964 Circlip Installation

mikedsilva · 04:21 AM

I'm at the stage where I have installed all pistons, cylinders and am ready to seal the cam tower to the heads.

However, I had this little niggle in the back of my mind, that my circlips are not perfectly seated. Here is a photo of one of my installed circlips:the concern is that the circlip is not perfectly circular.. when I installed it in my circlip tool, I'm worried that it was "bent" too much, and lost some of its structure.
If I get a small scredriver, I can push out the edges of the clip to squeeze it into the groove, but of course it won't stay there...

What do you think? Do I need to re do these?

Also, if I remove my cylinders, to redo them with new circlips, should I replace my base orings as well? Are they are "1 use only" type of part?

(just added this video)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A59Qck0iqRc&feature=youtu.be

zarl911 · 09-14-2016, 03:10 PM

I went through the same thing. I went back and used something like a allen key, push down on it to make sure it seated correctly.

Flat6pac · 09-14-2016, 03:26 PM

You have the right appliance for the install. Once you're in the groove it's not coming out
Use the base gasket, it lol work for you. If you have a doubt on one, light coat of 574 will correct any defect.
Bruce

mikedsilva · 09-14-2016, 05:04 PM

Bruce
you are most probably right.
I just got a call from a friend yesterday, who had his engine repaired by a Porsche specialist,and when he went to start the car, it ran for 3 seconds then blew up; case smashed, liner blown open.. I got really scared.

So I have ordered another set of circlips and base o rings regardless! It's another hundred dollars, and will give me some piece of mind.

The circlips have definately lost some of their "spring"... when I first went to try to fit the clip in the tool by hand, there was NO WAY I could compress it enough with my fingers, to get it in..

I pushed the clip in with a screwdriver, but using such force to compress it, when it finally went in, I pushed it all the way... so I tried to get the clip out a little, but it sprang out.. this time, I was able to compress it with my fingers, to get it back in the tool....

So pushing the clip in ALL the way, definately compresses the clip enough to alter its springiness.

Yes, I might be over thinking this.. but I don't want to ring my mate with pictures of my motor blown apart either....

boyt911sc · boyt911sc's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikedsilva

I'm at the stage where I have installed all pistons, cylinders and am ready to seal the cam tower to the heads.

However, I had this little niggle in the back of my mind, that my circlips are not perfectly seated. Here is a photo of one of my installed circlips:the concern is that the circlip is not perfectly circular.. when I installed it in my circlip tool, I'm worried that it was "bent" too much, and lost some of its structure.
If I get a small scredriver, I can push out the edges of the clip to squeeze it into the groove, but of course it won't stay there...

What do you think? Do I need to re do these?

Also, if I remove my cylinders, to redo them with new circlips, should I replace my base orings as well? Are they are "1 use only" type of part?

Mike,

I was in a very similar predicament a few weeks ago when one of the circlip did not completely sit in the groove. While it may not be a problem, I was hesitant to leave it as is and decided to remove it. And tried another circlip and with some persuasion got it all in the groove. Looking at your picture, almost half of the circlip is protruding out.

Have you tried to push/press the ends of the circlip towards the groove? If you don't do anything with this circlip now, you won't forgive yourself if something goes wrong later with the engine due to an errant wrist pin. Why take unnecessary risk while you have the opportunity to work on it before a disaster happens. Better to err on the side of caution than regret later.

Tony

mikedsilva · 09-14-2016, 07:51 PM

Thanks for the reply Tony.
I am going to pull it all apart and do it again with NEW circlips.

However, that clip, believe it or not, is actually in the groove.. they clip diameter is quite thick.
The photos isn't great. I will try to take a video to show.

I have not measured a clip that has not been installed, but when I measured my clips after I removed them, they are definately out of round.
I'll upload some photos tonight to show my vernier measurements around the clip...

mikedsilva · 09-15-2016, 04:20 AM

WERK I · WERK I's Garage

You could take a plastic or wooden dowel that is sized small enough that you could hit against the opposite end of the wrist pin to see if the circlip is secure. Be sure to put a rag against the suspect area. These things will fly out and will go who-knows-where. Did you inspect the piston groove area and wrist pin ends before installing the circlips? That wrist end looks like it has some scale on it.
You could also take one of the wrist pins out and set one circlip in the groove and compare.

mikedsilva · 09-16-2016, 02:41 AM

I ended up re doing them..

I bought 12 new clips and this time I just used my fingers to get the clip into the end of the stomski tool... and only JUST in the tool enough, to keep it in... When I did this the first time, the screwdriver method, I lost control and pushed the clip all the way in the tool....
I am happier with how they look now...