Info Please: Ring Replacement "88

Hi,
I have an '88 Excel that I paid $500. for about 12 years ago. It's had a hard life and given good service most of that time. I'm in the process of resurrecting it after allowing it to sit parked for two years. I parked it because it was smoking badly, and I didn't need or want to find out why.
Now I do. I've tuned up the motor and have it running smooth enough for my standards, but it seems to be burning oil. The lifters are tight (about eight years ago, when replacing a valve cover gasket I found them very loose, it had been burning oil then too). So, I'm thinking it needs rings.
I'm a pretty good backyard mechanic, which means I know when to read the instructions. But I don't have any, and I don't want to have to buy them...I'm kinda cheap that way. If you have a repair manual that covers this job, can you share? I'll especially want the torque specs.
I also accept all advice.
Thanks.

I have the service manual for my 1987 Excel, which I just bought last month - both the manual and the car. Unfortunately I cant/wont share my manual with you; it cost me less than $30 on ebay, and came with the wiring diagrams too....and paid for itself in the first days work I did. I will be able to give you the info on the torque specs, might even be able to scan those pages in and email you a .pdf file of them. Let me know.
This car had been sitting for a year, & I paid $550 for it. I had to remove/clean the carburetor, disconnecting all dozen or so of the vacuum lines, 3 fuel lines, coolant hoses, and the other stuff runnning between the car and that Mikuni carburetor. The manual (and the pictures I took with my digital camera) were the only reason I was able to put it all back. We have emissions testing here, so the car had to pass that as well as the safety inspection; and it did.
I also replaced the timing belt (car had 67,000 miles on it) and the water pump & all fuel and coolant hoses under the hood. And next spring when the weather is decent I will be pulling the motor to replace the clutch - which can already be made to slip under full throttle acceleration.
I have rebuilt 2 Mitsubishi engines before; the 2.6 versions that are in our family's two 1987 Dodge minivans. It wasnt hard, but I had the manual for those minivans too. In both cases the Mitsubishi engines were smoking blue out the tailpipe - which will cause the car to fail the emissions test here in northern VA. In both cases the engines were using oil before I rebuilt them, and using about half as much after I rebuilt them; but the blue smoke was gone and they passed emissions by a wide margin. Both cars have covered over 100,000 since I rebuilt them, are closing in one 240,000 miles each, and both are doing nicely. Both are still using a quart each 400 miles! I havent driven the Excel far enough to know how much oil it uses.
I went to my favorite pull-ur-own junkyard and found they didnt have any Hyundai Excels at all! Their oldest ones were Accents! So I had to buy parts from ebay. I found the local auto parts places dont stock much for Excels anymore, but can get most parts in one or two days. I have also gotten parts online from www.rockauto.com. I now need a source for the dual vacuum advance unit on the distributor. The main diaphram on mine has a leak, and this will lower mpg as much as 20%.
I bought the car to have an around town vehicle that gave good miles per gallon. It has the 4 speed manual tranny, and I would like to replace that with the 5 speed, when I pull the engine to replace the clutch next spring. I just have to learn if that swap is feasible, and find a 5 speed.
Anyway, I hope you rebuild it, and report on your progress. Feel free to send me a p.m. or email anytime.