Re: V6 175HP 1987 rebuild
Repirts, Sounds like good luck prevailed on crank bearings. I can't picture the top bearing being rusted without rust on the shaft journal. It is a roller bearing,isn't it?<br />What kind of ring compressor do you have? They're really only tricky while pulling the rings down into the grooves with it. Presumeably it has a definite bottom to catch and seat on the top face of the block. The edge of that side only needs to be two or three ring widths below the lowest ring. It's by far easiest if you lightly grip the rod,wrapped in a cloth, in a vice for this. Set the rings over their locating pins and very slowly and observantly tighten the compressor, keeping it straight on the piston. What you need to observe is that the pins fall into the end recesses in the rings-- not be healed over the pin on a full width portion of the ring. It will help you concentrate on this if you imagine putting the whole engine together with an unoticed cracked ring! As you start getting the ring compressor nearly all the way in, you can rock the compressor and rings back and forth to verify that the ring are free, over the pins. If you get a hangup before that point--STOP--you may have one ring on top of a pin. Before you put the piston into the bore, the compressor has to be so tight on the piston that it won't move back and forth anymore.<br />When you put the piston into the bore, tap it in--and out of the compressor-- with a plastic mallet or a wood hammer handle. Try to avoid metal. Use one hand to position the rod and keep a downward pull as you're tapping/ pushing the piston in. Watch the compressor closely and stop if one side of the bore 'swallows' it. Of course, don't turn the piston much lest you drop a ring end into a port.<br />By the way, it's really not a bad idea to have one or two extra sets of rings on hand when you start this!<br />Good Luck--and let us know your progress!
