just wondering how long will the stock rings be good for? i was thinking about getting new heads but if the piston rings arent going to be able to handle the extra hp.

with new heads, how many miles more can i expect from my engine?

 

Nobody is going to be able to answer your questions. You can't say for sure when piston rings will wear out or how long your engine will last because there are just too many variables involved. How the car is driven, how often it's driven, how well you maintain it, etc. etc...The only way to know if you need new rings is to do a compression check. If any of your cylinders has low compression, they should be replaced. A set of aftermarket heads will not be so powerful they will ruin your piston rings. However if you have the engine out of the car or whatever, it wouldn't hurt to replace them just for peace of mind, and if you're going that far, you may as well replace your rod bearings since you'll have to remove the rods anyway.

 

damn, i cant believe i never thought to do a compression test! when my car comes back from the shop thats the first thing im going to do. thanks what is the factory's pressure recommended amount?

i dont think ill have the engine out anytime soon

 

Main thing with compression testing is that the numbers don't vary more than 10-15% from cylinder to cylinder rather than a specific number. If one cylinder is lower than all the rest, it could be a valve or a ring problem. If two adjacent cylinders are both low, then it could be a blown head gasket between the two cylinders. Like USAMuscle already said, it's very hard to say how long rings will last but I know of many Stangs with over 100,000 miles on them that are still running strong, so maybe that will help you decide some.