Engine Building Fundamentals: Ring Compressor
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Ring Compressor
01.28
| 00:00 | - One of the easiest times to damage a new set of piston rings is when the piston is being installed into the bore. |
| 00:06 | In order to do this, the rings need to be compressed into the ring grooves on the piston, and this is achieved with a ring compressor. |
| 00:14 | Ring compressors come in a few varieties, but the most common being a low-cost style of ratchet ring compressor where a middle sleeve is placed over the piston, and tightened up against the skid of the piston to compress the rings. |
| 00:28 | The piston is then placed in the bore, and gently tapped into place. |
| 00:33 | When used with care, this style of ring compressor can achieve excellent results. |
| 00:37 | However, it's also possible to have a ring pop out during the installation process which can quickly destroy the ring, as well as potentially damaging the bore as well. |
| 00:48 | My own preference is to use a tapered-style ring compressor where the entire piston is pushed through a machine sleeve with an internal taper that compresses the rings as the piston moves through the compressor. |
| 01:01 | The down side is that this style of compressor will only work for a specific bore size. |
| 01:06 | So you need a ring compressor to suit each size of bore that you expect to work with. |
| 01:12 | This can understandably get expensive unless you only ever plan on working with one or two bore sizes. |
| 01:18 | However, it only takes one damaged or broken piston ring to make you wish you'd gone down this route. |
