I'm half way through top end rebuild. 87 911 54k miles(.nikasil).As of now my shop is replacing valve guides,re seating old valves.. and is choosing to keep old rings.. all if which are in spec. They also took off and cleaned piston heads and inside of cylinders.
. Car ran great before head stud broke which facilitated rebuild..no smoking and minimal oil use...question..is this a normal choice to stick with any older parts that are in spec? Specificly the choice to keep old rings
Tks, Adam

 

If it was my car i would go with new rings.

 

When I did my 3.2, I changed rings and it took awful long time before they seated. Nikasil cylinders was good.
You tell that the shop measured the rings and they are in spec and they want to re-use them.
They seem to know what they do.
Your car has only 54kml, that’s not much, go with old rings, my humble opinion.

 

That's what I figured! Another thing I was curious about..during a rebuild..is there a way to do some sort of leak down test on cylinders before engine gets put back in??

 

Would be easy to do, but I don’t think it would give
you any meaningful readings.
When your heads are done and the rings are within spec and generally it’s put together carefully, the leak down is pretty good. My 3.2 had more miles than yours, and my cylinders had about zero wear. Nikasil is amazing stuff. My cyl #3 intake valve guide was shot, that’s why I took it apart.

 

in my honest opinion you had them do it because you dont have the knowledge or experience. Dont start second guessing them now, and let them do their job.

maybe not a popular opinion but an honest one.

 

The threads are littered with "experts" who screw up all the time. Trust but verify, and sometimes we can learn something along the way.

 

Exactly!! I'm not well educated.. so I'm just trying to understand why a certain path is chosen.

 

agreed. most in their own garage...

i think if you have done your homework and picked a quality engine builder. leave it at that . Questions like these on what path is chosen can be had with the builder. You will find them quite knowledgeable. I also think a guy who considers your pocketbook along with the build is the guy you want, and it sounds like that is what you have. Not a guy who will throw anything and everything at it because its a " top end rebuild"