Piston Ring Gap Placement

[Ronno6]

Trying to establish the orientation of ring gaps on the piston of my 350 is yielding
a variety of results.
Sometimes they are located top/bottom, with RH bank being one way, LH being opposite.
Basically setting up all pistons the same, regardless of where they go in the block.
Other information places gaps at 3 and 9 O'clock more or less.

The Chevy truck service manual and Chiltons or Clymers all recommend the first method.
But, then they say to follow the instructions included with the rings.
My included instructions deal with which side goes up, and that's it.
Just kind of seems counter intuitive that ring gaps that are up on one bank are down on the other..........

 

[Jerry phillion]

,Ron, I'm with you.i can't figure it out either. I just always used top to bottom on compression rings and staggered oil rings.
Never had any problem. Curious to hear other reasons.

 

[chengny]

From Federal Mogul (or maybe Sealed Power):

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[crazy4offroad]

Mine said 180 degrees across from each other parallel with the crank centerline.

 

[chengny]

Mine said 180 degrees across from each other parallel with the crank centerline.

Yes, but that is correct - but only for the compression rings.

 

[Ronno6]

Mine said 180 degrees across from each other parallel with the crank centerline.

And that flies in the face of the Sealed Power diagram...which shows the same ring for all pistons, but the left bank will be opposite the right bank in relation to the engine centerline.That is to say, top ring gap to the top on the left pistons, and bottom on the right pistons, and so on............