Bore Scoring

[SiPotter]

Hi, I’m new to the Club and the forum. After being introduced to the Fulvia in the 1980's by my old boss in Cornwall and owning 3 1.3 S3's in the late 80’s into the early 90's I’ve recently bought a 1600HF reg. NSW 7M. The car has extensive history and although I was told the car had a motor rebuild in the last 5000 miles the bores (no4 in particular) are showing some signs of both polishing and scoring. I put a bore scope in today and can attach some images for comments. There’s not a lot of carbon build up and compression is good across all 4.
Any advice would be much appreciated!

[Wangler]

Seems to me to be a case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Ok, there might be some scoring and possibly polishing. The compression is good so what could you do about it that would make any noticeable difference to it that doesn’t involve dismantling the engine?

Use good oil and enjoy it, remembering that these cars are designed to be driven hard! Before the advent of bore scopes you would have been none the wiser.

[lancialulu]

It is easy to break or chip piston rings when assembling a Fulvia, or they sometimes break if not “gapped” correctly. Those vertical scoring marks could be due to a ring problem.

[Mikenoangelo]

 I also think its a ring problem as, if I understand the picture  correctly, the scratches are to the front or back of the cylinder relative to the alignment of the engine. Piston siezure marks are most often on the side to side orientation of the piston.

Mike Clark

[nistri]

Inxorrect fitting of piston rings is not rare because standard piston ring compressors cannot be used on Fulvias. Furthermore, there are around low quality rings of unclear origin. It is advisable to use Goetze (Germany) or Perfect Circle (USA) for rings, bearing in mind that for the 1298 engine the rings are the same as for the Fiat 126 early series (of course 2 sets are needed). The Fiat rings are more readily available (and cheaper). Andrea

[lancianut666]

Nice tip regarding the Fiat rings. When rebuilding my Appia engine I had lots of problems with piston rings either breaking (pieces just breaking off!) or being the shape of a thruppeny bit to quote my engine man.
Clarkey