GAARGH
kmn
disaster!
to stretch the expander further, I grabbed both ends with needle pliers and used the vice to slowly stretch it apart with help from dad.
that expanded it by 1.8mm
fitted it on the piston but cos it's now sticking out so far, its getting tricky to keep the oil rings straight on the ringland.
when I was clamping the compressor, something felt stiff and then pop? and piston was jammed stuck, hmm
removed the compressor and garghhh
so bloody careless
what do I do now!?
had to ring sebastian at JE bout new rings (and conveniently its 2pm in california now)
after explaining the situation,
first Q: does he have a stiffer oil expander?
A: no my xc7150 came as a pre-set but he suggested maybe a bigger xc7200 ring set so the expander gets squeezed in harder? but wasn't sure if the oversized oil rings will stay rounder in the smaller bore.
Q: ok so maybe use a xc7200 expander with xc7150 oil rings, do you sell em seperately?
A: no these custom special rings only come as a complete set per cylinder so I'd end up paying mega bucks for that option :/
bahh was a hard decision but I decided to order a full set of xc7150 rings $60 & $80post, so the replacement oil rings fit the bore as before (but will require regapping) and use the stretched expanders to correct the oil ring tension.
never thought I'd waste £80 on another set of custom rings.
...oh ffs just realised another mistake, I only needed to order 1 set of rings rather than 4 sets cos the other 3 oil rings are fine. jeez need to tell seb to change/cancel the order to the 1 set of rings but their lines busy.
this is really starting to challenge if I'll be able to make JAE at all
right, I need a cuppa tea to calm down tonight