303 olds ring gap

i picked up a 1950 303ci olds engine and have no past history other than its been sitting a loong time ,it has a small ridge at top of cyl,pistons came right out no problem,no cyl scoring,im hopeing it just needs new rings and bearings, i plan on having it miked,my motors manual says 10 thousand min ring gap so my question what would be the max ring gap allowable..thanks

 

.004" for every 1" of bore is a good "rule of thumb" so figure .015", over .020 is a lot.

 

The bore on a 303 is 3. 3/4"

 

Make sure that you cut out that even minimal ridge at the top of the cylinders though as the new top rings could catch on it and break if it is left in the engine. I've seen the results leaving a ridge on a "rebuilt" engine a couple of times and it isn't always pretty.

 

what 48 chevy said, I like .017 myself.