Daniel c May when you said the gap was only .012 to .015 .how did you check this ? the only way ,is remove the rings from the piston ,and place them in the bore about a 1.000 down ,using the piston too keep them stright ,in the bore ,then use a feeler ,you may have alot of blow by ,do you have compression now ,did you have the bore checked by a machinist ,too be sure you the bore is still round ,with in .002 and did you check for taper in the bore .with in .003 ,if more than that ,it needs help ,when you installed the rings did you move the gaps away from the pin holes 1 inch on either side of the pin hole ,the gap dose not want to be in the ware area,and the rings should be 120 apart ,and oil ring 180 apart .if you blow air down the oil fill hole ,on the compression stroke ,you should not have air coming out the plug hole or the exhaust .or you may be lucky and just have a bad breather ,hope any of this helps .David