MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Fitting Pistons to Block

Evening all,

Picked up my block and head from the engine shop today so spent a good while in the garage this evening trying to put the thing back together!

Unfortunatly I have gotten stuck getting the pistons in. I have a ring compressor but it is a bit of a chocolate teapot. As I push the piston down the bottom ring pops out the bottom of the ring compressor and gets stuck at the top of the bore.

Is there a knack to installing pistons?

Cheers all,
Malcolm

P.S. For reference its a 1500.
Malcolm Le Chevalier

Lots of oil for starters. And keep the ring compressor firmly pressed against the block. And, last but not least, be careful not to brake a ring.
Alex G Matla

If the ring compressor is pressed tight against the block, it should be simple to tap the piston down into the bore. I tend to use the wooden shaft of a light hammer to achieve this.

Incidentally, as an old and pedantic fart, I'm intrigued to see that you use the horrible Americanism "gotten". What's wrong with "I have got stuck" or even "I'm stuck". Gotten is such an ugly word.
Mike Howlett

Is there a faint but clear chamfer around the bore top?
Some ring compressors get out of line, be sure the innermost layer is down to the block.
KEEP PRESSURE on the compressor as you push the piston in!

Mike-
As an even older, and yea verily, more pedantical fart, the word "gotten" dates back to at least 1340 in Ynglish literature, per OED. It is at least "Middle", and maybe "Old" Ainglish, from Old Norse. So, begone, ye young whippersnapper!

FRM
FR Millmore

FRM,

What have we done to get a merkin lecturing us about English. I jest having grown up in the US for 12 years and still occasionally throw in the odd "sidewalk", "garbage can", or "car park", I thought I had excised that evil long ago and friends were glad I seemed to have. Just made me wonder with the differences in the language usage if merkin Scrabble has a lower count for "Z" as you seem to use a lot more of them being more phonetic.
David Billington

David -
Forgot(ten) or not learnt the words of your ancestors? Been confused by the difference between the "real" language and various sects of PC, from the US Revolution to sundry uptight do-gooders of assorted later times? (Not as bad as the French Academy, but still...)

And wha tha Scot is yammering about is beyond me ... they neither speak nor recognize The Queen's word do they?

I've read so many British shop manuals and other books that I automatically switch between dialects, to the point if I think about it I can often not recall which falls on what coast. I am greatly saddened that the older forms are being lost everywhere. When I first moved here (1975) I was amazed to find that this northernmost extension of Appalachia still spoke a clear Elizabethan era form of Scots-Irish-English; sadly it is all et by tv and radio and PC ostentation now.

Tell you one thing, y'all best be damned careful about who you call "merkin" and where you do it!

FRM
FR Millmore

LMAO - hate to inform you, but, according to a big national study done the other year - the Scots in Aberdeen speak the closest to the Queens English in the whole of the UK - so, looks like Malcolm is the only one of us wot can spek proper!!!!!!!!
rachmacb

I don't particularly like the word gotten or got. It does sound a bit yokle-ish. But I just typed without really thinking. My history teacher used to go nuts at anyone that used 'got' in an essay.

Might be able to have another go tonight but I have really done my back in! 24 pushing 75...

Malcolm
Malcolm Le Chevalier

And a picture of my shiny head, just because everyone loves a good picture of shiny engine bits!

Malcolm

Malcolm Le Chevalier

Tried a bit harder today and got the first one in. Happy days!

Malcolm

Malcolm Le Chevalier

Malcolm, have you gapped the rings. So important to check that they have the right gap and adjust if necessary.

Also if you have a cheap ring compressor like i did it will be a nightmare. Ended up wrapping a jubilee clip around an old one in the end.
C L Carter

This thread was discussed between 28/05/2012 and 30/05/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS now