Topic: Doing rings, what else?

[zabzob]

Long story short, I was a dummy 3 years ago and didn't do the rings when I had the head rebuilt on my 750. Burning a tonne of oil, and since it's not the head it must be the rings, right? So now I'll be pulling the engine again when it warms up. Since I'll be in there, anything I should do beyond replacing the rings? I was thinking about getting those APE heavy duty studs as well... maybe the cam chain tensioner assembly too, since it always seems to be rattly no matter how much I sync the carbs.

[Keith]

Who rebuilt the head? In my previous life as an auto tech, I have seen some less than professional machine work... I would have it checked out.

[zabzob]

Head rebuild was done by a reputable shop with good reviews online. It burned oil before the head rebuild as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if the rings disintegrated based on the shape the bike was in when I got it.

[zabzob]

Also when I did a tour this summer it would burn about a bottle of oil every 400 km or so. Seems unlikely that all of that could get down the valve guides, right?

[zabzob]

Well, I didn't do a compression test because again, I'm a dummy. I should have rented one to get an idea of how there were before tearing it down. My tour buddy took the lead for most of our trip because he wasn't too happy about riding behind me. 

I think I'm going to go ahead and order a set of rings, head gasket, base gasket, exhaust gaskets, and cam chain tensioner parts. I'll have the cylinders measured and honed at a shop I think.

Question: could my rings being so, so bad affect the ability to balance the carbs? Like with constant misfires etc? Always seemed way harder to do than it should have been.