Casa 185 piston rings issue (64mm)

[ulyssescale]

This question is for an earlier version of the Casa 185 small block kit with 64mm piston.


After about 800 miles (somewhere between 600-800), I serviced the top end and found the piston ring gaps to be 0.46mm. The barrel itself shows almost no wear, with the honing marks still visible with no smooth/glassy sections - not even at the bottom of the stroke. My engine notes from the original build showed that the original rings provided with the kit were 0.36mm fresh out of the box. At the time of the build I knew I would be servicing the top end before 1000 miles, so I didn’t worry too much about the new rings having such a large end gap.

I ordered replacement rings and found the new rings to have a 0.43mm end gap. This is no good. I contacted the shop where I bought the piston rings (package was a Casa Pro product listed as for the Casa 185 kit 64mm). The shop is now looking for another set of rings for me that aren’t already blown out.

My question: Has anyone else encountered this problem? Are there alternative manufacturers to the 64mm piston rings that have been used successfully?

Thanks. If you need any clarification on anything I’ve written, let me know.

[ulyssescale]

Update:

This issue seems to have invaded Casa Lambretta’s distribution. If you have a Casa 185 kit sitting on the shelf, I recommend you take a look at the rings. If you have a piston ring end gap exceeding 0.30mm, maybe contact the shop you bought it from.