Yes those are all the second ring. It looks to be a Napier style but i am not up on piston rings. When the groove is facing the bottom of the piston then the pink mark is on the right side of the ring gap and the laser etched 2R is facing the top of the piston
Kawasaki fr691v smokes badly
- Thread starter joegreen
- Start date
Manuals aren't absolute - the markings always go up unless specifically noted by the ring manufacturer or the OEM. Since this is a Napier, the "groove" goes down.
Can you post some pics of the top? Most likely it will have a chamfer on the inside, which will go down - this ahould put the "1R" marking up.
Can you post some pics of the top? Most likely it will have a chamfer on the inside, which will go down - this ahould put the "1R" marking up.
Gotcha. I can't tell for sure but that looks like what I would call a "barrel face ring". 1R will go up on it as well.
First, I was about to say the manual is wrong, but then you pointed out that it mentions two different scenarios when you use:
1. New second ring
2. Reassembling the original second ring
In this case follow 1. - the white marking direction facing right as the manual says.
Also (from what I know), by default the first/top ring is always installed with any lettering/numbering (1R) facing upward. Not sure if that is valid for the second ring as well.
For a peace of mind just write a short email or call Kawasaki USA and they will tell you.
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The paint marks may not be relevant at all in this case. When was the manual written in relation to this specific engine? Does this actually apply to this engine? OEs are guilty of being lazy and copy/pasting too - I've seen it a few times. Is this the same manufacturer of rings that was used when the manual was written?
What does matter is that the rings are installed according to their design. The top ring appears from the pics to be symmetrical, so just put the marking up. The second ring is a Napier design so the groove goes down, which also happens to place the markings up as well.
What does matter is that the rings are installed according to their design. The top ring appears from the pics to be symmetrical, so just put the marking up. The second ring is a Napier design so the groove goes down, which also happens to place the markings up as well.
By placing the second ring with its white marking facing right (as the manual says) also orients its groove facing down.
So, the manual is correct and matches what I-net sources say too.
I am going to install the rings with the laser etching facing up which makes the napier ring face downwards so it can properly scrape the cylinder. Everything i read about this style ring says it must be installed facing the bottom of the piston.
Btw, that is also valid for 2-stroke piston rings - any letters/numbers always face upward.
Update. Motor is basically back in the mower. Still have to bolt it down and attach all the externals plus adjust valves. I did a transmission fluid change while it was out as it was a lot easier to access the bleed plugs. I assume the transmission oil was original. The filters were the white hydrogear filters and were on super tight. While the transmissions were quiet when driving around the oil did have a decent amount of very very fine metallic particles that were probably in there from break in. Also the fluid definitely had moisture mixed in as it was milky. Replaced with Mobil 1 15w50.
Update: I spent the weekend putting everything back together. The engine is completely assembled and all of the steering and transmission linkages are adjusted according to the manual. I started it up and it didn’t immediately explode so thats good. It seems to run great. There is zero smoke from the exhaust now. I drove it around and varied the engine rpms. Even after warming up there is still no sign of oil in the exhaust. Overall it turned out great. The manual did have a couple confusing parts/typos but with your help i was able to get it assembled properly. Thanks
I guess that means you got the rings in , in the correct direction! Nice!
Nice job!
