Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 10:52:42 +0000
Reply-To: Peter Cassidy <pcassidy@APPLE.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Peter Cassidy <pcassidy@APPLE.COM>
Subject: Re: Heads are off; now what?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>1) Once I pull the pistons and sleeves, how the heck do I get them back
>together?
With difficulty!! It took me two whole days to get one liner back on and
another four hours to get the other three on when I'd found the technique.
Nobody wants to pull the pins out of the pistons - it would make getting
the liners back on a lot easier, but then it's a PITA to get the pistons
and liners back onto the conrods. *sigh*
Here's what I did. Firstly, I got one of those wind up spring steel
ring compressors. I fiddled around with this for ages - even modified it.
Eventually, I threw it in the trash (where it belongs!). The problem is
that on the wbx, the water jacket and the head studs are in *just* the
wrong place to allow you to compress the rings and drop the liner on.
You really only have 1/4" to mess around with.
Anyways - I went down to Sears and picked up a large bore ring compressor.
One of those steel 'horseshoes', for want of a better word. This is a
round steel band which goes almost 360 degrees round the piston with a 1"
gap. The edges of the ring are bent outwards to allow you to clamp it.
I bent the corners of these slightly further backwards and used a narrow
snipe-nosed Vise Grip to hold the rings in place. The long narrow vise
grip will reach back in there nicely. As the liner slips on, there's just
enough room without dislodging the vise grips.
Tap the liner round and round *gently* with a rubber mallet. It's really
easy to dislodge a ring and have it snap against the liner. Download the
"Herb Says" notes from vanagon.com - they're excellent!
> I looked at Bently, and it indicates I need some specialized
>tools to attach the circlips through a small hole in the side of the water
>jacket (if I'm reading this correctly). Looks like a major PITA.I know I
>can install the pistons through the BACK (internal) side of the sleeves by
>using hose clamps as ring compressors, but I recall reading posts indicating
>that this isn't exactly a piece of cake either.
Far from it. I tried hose clamps but didn't have a whole lot of success.
>2) German or Brazilian rings? I've heard good and bad on both.
German, IMHO. Side by side, the Brazilian ones look really coarse. The
ones Ron has in stock are nice ....
>3) Once I get the cylinders off, Is there an easy way to check the rod
>bearings?
Dunno.
Pete C
--
Peter Cassidy, pcassidy@apple.com
Sr. Dev. Engineer +353-21-4284316
WW Operations Engineering
Apple, Cork, Ireland.
