Piston rings

[Rexy]

Are pistons suppose to be soild within the piston bore and not have any movement at all?

This tigra we bought for my mrs has had the head done, come to do the clean the pistons today and noticed a lot of movement.

I'm 100% sure they should be tight and have no movement as oil will seep threw and compustion would be lost, can somebody please clarify this.

And advise me how to change piston rings on an x16xe.

ta very muchio.

[Adam]

How much is a lot of movement?

The rings should seal(obviously), so there shouldn't be "play" in the piston as such.

Sump off, rod bolts off, pistons out, new rings(block will need honing too, to give the new rings a good surface to bed to)

[Mike]

The play should be literally, a funking teeny tiny enny weeny bit (like a couple of thou of a millimetere)

[ck]

yeah should be play in the rings. as in look in the haynes manual t will show u the piston ring clearances.

the rings should have a certain clearance in the gaps of the pistons. and also you need to remove the ring and place them in there bores and work out the the gaps of the rings aswell.

all using feeler guages..

it should be clearly shown in the appropriate haynes manual..

[ck]

i do have a set of brand new x14xe pistons ans rings here so i can measure these if you wanted for referance...

[Rexy]

Im thinking this is a little bit above my head to be honest, I'm going to take the engine out and take it to a machinest to get the piston rings done. at least its been done properly then.

[Adam]

i do have a set of brand new x14xe pistons ans rings here so i can measure these if you wanted for referance...
Different bore though..?

[mowgli]

Im thinking this is a little bit above my head to be honest, I'm going to take the engine out and take it to a machinest to get the piston rings done. at least its been done properly then.

if you take the exhaust pipe off, & remove the sump. then you remove the big end caps & using a bit of wood & a hammer, you knock the pistons & rods out. then carefully remove a ring from a piston & push it back down the bore it came out of. then using feeler gauges, measure the gap where the split in the ring is....then ring an engine recon place & see if rings will do it or it might need a rebore.......if it needs a rebore, then take the engine out

[Rexy]

engine has to come out anyways, as its still in the tigra at the moment,

we have come to the conclusion its not worth putting back on the road as it needs a little bit too much work now.

So, im going to drop the engine 2mrw split the bottom end and then take it up to have whatever it needs done. Then i'll rebuild the engine back up with a new timing belt etc etc etc and stick it into the nova... In a couple of months pmsl when im not skint.

[jimbob-mcgrew]

if you can do a timing belt m8, trust youll be able to do this, all you need is a circlip plier style tool to get the rings off the piston, and an big oil fiter strap style tool that works in reverse and wraps round the piston compressing the 3 rings, to allow you to slot the piston back in the bore, i dunno what the torque settings are for the con-rod to crank bolts or the head, but thats about it if i can remember, i rebuilt this single piston lawn mower engine years back, didnt have a ****ing clue what i was doing but it went fairly smooth and the thing even fired up first time with no petrol in it.. was revvin like a demon.

[meritlover]

you dont need any special tools. with a little care the rings can be changed by hand, and if your struggling, use feeler gauges to slide the rings down over the grooves,
no need for piston ring compressors either, if you cant manage with your fingers, use a juice tin and a large jubilee clip.

[Rexy]

ha ha ha ha, awesome bodge tools :D If it would stop raining i could try and get the engine out grrrr lol.