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Piston ring compressor

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Does anyone have a recommendation for the Norton twin? Last time I put the pistons in on the bench and added gudgeon pins in the bike, but however I do it, it's an awkward job. Most of the ones I've seen only work if you can take them off before adding the con rod to the crank.

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Hi David

Personally, I've never used a ring compressor on my Norton and my barrels have been on and off many times.  I use two suitable pieces of softwood across the crankcase mouths to support the pistons and then gently lower the barrels down onto the pistons.  There should be a healthy taper at the bottoms of the cylinders which greatly assists to the get the rings in.  I doubt it's ever taken more than five minutes to do the job.

Some years ago I did use a ring compressor on a B44 which worked a treat until I came to undo the compressor and the threaded alloy nut fell into the crankcase! To say the air was blue is a massive understatement :)

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I have a pair that i used ,you are welcome, if I can find them !.  On the Atlas I fitted the pistons into the barrels on the bench  and put the pins and outer clips in last. 

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Thanks chaps.  Done it now - there's not much lead on mine - I cut a car ratchet type into strips, turned the ends out and used a mole grip on each!

Soon be testing - again.

Incidentally - someone suggested that my drive side piston woes might have been something to do with asymmetrical exhaust behaviour - I have siamesed exhaust.  I'll fit my rather sad looking twin pipes again and maybe learn something...the internal shape at the junction of the two pipes is not very smooth. That might affect things at full throttle.

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I would check the timing with a strobe on both sides to check no difference.If they have to come off again then I have found the compressors  Made for Norton 88/99  they unclip and  clear the rods. 

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Some years ago on a Mk 3 850 used a couple of large diameter jubilee clips to compress rings as barrel was lowered. Worked a treat.

 



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