Piston Assembly

mustbereel

mustbereel

Member
May 6, 2005
318
0
17
Escondido, CA
#1
I am building a 347 for my coupe. I have a set of KB full floating pistons that came with sprial retaining rings for the wristpin. The instructions show how to install the retainers and it makes sense but I can't get the retainers to go in. Does anyone have a trick to get these little PITA retainers in?

Thanks,
Brad
 

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#2
mustbereel said:
I am building a 347 for my coupe. I have a set of KB full floating pistons that came with sprial retaining rings for the wristpin. The instructions show how to install the retainers and it makes sense but I can't get the retainers to go in. Does anyone have a trick to get these little PITA retainers in?

Thanks,
Brad
Click to expand...

Take one end, pull and stretch it out (maybe an inch), it will no longer spring together tight. insert that loose end in the piston and it should go in much easier.

Each one will get easier after the first.
 
#3
arrg.

Thanks Dennis,

That's pretty much what I am doing. I have it stretched out about 3/4" so I'll try 1". I get the end in and go around about 2/3 of the way and the retainer catches on the edge. I figure when I finally get it the rest will go faster.
 
#4
mustbereel said:
Thanks Dennis,

That's pretty much what I am doing. I have it stretched out about 3/4" so I'll try 1". I get the end in and go around about 2/3 of the way and the retainer catches on the edge. I figure when I finally get it the rest will go faster.
Click to expand...

you can try using a small pick to guide it around.
 
#6
Place wrist pin in from opposite side to use as a "backstop" for the ring. Get one end of the ring in the groove and then just push the ring in (I used small screw driver) from a point a bit away from the part that you "hooked" into the groove. Obviously, the opposite-side ring goes in the same way. Some lube is good to help from scratching the piston.

I struggled with the first ring until I discovered the wrist pin trick. They all went in beautifully after that.
 
#7
Try again tonight

Thanks for the tips. I like the idea of using the wrist pin as a backstop because part of the retainer kept going past the groove. There is oil everywhere at this point and that makes holding on to these things that much harder. I didn't want to push too hard for fear of damaging the piston.
 
#9
We have a winner

SoCalCruising said:
Been there, done that. Man, was I frustrated.

Building a 347 for the wife, huh? She must have gotten the horsepower bug. Is she insisting on Webers, too?
Click to expand...

For those who have to deal with these spirolok retainers SoCalCruising's method of using the wristpin as a backstop worked really well. Although I did still manage to mangle my finger a bit. Is blood considered assembly lube?

Yes, the 347 is for the wife's coupe. She told me "It better not have some little 289 in it"!!! However, one set of Webers is enough for this family. Since this 347 will be built for torque I'm starting with the 4100 off the fastback. If that's not enough I'll go to a Holley. Although a 3x2 setup might be interesting....
 
#12
bnickel said:
4100 is a good carb but in this case i'm not sure it will work too well. maybe if it's the 1.12 veturi version but the 1.08 is probably not going to be anywhere near enough carb
Click to expand...

It's a 1.08 so you're probably right but it's a starting point. I figure this engine will peak by 5500rpm so the theoretical carb size at 85%VE is 470cfm. However, considering this carb was orignally used on 289 with small valves and restrictive ports it will be the choking point of the engine. What I'm really looking for in this engine is good throttle response and tons of low end torque. If it doesn't work out then I'll probably put a Holley 650 on it.
 
#13
I remember someone posting about a noisy squeel sound that their wife was complaining about. When quizzed about it, she insisted it happened at certain times, like from stop signs, leaving the driveway, etc. The husband drove the car and didn't hear the noise, but the wife insisted it was there. So, he had the wife drive while he rode shotgun. Sure enough, the wife took off and the car squeeled - she was spinning the rear tires!

I feel a deja vu coming on with your "What I'm really looking for in this engine is good throttle response and tons of low end torque" comment. Keep the phone number to Discaount Tire handy ....
 
#14
squeel

SoCalCruising said:
I remember someone posting about a noisy squeel sound that their wife was complaining about. When quizzed about it, she insisted it happened at certain times, like from stop signs, leaving the driveway, etc. The husband drove the car and didn't hear the noise, but the wife insisted it was there. So, he had the wife drive while he rode shotgun. Sure enough, the wife took off and the car squeeled - she was spinning the rear tires!

I feel a deja vu coming on with your "What I'm really looking for in this engine is good throttle response and tons of low end torque" comment. Keep the phone number to Discaount Tire handy ....
Click to expand...

O.K. Now that made me laugh. But remember, her daily driver for about 5 years was our 2000 GT. She even knew how to get it a little sideways coming out of a turn. She doesn't like to drive our 2006 GT because it's an automatic. I'm not sure she would want to drive my fastback though. So far the throttle seems to have two positions. Idle and full. I either stall it or spin the tires from a stop. And in second. And in third.
 
#17
No Dart Aluminum block or Webers for your soulmates engine? Your a bad husband.....

Carb wise on that 347 (not knowing your exact build) if I could make a suggestion I can tell you that before I had this 775 Race Demon on mine I had a 650 mighty demon on it and it was a super street carb with very very crisp throttle response. Seemed almost perfectly sized for a street car....

The only reason I went bigger is because I drag race the car and wanted to extract every bit of power out of it I can. But I have the 650 MD tucked away for more of a road race 6 speed future car build, just in case.

How is the fastback? Road worthy yet?
 
#18
fb cruisin

SoCalCruising said:
mustbereel: When should I make run to Escondido to flag a ride in the FB? Or, are you planning on going to any shows/events with it this fall?
Click to expand...

SoCal,

The fastback has been having it's share of little issues that keep me from finishing it. Whenever I get annoyed with it I turn to the coupe. For instance: I went to pull the fb out of the garage last weekend it ran really roughly and smelled of gas. I popped the hood to see a large puddle of gas on the intake manifold. Turned on the fuel pump to find the source and saw a geyser shooting out of one of the Webers. Took it apart and discovered the float was about half full of gas thus keeping the needle valve open full time. To make things worse when I pulled the carb I carefully dropped a washer right down the intake. Luckily, the Weber intake is a short straight shot to the valve (which was closed) and I could see and retrieve the washer. The extra gas being pumped out of that carb may help to explain the very touchy throttle. So, when it's done, someday, maybe I'll head up north to see your setup.

WashMO,

I don't think I can justify another Al block and Weber setup (could I really justify the first one?). If I could, I would go with a Dart 351 based 427 and Weber style fuel injection. But, on this car (and I may be a bad husband for this) I am trying to see how close I can get to the performance of the fastback while keeping the costs way down. I'm going with improved stock style suspension, mild engine parts and whatever I can use from the pile of leftover fastback parts.

Actually, back to the coupe and it's pistons - I have a new problem. On the big end of the rod where the bearings go there is that little recessed notch that matches the bump on the bearing. Or in my case it doesn't. If you look at the rod such that the notch is on the left, the bearing has the bump on the right. The bearing matches the original rod but it will not work with the new rod. Has anyone ever come across this? I called the vendor (TMD in Riverside) but he hasn't returned my call yet.
 
#19
I life to push them in so that the wrist pin and circlip are perpendicular, then I carfeully rotate it and it snaps into place. At least is is what I do on all my motorcycles. Getting the opening straight up or straight down is best because inertia will keep them locked in aswell.
 
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