Im interested in peoples opinions. I was reading a book on the weekend that stated that unless you were running nitro or methanol (or anything that rich) they were possibly causing more harm than good.

Opinions ??

Anyone, anyone, anyone? I'd like an answer to this one too. Perhaps Cal-look.com?

I know they are very expensive relative to conventional rings, so they will damage your wallet. Not that I have personal experience with them, but considering how they work, I cann't understand why they would damage your engine. They just eliminate the gap by having overlaping sections at the joint. Unless they are harder then regular, or have more outward spring on them, what harm do they cause?

I was told that they were a complete waste of time & money on a stock engine, but a race engine would be different

Heres what I read in an abbreviated form.

The rings act as a heat sink passing the heat from the crown of the piston to the cylinder wall.

In normal ring operation when the piston is heading up the compression rings are forced against the ring land, on the power stroke the expanding gasses force the ring to stay seated on the land. In normal operation the rings (once warm) have very little if any gap left for gasses to escape past as long as the ring is firmly seated against the land.

Total seals stop any blowby, so what can happen is gas gets past the first ring, the Total seal stops it. If the pressure between the first and second rings exceeds the pressure in the combustion chamber the top ring can move away from the land, once it does this it isnt transferring heat and you could melt a piston or experience detonantion due to it (worst case scenarios).

In saying that Im using them, and a lot of others do to, I just wonder weather they actually rob a bit of HP ??

It does make you think about vacuum pumps on the crankcase and how they could add power. If you provide a vacuum at the rear of the piston the rings would have no chance of leaving the land, it would have to increase efficiency.

I use Perfect Circle gapless 2nd rings in my F-Vee engines.

These are a 2 piece ring rather than an overlapping ring end

The gapless rings can be re-used many times.

I have notice increased smoking from the engines tho. I dont bother with this however. Smoke means oil, oil means lubrication!