changing piston rings without reboring?

[Anonymous]

Friend has a gs 1100.Uses about a quart of oil every 300 miles.Really cant see bike burning oil. Has anyone ever changed rings without boring out cylinders and had any luck ?

[redliner1973]

Usually "no Smoke-high consumption" menas valve guides. I would do a leakdown test first. AS for your question, it can be done, but it is not usually a good fix, if you dont remove the pistons to de-glaze the walls, the rings wont seat, plus, if it is the rings, and it is using that much oil, then, well, save the money and time and rebuild it right..Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

Is installing valve guides hard on this gs engine?

[Anonymous]

when you let off the gas just as you are coming to a stop then you should see a bit of smoke--thiis is a clue to having worn valve guides.Also when you first start the engine youshould also see blue smoke--I dont see "HIGH" oil consumption as a sign of worn guides- perhaps you are smoking a little and cant see it- is the oil being thrown out of the breather--or perhaps both conditions exist. please explain more. i had rings done when i first got the bike and we didnt bore it out--it lasted about 2 thousand miles--i did it because i was planning some over sized pistons--Valve guides are pressed in place and if i remember correctly, in the machine shop we used a rather good sized press- i dont believe that it is a job for the biker to do in his garage--1 quart in 300 miles is a lot of oil and i would seriously look for other possibilities first--i have worn guides on my bike for a long time and i hardly notice the oil consumption--
JUST RAMBLING AND WONDERING???

[focus frenzy]

I do not recomend just replacing the rings, odds are it wont help any.
when I purchased my bike it too suck down oil like it was going out of style (1qt per 300miles),
upon disasenbly I noticed that the cylenders had honeing marks in them and the pistons look like they where pretty new. I took the cylenderassembly to a good shop and he mesured the bores at several different points all they way down the stroke of the pistons and we found that the cylinders where outside the specification range, (limit is 2.7512in or 69.880mm on the 1000, and mine was between 2.7953-2.7959in)

I purchased new 1mm over sized pistons and had the bores matched to the new pistons, I could use new valve stem seals (it lets out a little puff when first started from the left pipe) I now average about 2000 miles to the quart well within limits on daily comuting.