fitting cylinder head on 1960 jubilee

I assume you are fitting the barrels if you are using a ring compressor. To be honest I've always used my finger nails and fitted one ring at a time dropping the barrel a bit as I go. Sometimes a slight twist of the barrel can help. Keep at it you’ll get there! 

dan  

Hello Philip, have you lubricated (oiled) the piston, ring compressor and barrels? If you're fitting them dry, this will both add to the difficulty and also damage the barrel/s.

Also, try and ensure that the gaps at the end of the rings are evenly spaced: 3 rings so gaps should be roughly 120 degrees apart when viewed from the top. The idea of this is to minimise the possibility of gases blowing down past the rings, especially if all 3 gaps lined up together.

PS As an afterthought, I've never experienced it myself, but I have in the past read of rings having an insufficient gap, which causes them to lock up when compressed. A bit of digging around should reveal the "correct" ring gap.

I used the NOC shop ring compressor. I agree with all the previous comments and I would add that the compressor does not need to be too tight; just tight enough to squeeze the rings a little bit to allow them to enter the chamfer on the barrels. Lots of oil! Rocking the barrels from side to side slightly may help get the rings started in the barrels.

Good luck,

Dennis

Can you fit the pistons into the barrel on the bench, and insert the gudgeon pins as you lower onto the conrods? It works with a Dommie. Just don't scratch the conrods or drop a circlip into the sump...

This is how I did it: Inserted the pistons in the barrels and supported the barrels with some wood then fumbled the wrist pins into the pistons. Insert the wrist pin circlips on the inner sides of the pistons first.

Hi Ulrich & others, fitting pistons before the condod cannot work on a Jubilee, as the conrod does not come up high enough to manipulate it, so you have to fit the pistons to the con rod first. - Unlike the Navi engine in the picture above.

However - it might be a good idea to check that they they do fit first - that the ring gaps are all OK, etc.

The good news about a Jubilee is that you can do one cylinder at a time!

Also, I would only put in 4 studs at first - the ones that go inside the rocker boxes. You can use them to park & manouvre the barrels - whilst leaving room for fingers & nails to do the work