rings: file fit or sealed power? which is better

[glht_omni]

i want to know the difference between the file fit rings that come with venolias and sealed power rings. what are the pros and cons of both, and how are they different?

[Reaper1]

I thought that the rings offered as "file fit" were nothing more than Sealed Power rings that were too large for the bore of the motor. I was told on the phone that I could use either the ones that were "right" for the bore, or the "file fit". I chose file fit and don't regret it(although I had a friend help me put it all together)...

[mopar2ya]

I believe the sealed power rings are file fit rings. Or are you think of a fil fit vs a gaplee like total seal?

[Reaper1]

I was told that you could use the .020(ect.) Sealed Power with a .020 overbore and be fine....OR you could get the larger sized Sealed Powers and do a "file fit"...though I could be missunderstandign what I was told...it was a while ago.

[turbovanman]

If your looking for maximum power and low blowby, do the file fit thing, if you don't care, just put the out of the box oversize rings in. I just redid mine with standard oversize rings and the gap is quite large but I am not interested in file fitting rings, I work in cars all day,

[glht_omni]

so what exactly is file fit, do they go right in or do you have to have machine work done to the rings? venolias from fwd come with file fit. i am trying to understand them. i heard that sealed power are gapless?

[turbovanman]

Ok, rings come in a few ways, we will go with stock bore for sake of easyness. You get your rings and pistons for the stock bore-the manufacterer of the rings has pregapped them-you put them in the bore and measure the gap, there usually larger than you want but your not going for every last hp. The rule of thumb is .004' for every bore. Last night, mine were around .020" ring gap, good enough. Now you can by file fit which is what the name implies, you file the gap with a special filer so you don't damage the ring surface, until you get your desired gap. Now you also have gapless rings which have no gap per say. They are designed so they overlap each other and create almost zero blowby, if I had the time and money, I would buy those but there around $200 a set-not cheap but worth it. I think Sealed Power or Hastings just came out with some gapless but Total Seal would be the choice for gapless. Hope this helps.