Kohler Magnum Vertical Knock/tick Teardown

If you are talking about the 'shiny spot' on the surface to the left of the cylinder bore, that is not from the connecting rod, but is 'grind marks' from the casting plant where the flashing was removed. Generally, when the castings are poured, the parts that delimit molten metal flow allow some seepage, leading to 'flashing' that is thin metal that must be removed. If the connecting rod had been banging on the surface, it would look more like hammer marks. If that is indeed what you are pointing out...
You can clean up the journal with a rag, and the bearing surface in the connecting rod, and assemble it {with the piston not installed in the cylinder} and use some "Plastigage" to measure the bearing clearance. The extruded wax(?) is of a specific diameter, and will deform when the connecting rod is in place and torqued to spec to indicate bearing clearance. A quick, inexpensive way to determine "what's what" inside an engine. You want to keep side loadings to a minimum to insure the most accuracy possible, so don't hang the piston on the rod and don't let the piston 'lean' on the crankshaft(or vice-versa) in the horizontal position. In other words, lay the crankshaft and piston/rod on the bench to minimize weight effects.
You can re-assemble without damaging anything if you are careful. The piston rings have to be compressed to fit into the cylinder, and that has to be done very carefully to avoid breaking the rings or damaging the bore. Your cylinder walls still show the cross-hatch of the original manufacture, which is a good sign. You can use a micrometer to measure the bore at the top, middle and bottom to determine tape, but it sure looks like there would not be much to measure. You can use a single piston ring, squared in the bore by the piston inserted 'wrong way', and measure the end-gap as above to determine both the gap and the taper. You must use standard size pistons and rings unless you overbore the cylinder.
tom

Well, Got around to having some monies for this and the time. Took out the valves and cleaned them and put them back in, The seats looked fine and were not lose. Mesured ring gap, and its way out of spec -_-. Maybe I did my math wrong, Here are the pics to follow. Priced new STD rings and they are out of my range for this month. 79.99 plus 20.00 shipping

Ring end gap on Jug #2

Jug #1





Ports







Ring end gap Jug #1



Nick?



Another




Should mention I used the same ring on both sides. So the ring end gap should really be the same no?

Is this nick bad?





Nicks above oil ring, Is it fine?

So, Opinions on what I should do next?