The manual grinder will work just great...

That top ring just might be a steel ring and not the typical cast iron. If it is you get a nice bonus of about 10% better heat transfer through the ring.. the top is very important at transfering heat from the top of the piston.

You may also want to consider running a wide gap on the second ring. I know it sounds wrong but the wide gap insures that the top ring has a good pressure differential so it seals well. It's the pressure behind the ring that gets it to press against the wall and seal.

If the second ring holds too well the top ring does not develop a good pressure differential. This reduces how well it transfes heat and seals.

GM and Ford now recomend wider second ring gaps... More power and better oil consumption. On a blown motor with a wider top ring gap its even more important. Why? The wide top ring gap prevents ring end butting under boost. The rest of the time the top ring runs with a bit more end gap than normal.

That wider end gap reduces the pressure differential across the top ring as the second ring does more work. With the thin low drag rings reduced cross section you may not have enough force to get the top ring to work correctly when the motor is not under boost.

Bottom line is a wider second ring gap helps the top ring do its job. This is based on my own testing as well as groups that have a bit more credability. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Kevin C