If you've ever had to,,,

[Earl Svorks]

If you've ever had the displeasure of fitting the cylinder barrel block onto a four cylinder engine, like the FJ, using what tools are commonly available, IE , hose clamps,home made things that worked great on your British twins, all of which are painfully inadequate to the task at hand,,,well I have , I don't know how many times.
Enough to want a better way for sure. Many of us have had fleeting glimpses of the factory tools  (I'll bet Randy has the real deal!), be they at the dealer's shop or more likely in the service manual. In both cases out of reach and unaffordable. So,, recently, I made my own. I made it for a bike with 72mm bore size, that is not adjustable. I can change it for bore centers only.
I haven't used it yet, still waiting for parts for the job, but I think it should work. I already see how I could improve on this, so I'll just say this is the first prototype.
I'll post something when the time comes.
  Cheers
Simon

[movenon]

Nice.  Keep us posted.  I have that job coming up sometime in my near future.
George

[Pat Conlon]

Simon, looks interesting.

For those who don't know (like me) can you explain why you would need this, and what procedure this tool is used for...
I've always thought that once the barrels are pressed into the cylinder block, no further support would be needed for machining purposes...but, then again, I don't know what I'm talking about...obviously.

Thanks in advance... pat

[Steve_in_Florida]

For those who don't know (like me) can you explain why you would need this, and what procedure this tool is used for...

This is just a guess, but it looks like it would be used to compress the piston rings on all four pistons, in order to fit the cylinder block to the case with the rods already attached to the crankshaft.

Steve

[Pat Conlon]

Interesting Steve....I thought the Pistons were fitted individually with a standard ring compressor.
....my guess would be that this tool is used to stabilize new cylinder sleeves while they are being pressed into the cylinder block.

I love this forum....always something to learn.

[movenon]

Appears to me he is trying to compress all 4 sets of rings all at once instead of installing 2 pistons at a time. I haven't done an FJ engine but like most I have done many other engines over the years. Water and air cooled also aircraft engines so I am not totally unknowledgeable about it but every engine has its own nuances.  I can see that trying to install the pistons in the FJ with the engine in the frame could get challenging because of tight clearance's.
I plan on pulling the engine when the time arrives to do the job.
George

[racerrad8]

(I'll bet Randy has the real deal!)
Simon

Simon, I don't want to disappoint, but I use a small screw driver to get the rings into the bores. The one thing that would be hard for me is to have a specific diameter for all of the piston sizes from 77mm to 82mm.

The one thing that makes the job hard is when there is not enough taper into the bottom of the sleeve.

I have tried ring compressors, forks to hold the pistons at the deck surface, zip ties and a bunch of other homegrown ideas, but none of them have been able to aid me.

I can usually drop a cylinder on in less than 5 minutes...

That tool looks pretty cool, I have never seen anything like that in the GYSM.

Randy - RPM

[Earl Svorks]

  Thanks George! 
Steve has it right Pat. The idea is to support the pistons from below & have them all at the same height. With the ring compressor installed, pistons and sleeves oiled , the barrels should slip down over all 4 slugs with very little drama. The compressor comes apart and is easily removed. Individual ring compressors are all OK, until you try to get them out.
  I guess the FJ motor might be a bit easier to fit the barrels by virtue of it's sheer size.
There's more room for fingers to manipulate screwdrivers! Besides that ,Randy you get to do this frequently enough to have acquired a deft and practiced hand. Besides which, if you do happen to break a cast iron ring, you don't have to wait a week to get another one!
  Thanks for all your interest, it's a treat to be able to share with someone(s) who understand what you're talking about !
Simon

[Capn Ron]

Earl,

WOW...I'm loving the homemade tool!

I struggled with how to get all four pistons into the cylinders as well.  I went through several ideas...band clamps, straps, making sheet-metal sleeves...  When I really got in there and looked at the problem, I then realized the taper at the bottom each bore.  From that point (with an extra pair of hands helping), I did as Randy does...kept working the rings up into the taper by pushing them with a small screwdriver.  Basically, influencing their position to be properly aligned as to be compressed by the tapers.  Once I had that technique, it was about 10-15 minutes and I had them all in.     I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have been able to do it without two extra hands on the task.

[Firehawk068]

I'm pretty certain I wouldn't have been able to do it without two extra hands on the task.

For some reason, I'm picturing this in my head...........................Ron?.............Is that you?

[Capn Ron]

Not quite the task I had in mind.     But now my imagination is going wild...

[Fj.itis]

Yeah no tools here! Used my finger nails ever so slowly working it on inch by inch.