ok, I put some time into the engine this weekend so I figured I'd update this post.
First things first, I have both generations of Ninja 250's (2007 and 2008), and as such, I have both manuals. The manual for this generation SUCKS. When you order the piston ring kit, you get 2 piston rings, 2 oil rings, and an oil ring expander for each piston. The manual for the 2007 basically says that the piston rings are directional but the oil rings are not. THAT'S IT. I does not tell you how to tell which ring goes on top or which way they face. I spent much more time than I should admit to Googling, watching YouTubes, and texting people, until one of my friend pointed out that the 2008 manual is super explicit. SUPER explicit. So, to anyone who reads this, please do yourself a favor, and get a copy of the next generation manual.
2007 manual:
2008 manual:
Helpful because the rings look like this:
Once the pistons were all cleaned up and the rings were installed, I had to compress the rings just enough to get the cylinders back on. Enter the exacto-knife, a coke can, and some zip ties:
Next came the head:
I set the timing and indexed the cams. All was going well until that awkward moment when I was torquing the cam cap bolts and one of them yielded before reaching the torque
So I guess I'm gonna order all new bolts because they are probably torque to yield bolts and one-time use only. Bummer 'cause I wanted this all together today! Oh well, the saga continues!