Rings Screw Up

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tornitore45
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Rings Screw Up

Post by tornitore45 »

Is nice to celebrate one’s accomplishments but is more educational to share one’s failures.
I was in the final fitting and assembly of my Anzani 3 cylinder radial.
That engine has CI sleeves press fit into aluminum finned heads. Once mated the cylinder has only one way in but more to the point one way out.
The piston without rings was an easy fit all the way so I proceeded to install the ring a test for fit. The rings were tight, so I started filing the gap and testing.
At one point, when the fit was just right, I managed to push it all the way past the sleeve top and into the combustion chamber. BIG MISTAKE.
The ring sprang open into the beveled edge of the sleeve top and possibly into a slightly over sized combustion chamber.
No way to pull it back.
Adult language followed, then a litany of self-deprecating insults followed by a few tears and much head scratching. Only to repeat the same bonehead mistake on the second cylinder. No comment here. I suppose what saved the third cylinder was that it was already mounted on the crankcase and the piston motion was controlled by a much smarter crankshaft.
The Anzani engine has cast aluminum heads and many other cast parts. The castings are no longer available, so I decided to carve the parts out on my manual mill. I have 15 months invested in this engine, took lots of breaks.
Then a theory surfaced… If I pump grease through the spark plug hole the pressure should collapse the ring deep into its groove freeing the piston.
So, I ordered a flexible grease hose to avoid a rigid connection bound to stress the ¼” thread of the spark plug hole. While waiting I machine an adapter.
Start pumping the grease. Boy it takes a lot of grease. Where is all this grease going? Is not leaking out from valves or piston.
Oh, look the entire sleeve is coming out of the head.
Well, it did not follow the plan, but it got out and that is what counts.
Now I have a greasy mess to clean out.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
JackF
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Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by JackF »

Great story, I wish just one of my mistakes came out like that.
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Harold_V
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Location: Onalaska, WA USA

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by Harold_V »

I strongly suspect that the cleanup of the greasy mess isn't going to take nearly as long as making a new engine. Well done!

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
EddyCurr
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Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: Edmonton, AB

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by EddyCurr »

Congratulations !

I confess to having indelicate thoughts when I reached the point in your story where you admitted poking the second piston past its point of no return.

So glad to discover a surprise ending in your favour at the conclusion of the tale. A testament to perseverance, inquisitiveness and improvisation. When one looks back, there are so many tales of happy accidental discoveries arising from such characteristics.

Did you pick up a lottery ticket ?
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tornitore45
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by tornitore45 »

Did you pick up a lottery ticket ?
To tell the truth, never in my life. Gambling must be a genetic trait. I miss that gene.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
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Charles T. McCullough
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Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by Charles T. McCullough »

tornitore45 wrote: Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:33 am
Did you pick up a lottery ticket ?
To tell the truth, never in my life. Gambling must be a genetic trait. I miss that gene.
You are one of the few of us that can claim we have never lost the lottery!
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NP317
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Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by NP317 »

Mauro:
Thanks for sharing your trials and solution. That could have been a real head-banger!

I will retain your shared knowledge in the hopes it prevents problems in my undefined future.
RussN
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tornitore45
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:24 am
Location: USA Texas, Austin

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by tornitore45 »

Russ
If the grease method did not work, I was prepared to go into the spark plug hole with a 1/8 end mill and machine 0.060 off the visible piston top while rotating it freeing the ring.
Mauro Gaetano
in Austin TX
JackF
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Location: Caldwell, Idaho

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by JackF »

Just another example of your genius of thought. I can only imagine.
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GlennW
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Location: Florida

Re: Rings Screw Up

Post by GlennW »

Great recovery!
Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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