Total Seal Piston Ring‘s new total conform process is so new that the information about the process hasn’t even hit the homepage of its website yet. This recently patented process offers greater conformability to the cylinder walls than anything offered previously.

“It’s the Total Conform piston ring,” said Keith Jones. “What we have done is slotted the inside of the ring. This offers tremendous bore conformability.”

A close-up of the notches in the ring. Note that this particular ring has been run in a vehicle and Jones says it’s still in great shape.

According to Jones, piston rings have to follow the blocks as the bores move. “In the modern era, everything is going aluminum and everything is going to a lighter liner to get the weight down.” Jones went on to explain that as engines have gotten lighter with thinner liners, there is more distortion. “Rings typically don’t really follow bore distortion very well,” he added. “That bore movement causes ring seal problems with oil, compression, and blow-by. What we have done is slot the inner part of the piston ring. This slotting process allows the ring to follow the bore distortion and allows the ring conformability to follow the block as everything moves around.”

Interestingly, this conformability in the piston rings has added benefits. “The slotting also reduces the tension the ring makes,” stated Jones. “Another bonus is that it acts as a pseudo gas port, so you are going to get better loading.”

Jones explained that the company did a lot of additional testing of the procedure while waiting for the patent process to complete. “We did a lot of testing to make sure that it worked for all applications,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that it worked in a Sprint car and a Pro Stock car. Now we are ready to bring it to the world.”

A giant version of the Total Conform ring hangs above the Total Seal booth.

When asked if the process affected any coatings, “In our testing, this process did not affect any coatings and the slotting process can be done to any of the Total Seal rings as part of the end process,” Jones said.

To find out more about any of the fine Total Seal Piston Ring products, visit online at: www.totalseal.com