put your rings in a cylinder and measure the ring gap with feeler gages. If its too big you need new rings, you shouldn't have to file anything if its the right parts. I got the sonic if you got the boom.

I thought the Total Seals weren't supposed to have any gap. Are you referring to the gaps on the individual rings that all snap together sir? I was under the impression that with the Total Seals, you simply bought them for your application, snapped them together, and made damn sure you capped the PCV port on the intake mani, and installed those breather filters.

??? :wary ???

Originally posted by DR1665

Originally posted by mrj82 After your block is honed put your rings in a cylinder and measure the ring gap with feeler gages. If its too big you need new rings, you shouldn't have to file anything if its the right parts. I got the sonic if you got the boom.

I thought the Total Seals weren't supposed to have any gap. Are you referring to the gaps on the individual rings that all snap together sir? I was under the impression that with the Total Seals, you simply bought them for your application, snapped them together, and made damn sure you capped the PCV port on the intake mani, and installed those breather filters. ??? :wary ???

No if you didn't have any gap when the rings get hot, of course metal expands when hot, they would have no where to got and would break. I put total seals in my 383 I built. Check the gap before you install them.

excellent information sir. Thank you.

Oh yeah if the gap is too big or too small you don't have the right size rings. Summit sent me the wrong size.

Howell also sent me the wrong size once.

And yes, ALL rings need to be checked for proper clearances and gapped if necessary. Each ring needs to be matched to the cylinder it's going into.

Totalseals are called that because the middle ring is actually just 2 rings, turned 180* from eachother, stuffed into one ring groove. So you have 4 rings to gap instead of 3 like in conventional ringsets.