Friday's Engine Rebuild Teaser Pic + Trivia Question...

[Wayne 962]

Here's a neat shot of the engine during one of the steps of the assembly process:



Now, the question is, why did I do this?

-Wayne

[Zendalar]

emm...to prevent "droplings" ?

Is there plastic on top of the piston too?

[Jadams1]

It would be a shame to drop a wrist pin clip in that nice looking case?

[silverc4s]

Yes, and what a TREAT those lightweight wire clips are to install....

[Kemo]

to keep the engine "fresh", like tupperware.

[Kevin G.]

Having chased the little buggers all over the garage, I thought it was the clip thing too, but the piston has been installed with the plastic over it. Can't see where the plastic would provide any more lubrication or protection to the piston / cylinder over an oil based lubricant. I would also like to know how Wayne compressed the rings with plastic in place without tearing it to bits.

[Rick Lee]

Wayne put the plastic there to catch any blood in case he gouges his hand again. Do I win?

[jriera]

To avoid blood from Wayne's injured hand messing the picture??

[zuerchers]

Originally posted by Richard LeSchander
Wayne put the plastic there to catch any blood in case he gouges his hand again. Do I win?

i am laughing my a$$ off! thats funny!

[HawgRyder]

Yup....looks like the plastic is to prevent the wayward clips from getting into the crankcase...but the barrel on top of the piston is to center it up and down as the other two pistons are installed.
After all three pistons are installed...then the barrels are removed and the plastic removed....then the base gaskets installed and the barrels run down ovr the rings for the last time.
Also...during this procedure...if you put one nut on a stud for each barrel....with a spacer to keep the barrel seated against the case..you can do the other side (3 pistons) without damaging the sides of the pistons.
Then after all 6 barrels are on....you can level the engine (horizontal)...and install the heads, etc.
Bob

[rickeolis]

Damn, Richard already gave my answer. So I'll go with answer #2 here:

As you started placing the cylinder on, you realized that you forgot to use new, unstreched studs, so while you stopped to contemplate this, you covered the whole thing with plastic to keep dust and beer out.

[Jim Sims]

Here's my guess: plastic is obviously installed to keep small parts and other debris out of the case. It appears to me the piston was loaded into the cylinder (piston dome pocket up or down?) on a bench just far enough to cover the rings and keep them compressed but leaving the pin hole exposed. One wire clip ring is already installed in the piston. The the whole cylinder/piston assembly is presented to the case and slid over the studs (longer fin side up or down?) The small end of the rod is punched through the plastic and installed into piston, the pin slipped in and the final wire clip ring installed. The seating of both rings is double checked. The plastic is removed (one has previously installed the base gasket over the studs and under the plastic) and the cylinder is pushed into place and secured with a special nut on the stud or a regular nut and a piece of plastic pipe to act as a spacer. Cheers, Jim

[nostatic]

Obviously Wayne is using the case for cooking his lunch in the microwave. He has already added his frozen burritos and just a pinch of water. The saran wrap is to keep the steam in for even cooking that results in a flaky, yet delicately crunch crust. The fireworks during cooking are an added bonus.

Somehow the Food Channel got mixed up with Speed on my satellite dish...

[norustscott]

The motor looks very pretty....my guess is safe sex...

[pbs911]

It's the poor man's method of teflone coating cylinders and pistons. After the piston is wrapped in the saran wrap and placing in the cylinder, the excess is neatly trimmed away. Placing the saran wrap over the entire block saves time in having to cut out individual applications for each of the cylinders. This is good for another 10 - 15 Hp if the K&N air filter is used in connection with this mod.

[Wayne 962]

Originally posted by Jim Sims
Here's my guess: plastic is obviously installed to keep small parts and other debris out of the case. It appears to me the piston was loaded into the cylinder (piston dome pocket up or down?) on a bench just far enough to cover the rings and keep them compressed but leaving the pin hole exposed. One wire clip ring is already installed in the piston. The the whole cylinder/piston assembly is presented to the case and slid over the studs (longer fin side up or down?) The small end of the rod is punched through the plastic and installed into piston, the pin slipped in and the final wire clip ring installed. The seating of both rings is double checked. The plastic is removed (one has previously installed the base gasket over the studs and under the plastic) and the cylinder is pushed into place and secured with a special nut on the stud or a regular nut and a piece of plastic pipe to act as a spacer. Cheers, Jim

A bunch of you also had it too, but Jim is 98% correct.

Actually, the piston is installed onto the rod, the pin is inserted, and then I took a bunch of plastic sandwich wrap and wrapped it around the open cylinders, and then wrapped it around the bottom of #6, kindof like you wrap the bottom of a Christmas tree. No need to poke holes in anything, except for maybe a head stud or two.

This does prevent you from dropping circlips into the engine. There is probably an 80% chance of doing this if you don't cover the engine during this step.

This daily tip is just one of hundreds in the book that is based on years of collective experience from the many people I've consulted with on the book. Stuff like this is not in the Factory Manuals, it's not in the Bentley Manual, but it will be in my manual, because it's important! The whole book is chock-full of tips like this one...



-Wayne