Leaving off the third ring

[Joe G]

Hello,

I noticed on Kiwi Mike's site that he suggestes leaving the third compression ring off. It is not necessary for good sealing and only serves to add friction..anybody try this?

Joe G

[indianut]

I personally would not do it. The one thing I have fount that causes excess drag is the use of 3 piece oil rings. They seem to last as long and work as well with the one piece rings and are MUCH easier to start.

[swall]

Kiwi tried to tell me the .040" over rings they sold me for a .030" over bore and .030" o/s pistons would work just fine. I didn't believe it and bought the proper .030" over rings from someone else.

[Kiwi Mike]

Rings

The ring sizing of using a .040 in a .030 bore is not something I came up with but was qualified by several of the major US manufacturers of rings including Hastings. No ring mfr makes a .010 ring nor a .050 ring for Indians as these are merely end gapped .020 and .060. Likewise with .030 is an end gapped .040. Yes your rings were sold to you as .030 however they were end gapped .040. I just prefer to be honest and up front. Leaving off the 3rd compression ring is OPTIONAL. I merely suggest things if someone discusses options but in no way did I nor would I state its a must do thing. I would expect that if someone disagreed then they would discuss it openly with me rather than behind my back and try and run me into the ground here. We all have differences of opinion and methods of engine builds and the bottom line is what lasts the distance. I am proud of how our Kiwi engines continue to perform all over the world. Engines are my specialty and there is not 1 fix that works on every engine when using original parts (like cylinders). Indians cylinder cast iron quality varied a lot that in 1 engine a 3 piece oil control ring will work well while in another it will chew it out in no time. In the old days the theory of ring sealing is quite contrary to what we know today. The best ring set up I have found to date is with our new pistons that we have been prototyping and testing for several years on several bikes. These have 2x 1/16 wide compression rings and a 5/32 oil. We just raced our bobber with 20,000 miles on the engine at Bonneville Salt Flats 3 weeks ago and had to remove the heads for tech inspection as it set a new record. Honing marks were still visible on the cylinder walls after 20,000 hard ridden miles and it still had excellent compression and zero oil consumption. This same bike was on display in our booth at Davenport with the rear head removed for everyones viewing. If anyone has any questions what so ever I can be reached at 800 601 KIWI or email me direct at bigchief@kiwiindian.com. As time allows I am posting a lot of technical information on our website www.KiwiIndian.com. I'm happy to help and show my full name on blogs or discussion groups. Mike Kiwi Tomas