Back when I ordered piston rings (for the original LDT Style Pistons) from Eastern Surplus, I never looked over all the piston rings they sent me. 4 of the piston rings sets were in heat sealed packaging with no numbers on them whatsoever. The other to sets were wrapped up in glad wrap, like the same stuff you use when you make a sandwitch... again, with no par numbers. After further review of them last night when I was about to put them in the engine, I noticed all of the piston rings did not match. 2 compression piston rings were different from all the others.
As you may know, the LDT piston rings have 3 compression rings and one oil ring. Now, the top two rings are the same and the 3rd compression ring is a little different. That being said, I had 10 matching compression rings and 2 that did not match.
I called Eastern Surplus to inform them of the issue that not all of the piston rings match. As you can see in the picture, two of them are a different color and say "Top" on the piston ring, instead of like the others which only have a dot to indicate the top. This concerns me because all of the work I went though with these engines trying to get them right, I want to have all of the same piston rings. The website never told me they would not all match and the pictures all showed me piston rings like I received for 5 cylinders, one cylinder being not matching. Now, being that there were no part numbers, this concerns me. I think you all understand.
HERE IS THE KICKER:
When I called Eastern Surplus, they said they were the last of the piston rings they have and they will not be getting any more in stock. Chris at Eastern Surplus said I can send the rings back and receive $60 store credit OR give me a refund of the $60 and charge me a 30% restocking fee! He said I should know how surplus works and that they all may not be from the same manufacturer. WHAT CRAP IS THAT? They send me parts that do not all match, is not called out in the description and is not representative of what is in the pictures? I sent him and email and he is going to see if he is going to find some from a supplier but I doubt he will. He was telling me before that they do not have any more piston rings and that a store credit or a refund and getting charged 30% was the only options. What a bunch of crooks!
What I received:
(only showing the rings that would be on the top two groves of the pistons which is a total of 12 per engine)
Notice the two piston rings on the right are dark in color than the pile of 10 piston rings to the left.
What Eastern Surplus shows on their website:
