the gapless and the gapped use the same oil control rings,the ring gap plays no part in oil control.

When in Pri was in Orlando, the free beer (packed in big coolers full of ice) was on all the buses that brought you to, from the Convention center from/to all the Hotels. No girls. LOL. Thought that was a nice touch.

They (rings) usually say not to break in with synthetic.

i am pretty sure gm uses mobil 1 in all their high performance engines from the day they get the first fire up.i don,t think they ever see conventional oil ,at least not while they are in gm,s hands.also,the 392 in my srt challenger uses synthetic .i saw the equipment the big 3 are using to hone the cylinders with at the pri show,no independent shop could afford this equipment.the job it does is amazing,the tech is mind blowing.i remember in the 70s&80s 100000 miles on an engine and it was tired,todays engines are just getting broke in at 100000.efi,ring&honing tech has come a long way.

Hard to say, all the vids I've seen in the plants show a cold run, and at the end before motor is crated it get's filled with Mobil one.

We need a line worker to respond. Do we have any ? LOL.

Anyway, as you said, how we assemble engines and what we use as parts can be very different from what the manufacturers do.

Here's a great vid on the Tonawanda engine plant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtZNtvc1Aw

yup,,because drunk guys will buy more stuff.:D

are they using lasers like some if not most of the foreign companies?

Yes Budweiser and bud light the weather was much better but I think the show is better in Indy. I would rather be back in Orlando.

Had that issue once, couldn't get rings to seat with synthetic , ran dino oil for a few passes and they sealed up.

Much!