Piston Ring Compressor - or not?!

[landyandy]

Ok - this is one for those of you who've dismantled the AT engine.

I'm rebuilding mine (again) - well, still at the dismantling stage actually, as it's got a few problems.

When I rebuilt it last time, I didn't use a compressor to fit the piston rings, but compressed them using my hands only. It is possible that using this method, I may have moved the rings round slightly, which might be causing my oil breathing problems.

The thing is, the compressor that I've bought (from Halfrauds) seems to encourage the pistons to be inserted from the top of the cylinder, at which point you then attach them to the Crank 'arms'. I'm not really sure whether this is a viable way of doing it ... during my previous rebuild, I built the pistons first, then fitted the cylinder over the pistons.

Anyone got some top tips?
Thanks.

[paultheold]

Fit the rings using your fingers, my piston ring squasher has to be used from the top. The AT rings are not cast so that are very hard to damage. At work I have to fit Carbon rings, £1000 plus and they snap like raw carrots. you need to make sure that the ring gaps do not line up, and keep them at least 45 Deg apart. I personal think the rings move round the pistons as the engine is running.