[Tim Corcoran]

After file fitting the rings I moved on to hanging the pistons on the rods and installing the rods and pistons into the engine. An important item to be extra careful with. The rods have a chamfer on one side. Make sure you have the chamfer side of the rod against the radius side of the rod journal. Two rods on a rod journal, the chamfer side goes against the crank and the two rods but up on the flat sides. Make sure the valve reliefs in the pistons are up and towards the center of the engine. If there are two valve there is usually a notch or arrow something to indicate the orientation. When you attach the rod to the piston check the orientation to make sure you got it right. Installation of the spiro locks can be challenging if it's your first time. The thing that helps the most is stretching out the spring before assembly (see photo). Every engine builder develops their own method of installing these just make sure you got the piston on the rod correctly or you will be removing them to turn the rod around and getting them out is even more of a challenge. I use a small flat screwdriver to help push the lock in place. Remember there are 4 per piston, count them before you start and make sure you have 32. Then pull four out at a time stretch them out and install them. Install two on one side of the piston then lube the rod bushing the piston and the wrist pin with engine oil. Next install the wrist pin through the piston and rod then install the other two spiro locks. The last thing you do before dropping the piston in the hole is make sure the rings are oriented on the pistons per the diagram that comes with the rings. Now is a good time to double check you have your dot or other marking on the rings up per the instructions. I draw an arrow indicating the front of the engine on top of the piston with a sharpie to make sure I don't get confused when lining up the rings. Every ring has a correct position including the upper, lower and expander oil rings. I use an aluminum adjustable ring compressor to guide the piston in while holding the rings in place. This is not a one size fits all tool, it has a range of bore sizes it works on. Again when dropping in the piston double check the piston is on the rod correctly where the radius on the rod goes against the radius of the journal. The ring compressor is tapered to compress the rings as the piston is lowered into the cylinder. Make sure you have the rod bearings installed correct. They are marked upper and lower. Don't forget the engine is upside down the upper goes on the rod and the lower goes on the cap. Make sure your piston skirt is lubed with motor oil and your rod bearing is coated with your favorite engine assembly lube or motor oil. I lightly coat the cylinder wall with motor oil then wipe it off before dropping the piston in. I know others have their own preference, automatic transmission fluid etc. but I use motor oil. Some say to put oil all over the rings so the ring lands are covered others say leave the rings dry or the rings won't seat. Make sure you at least put motor oil on the skirts. If the ring compressor is too loose the rings will catch on the top of the deck, don't apply a lot of force or you can damage the rings. I use the handle side of a deal blow hammer to lightly tap the piston down. If the ring compressor is too tight the piston will get stuck in the tool. Trial and error here take your time and don't use too much force. Another thing I do is rotate the crank to position the rod journal fully down so the rod won't hit anything as your installing the piston. After the piston is at deck level you can get the ring compressor out of the way and slowly tap the piston down while carefully guiding the rod into position with your other hand. Once the rod is seated on the journal flip the engine over install the cap make sure you lube the bearing, then move on to the next cylinder. Make sure you apply the correct lubricant to your fasteners. In my case I applied ARP moly lube to the bolt threads, under the head of the bolt and at the cap where the bolt seats. I just install them hand tight with a wrench. After all pistons are installed I torque them all down in three steps. then I go back and check every rod a second time to make sure I didn't miss one. Then I check the main caps one more time to make sure they are all torqued to spec.