85 200M Piston Rings, Which go where?

[CodyRosa]

Hey everyone another quick and hopefully easy question. I have my bottom 3 rings in, and need to know the other two. I have the thicker ring in the middle in case I need to pop it out again. So does the skinnier one go on top like I think or no?

Thanks

[barnett468]

Hey everyone another quick and hopefully easy question. I have my bottom 3 rings in, and need to know the other two. I have the thicker ring in the middle in case I need to pop it out again. So does the skinnier one go on top like I think or no?

Thanks


hello codyrosa

As you probably know I am not the honda expert but I may still be able to help because i do know a lot about pistons and rings in general however i'm a little confused by your question. If you have the right rings for the piston and one is thinner than the others the thin one always goes in the top groove. If the thicker ring fits in the top groove than they are the wrong rings for the piston, it's that simple.

The rings will almost always have a very small dot or mark on one side only. This mark faces up 99.9% of the time. If there is no mark then look at the end of the ring. If it has a very slight taper the tapered side always faces up. Typically only one ring has a taper and it will also always go on top.This is exactly the same for all 2 and 4 strokes and cars guaranteed,

[CodyRosa]

The thicker does fit in the top ring, but they are the right rings. There the original and they were still good. I just needed to clean them up a bit. When I have the thicker one in the middle its a little more solid in there(still moves but just a bit more stiff?) The top one(skinnier ring) moves a lot easier. Like I side these rings are good there was never any smoke.

[hogmuffin]

Here is an online PDF Manual for the 200m. there is a great diagram showing exactly how and where the rings should be placed. http://www.oscarmayer.net/atc/manuals/honda/200M_84-85_shopmanual.pdf

[CodyRosa]

http://www.hondaforeman.com/130-foreman-500/68372-piston-ring-stamping-rn-r.html I figured it out. If anyone is wondering the ring with the RN stamped on it is the middle ring and the ring with the R stamped on it is the top ring. Sorry I didn't read a manual I asked the question at 5 in the morning lol. The link I posted shows what direction each ring should be facing.

[hogmuffin]

Awesome glad to hear. The service manuals are great to have anyhow. I have them saved to my computer for all 6 of my machines. http://www.oscarmayer.net/atc/manuals/

[barnett468]

Hello codyrosa

Glad I could help. Here’s the the piston problem you have. Your top ring land [groove[ is excessively worn. The clearance between the rings and top or bottom of the ring land is .002 new .004 max. Your thick ring is more than .004 thicker than the thin one. This means that since it fits in the top land as you said than the land is obviously worn. This is obviously not as big of a problem in a motorcycle as it is in a car because if the ring breaks from “flutter”, it will be much easier to fix. Just thought I’d let you know in case you want to fix it.