Mains, big ends and rings

10th July 2012, 22:42

I'm rebuilding a 16v from the ground up and replacing everything so it is essentially a new engine.

All that remains for me to buy are the title items. Now I went to my local Citroen dealer and tbh they were pretty useless and didn't really tell me anything other than there are different sizes.

Now I'm guessing for rings that I just need the standard size as I'm not changing the pistons or boring anything out but if someone could just confirm that it would be great.

The main issue I have is selecting which big ends and mains to go for, as far as I understand it there are 3 different sizes depending on colour or something so I need to find out what colour I am so I can buy the right ones so if someone could point me in the right direction for this I would be very grateful

Thank you

11th July 2012, 05:28

If you're replacing the rings, make sure the piston grooves are fully, spotlessly cleaned and get the bores properly machine honed (rather than a drill mounted de-glazer) to help them settle in quickly.

Big end bearings are only available in standard (CN) and repair (CR), repair is oversize, so unless your crank has be ground to fit them, you want CN. Makes sure the crank journals are clean and free of rust/scoring.
Main bearings, the standard size is black, which is fine in most cases, but if you want to do a really nice job, use plastigauge to check the clearance with black shells and you can grade up or down from there to get perfect clearances.

11th July 2012, 07:49

Wicked. Just what I was after. Thanks