TOPIC:

I'm putting my 1977 KZ1000 engine back together this week. It has Wiseco pistons in it, The new rings came with little instructions that show how to position the rings for installation. The instructions are approximately backwards from the instructions in the Kawasaki manual. Granted, these are not the Kawasaki pistons, but does that really make a difference? Just wondering if anyone has opinions on which way to go.... I am assuming it isn't necessarily the actual direction each ring faces, but the overall staggered orientation that is most important?

Yup.

It's good engineering practice to stagger the ring gaps on assembly but the rings rotate around the piston in operation and will line up thousands of times in their life so the actual position doesn't really matter.
If you took note of the ring position on assembly and then pulled it apart again after a short time running you would find that the rings will have moved anyway.

I'm with zed on this one, I've had my engine open a few times in the past couple years and have found what zed says to be true. On assembly I had the compression rings facing east/west, and the oil ring facing north/south. There was a problem, and I had to disassemble with less than 50 miles, I found 2 out of 4 cylinders to have the compression rings lined up perfectly. I thought that I screwed up on assembly, but when I reviewed the detialed photos I took while assembling it, I discovered that they were staggered correctly during assembly.

Was so careful when I lined mine up ..... must a double checked em 5 times or more. Am surprised to hear this ..... and have been picturing them moving a little and worrying a little about it .....but since the comp is so good and even maybe I can finally stop.

I'm sure I would get it perfect again though even though I know now they will be moving anyway.

Well.. THIS is interesting to hear! It makes sense, but I never thought about it....

Yes rings will turn over time, some will often comment on how different honing marks and cylinder surface finish affect ring rotation and the way new rings seat etc. Don't know if there is any real truth to it all. I know they way I was thought, no mater what kind of engine be it a lawn mower or an aircraft engine, always stagger the ring gaps.

I would think ring rotation is good thing it would promote even wear of the piton ring. Probably why most of the time you cant see rings worn on the major thrust sides like the rest of the piston.