OK I repeated the whole procedure from cleaning to ring size checking on cylinder #7 and this time I got different results. The machine shop told me torque plates actually open up the top of the cylinder but maybe that's just a general rule because I got different results.
At the very top of the cylinder I could slide the 0.016 in and the 0.017 could barely start to get in. About an inch and a half down or so the 0.014 slid in fine and the 0.015 got in about 3/4 of the way. Just like cylinder #5 was all the way. The rest of the way down cylinder #7 was consistent with what I got about an inch and a half down.
I found if I just pushed the ring down the depth of the piston I'm good. That appears to be all I need to do in order to gap rings with out torque plates.
At the very top of the cylinder I could slide the 0.016 in and the 0.017 could barely start to get in. About an inch and a half down or so the 0.014 slid in fine and the 0.015 got in about 3/4 of the way. Just like cylinder #5 was all the way. The rest of the way down cylinder #7 was consistent with what I got about an inch and a half down.
I found if I just pushed the ring down the depth of the piston I'm good. That appears to be all I need to do in order to gap rings with out torque plates.