I'm currently rebuilding a sbc 350 with casting number 10054727. I'm trying reinstall the pistons with new rings and they are very hard to move once the compression rings are in the cylinder. The only way I can slide them further into the cylinder is by hitting it with mallet. The piston ring gaps are correct (checked with a feeler gauge) and the pistons are original to the engine. Every video I have seen of pistons being installed, the pistons can almost be pushed in by hand. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

 

i have rebuilt many small block chevys and if you can just push them in by hand easily that baby is shot ! on a good bore with new rings you will need a mallets wood handle to tap them down the bore .

 

Thanks for responding. What exactly do you mean by shot?

 

Ignore that last reply. I misread your post.

My problem isn't that the pistons slide down the bore too easily. My pistons will hardly move at all unless I hit it with a mallet as hard as I can. They're acting as if the piston ring end gaps are too small but I found them to be within spec. I'm not really sure what's going on.

 

they do take a fare amount of effort to push the assembly down the bore , providing you have the correct size ring's and not custom fit ring's that need to be filed for fit ,and the ring gap is within tolerance ,and the ring groves in the piston's have been cleaned out with a ring grove scraper,not forcing the ring ring's into the bore to tight .you should be ok .