My old pistons were damaged, so I had to buy a complete overhaul kit. The gaps on the old rings were huge (approx. 1/8"), which allowed the ends of the rings to flutter and beat the heck out of the ring lands on the old pistons.
I had a little trouble finding a repair kit for the 8N oil pump with the early 9/16"-wide gear, but finally found one at Steiner.

My crankshaft, which had previously been ground .010 under, needs to be taken down to .020 undersize. Luckily Norm is going to send it out to his crank regrinder, since he doesn't do crank grinding himself, and I don't know anyone around here that I would trust with the job. (I don't think Norm really wants to tell me who the regrinder is.)

Norm said he has never seen an 8N engine with excessive clearance between the camshaft journals and their bores because Henry Ford chose types of cast iron that were very compatible in their wear characteristics.

He wants to assemble the valve train to make sure everything fits right before he grinds the new valve seats, so we are waiting for the parts to arrive.

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Modern rings are pre-gapped by the manufacturer based on the bore size. You can check the gap but the problem is knowing what gap is correct for the pistons and rings in your kit. Modern materials and designs may require a gap different than the number in your 70 year old manual. Check the documentation that comes with the kit for guidance. Most piston and sleeve kits come with matched components and should be kept that way.

TOH

Quoting Removed, click Modern View to seeDont guess or hope, check..... Your putting money into this, you want to know its right. Ive found that with parts being built by fewer and fewer companies and many of them being in China or India the QA has really gone downhill. Only takes an hour or so to check all the rings. Do it and know.

"Make sure you check the face width of the gears in that oil pump kit...post a picture of the packaging when you get it - I am curious who Steiner is using."

Will do, Hokie.

I don't understand whether the rings that come with these overhaul kits are pre-gapped for the 8N's bore, or whether I'll have to file them. Anybody?

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All very much SOP.
Make sure you check the face width of the gears in that oil pump kit - lots of bogus kits floating around. If you don't mind post a picture of the packaging when you get it - I am curious who Steiner is using. Just 8N's has then for about $20 less.....

TOH

Forgot to mention, Norm is going to have to re-size the con rods. I'll bet that's going to be expensive right there. Dang it! So much for my cheap overhaul.