Hello has anyone here have experience with running ITM piston rings? About to get into my rebuild and have read some not so great opinions on them. I tried looking for some 0.020" oversized rings and can't seem to find anything but ITM and Hastings.

Where did you see the bad information?

Most of the time a lot of those bad reviews come from folks that don’t know or have no experience installing piston rings.

I was browsing through Church of L Series past posts. Seems to be the same guy preaching it though. I did read somewhere else the "secret" to using ITM pistons is not using their rings and upgrading. Thought I would ask here if anyone wanted to share their experiences with running them on their cars.

I used Hastings on a stock 2.4 but have read a lot about oversized ITM pistons and rings. About half and half good and bad but I do know this guy named Guy that's got about five 240s with Eiji Hosomi at Datsun Spirit built motors. Top-shelf stuff, https://www.datsunspirit.com/engines.

He says the best thing to do with ITM rings is trash them and use Total Seal instead. Here's a thread with some opinions...

Maybe he'll see this, @Diseazd

Edited June 25Jun 25 by siteunseen

I don't know who ITM used to be but it looks like maybe only the brand name persists. They don't even have an open web site. Many/most of the old performance part names are just brand names now owned by large conglomerates that source manufacturing to the cheapest bidder.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/itm-engine-components

http://itm.openwebs.com:8080/

Edited June 25Jun 25 by Zed Head

Looks like they might be owned or managed by some place called MAPerformance.

They can't even get the acronym right.

https://www.maperformance.com/collections/itm-engine-components

"...For the best selection of engine management parts from ITEM..."

Thanks for the responses. I think I might just go with Hastings rings just to be safe. Seems like its the most cost effective option with reported good reviews.

On 6/25/2025 at 1:56 PM, siteunseen said:

I used Hastings on a stock 2.4 but have read a lot about oversized ITM pistons and rings. About half and half good and bad but I do know this guy named Guy that's got about five 240s with Eiji Hosomi at Datsun Spirit built motors. Top-shelf stuff, https://www.datsunspirit.com/engines.

He says the best thing to do with ITM rings is trash them and use Total Seal instead. Here's a thread with some opinions...

Maybe he'll see this, @Diseazd

Hi Site…..When installing new pistons and rings in an expensive rebuild, I want to feel confident that when I squeeze those pistons in the bores, they are perfect. The ITM pistons are awesome. When installing rings, I have found that the Total Seals oil rings mate up so easy that I can sleep at night shoving the pistons into the bores…….just me. I’m sure that ITM oil rings and Hastings will work, but I just never felt like I had them installed correctly….at least not in my mind. An extra $200.00 for top quality rings always seemed worth the investment…..whatcha think? BTW How’s your dog?

Regards

Guy

1 hour ago, Diseazd said:

Hi Site…..When installing new pistons and rings in an expensive rebuild, I want to feel confident that when I squeeze those pistons in the bores, they are perfect. The ITM pistons are awesome. When installing rings, I have found that the Total Seals oil rings mate up so easy that I can sleep at night shoving the pistons into the bores…….just me. I’m sure that ITM oil rings and Hastings will work, but I just never felt like I had them installed correctly….at least not in my mind. An extra $200.00 for top quality rings always seemed worth the investment…..whatcha think? BTW How’s your dog?

Regards

Guy

I've used Hastings twice and didn't run into any problems.

My dog has started eating those gummies all the kids are raving about. Now he just lays around and poots and then laughs about it.

Now that’s a smart Dawg!