Putting my BB351 kit together

The service manual shows what I believe is liquid gasket where the cylinder meets the crankcase. It looks like you put it where the halves join - so thats what i did - not much really just a thin bead in those 2 areas and reassembled the cylinder and head. I was watching a YT video of someone else doing this and he puts the liquid gasket all over the rim. Is this necessary? Should I be on the safe side and tear it back down before I install cams and timing and go ahead and be more liberal/thorough with the goo?

Question #2 - when fitting the piston to the cylinder I compressed the rings by hand one at a time. I noticed that the first ring had a tendency to jump out of the groove where the gap meets. I compressed it down and got it on OK, but a little bit of OCD is kicking in - is there any chance that the ring could be in the cylinder yet misaligned (as in one of the ends off the groove )? Or is there no way it went in smoothly without being exactly in place? Was also trying to make sure the joints were located properly so there was a lot going on at once.

 

There should be no way the ring could be out of its ring lands and still side freely. Did you mock up the piston and rings and put them in the cylinder before you started reassembly?

Dunno if bill pre gaps rings but you should double check your ring gaps are correct

 

The piston has only .002 to .0025 clearance. If the piston went in it's not possible the rings are out of the piston lands.
Two dots of sealer only. If your smear the whole gasket it won't compress and do it job.

As long as your ring gaps are spaced apart your good to continue.

 

Bill gapped the rings for me, cause I didn't do it.

 

thanks.


i turned the crank and the piston moves smoothly in the cylinder.

sounds like I'm ok - just needed some sanity check 'cause i felt like maybe i wasnt using enough liquid gasket. I presume this is just for extra help where those halves meet

 

That's correct.