Quote Originally Posted by NegativeZero View Post
Yea once I saw that big a drop in compression, I knew it was time to crack it open. Rings are fairly cheep, so I'm honestly not too bothered by it. Planning on reducing the gap to 24 on the top and 25 on the bottom. I still think that leaves plenty of room for low boost applications and will hopefully reduce blow-by. Also adding a windage tray so hopefully keep crankcase pressure down a little bit more.
JMHO, I really don't think your ring gaps were causing your trouble, unless they were significantly larger than you posted. In my youth (a long, long time ago) I ran some pretty worn out motors, a few had enough blow by to lay out a smoke screen and oil slick out the tail pipes, yet not enough crankcase pressure to blow out gaskets.

When you tear it down look it over closely, I believe there's more to this story than what meets the eye.

Also, I think you are a little confused on what a windage tray does, it does NOT reduce blow by or crankcase pressure, generally they are good at minimizing aeration of the oil at high RPM, which helps with a speedy return of the oil to the sump. There are lots of pro's and con's (and opinions) on windage trays.

I was told when I was young (many years ago) there are two phrases that apply to motor building and troubleshooting;
MOTOR BUILDING - Check, check, check, MAKE MISTAKES less, less, less
TROUBLESHOOTING - Test, test, test, SPEND less, less, less