So it's possible I may have to get the rings done on my 225, I'll be finding out in the next few days.

I've found rings to be around the price of $150. How much do you guys think I'll be looking at paying if I take the car down and ask can you put the new rings on?

Less than$1000? I'm unsure of the process on how it's done. I think they'd pull the oil pan and the head undo the con-rod and take the piston out through the top? (Again I have no idea).

Any information would be great.

Oh and I'm in aussie.

your looking at a re-ring job, that 4hrs to remove and install engine and depending on what kind of detail you want on the rebuild you could be in 4 to 6 hrs , the problem is what you see when you get in there, bearings, crank, valves, head ,pistons. if your lucky just hone the cyl walls wash the block and button it up.now thats lucky.

Although you could do that, I suspect most would pull the engine, put it onto an engine stand, and work on it that way. Just easier... I forget but if there is a crossbar under the engine then you pretty much have to do that.

In car / out of car, head has to come off (remove valve cover, remove rockers, pull pushrods) (I think one can leave manifolds in place--but expect some extra "fun" removing old exhaust manifold bolts), then if it's high miles there may be a ridge to remove from the top of the cylinders. Then remove oil pan, undo rod caps *after* marking caps and rods (IIRC there's no swapping of the caps relative to their rod), and then the piston/rod assembly can come out the top.

At this point it might be a good time to pull a main cap or two, and see how much wear there is. Low oil pressure would also indicate wear to the bottom end bearings. Examine rod bearings too (might as well, since you've got 'em apart). Wear, shiny spots, stuff embedded in the metal...

Assembly is more or less the reverse, assuming the cylinders aren't egg shaped and still have some crosshatch (if not, then need a boring, which involves fully stripping the block and new pistons). Well, you should probably check ring end gap too. If the motor is out, I'd check timing chain, maybe hose out any deposits on the bottom of the oil pan / top of the head, maybe do a valve job if the seats look iffy.

Going back to the begining though...

Why are you having / potentially having the rings done? High oil consumption? Have you had a compression check done yet, and/or ruled out more simple issues (PCV stuck, massive oil leak, etc)? Is one cylinder low on compression?

As others have said, doing just the rings is both uneconomic and unwise. It is unwise because if the rings are worn to the point of needing replaced, then so is the rest of the engine. And even if the rest of the engine is technically not outside of wear limits, sealing up the cylinders with nice fresh rings throws a great deal of added load on the rest of the engine's wear parts and seals; an engine that didn't formerly burn oil will often begin to do so, heavily, if just the rings are done. It's uneconomic because the engine must be taken apart pretty much to bare bones to do a proper ring replacement job, at which point it makes no sense to re-use old bearings, old seals, etc.

If you need rings, you need at least a ring-and-valve job and more likely a proper engine overhaul.

As to whether this sort of work gets done with the engine installed or removed, there are two kinds of people: those who have never attempted an in-car engine rebuild and those who will never attempt another one.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

On high milage engines, the cylinders wears in a cone shape, with more wear (bigger) at the top, then the bottom of the bore.
The resulting taper must be less then .007 (factory spec) or new rings will not seal well.

Most all used SL6 engines I dis-assemble have more then .007 cylinder taper and need to be bored-out and fitted with new oversized pistons (and matching rings) when rebuilding.
DD

I bought my sealed power rings for $40. 150 seems like a lot

Hope I don't have to do the rings then :/.
Borrowing a comp checker tomorrow hopefully.

Maybe starting from the start…?

What's the trouble you're having with the car?

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I found petrol in the oil- fixed with new filter new oil car drained etc.
I figured petrol went down the sides of cylinders into the sump as the car was turning over but not firing (problem is now fixed). Bought a new carb as the old was a dud.

Dad said he's smelt petrol on the dipstick, and that the smoke out the back seemed a little whiter than it should be? (I think this could be a few things to be honest).

Dad suggested a compression test (we'll borrow it) will give us a rough idea as to why petrol might be in the sump.

Mostly it's just paranoia but I like to know about these things before the problem arises. I'll post figures when I get them.

Should I expect something around 120ish PSI? if it's done 68 000 miles or 168 000 miles or 268000 miles?
Thankyou!

Actually, this is usually caused by a faulty fuel pump, not faulty rings. When the fuel pump diaphragm gets a hole or tear in it, it shoots petrol into the crankcase with every stroke of the fuel pump. The new oil you just put in will carry on getting thinned down with petrol until you replace the pump.

A compression test will of course give you a rough idea of the engine's health. To get a valid result, the engine should be warmed up to operating temperature, all six spark plugs removed, battery fully charged, and the choke and throttle fully open. The most important thing to look for is consistency. You don't want to see more than about 20% variance from highest to lowest cylinder; less is better. And keep an eye on the gauge needle as you do the test on each cylinder. It shouldn't take more than about three compressions to reach the maximum reading. If it builds up slower than that, the engine is mechanically weak. Assuming an engine in basically sound condition and an accurate gauge (often not a good assumption), you're looking for numbers in the 115 to 130 range.

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Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thankyou, sorry I should have said I did replace the fuel pump.

And will do.

If the oil is thinning out, then it is likely a bad fuel pump (again), although I suppose it could run down out of the carb when not running. Otherwise it just smells like gasoline due to rich running and blowby, caused by worn rings.

But really, start with a compression test. Read up on how to do that, as you may want to squire some oil in there to see if it has any effect on compression (which would help diagnose bad rings).

I'd think anything above 100 psi would be "acceptable", although higher is better. Miles shouldn't matter, but one does expect lower pressure at 268k than at 168k. I'd look for uniformity in readings; one that is far different could point to a broken ring or bad valve.