piston rings

good call on staggering the rings and making sure they spin freely. odds are that you will break a ring or two taking the old ones off. you can use the pieces to clean the ring lands if there is a lot of built up crap in there. otherwise a little gas or gum cutter will work well. DO NOT HONE. your motor has had xx,*** miles to polish the cylinder wall. you will not get that back until you drive that many miles again. there is no need to hone with cast rings. when i did them in my motor i was skeptical because it goes against everything i ever learned about the subject. i was pleasantly surprised to see the rings seal in under 200 miles. no smoke no blowby just a smooth clean running motor. fsm is a good idea too.