Ken-chan's car blog

Here is a good way to quickly fabricate an alignment tool for the piston rings…

To get your alignment print-out tool:

1. Open your factory service manual (FSM) to the engine rebuild page which shows the piston ring alignment.

2. Copy (hit print-system request button).

3. Open your favorite image editing application and select EDIT->PASTE from the menu.

4. Cut out rest of the image except the piston ring alignment diagram.  Enlarge the section about 200-250%, print a sample.  See if the center of the piston in the diagram roughly fits the real size of the piston.  It may take 1 or 2 guesses.

5. Once you have a final printout, use exacto knife or scissors to make a nice tight hole to slide over the piston.

6. Now put some bubble wrap around the rod bottom (to prevent any possible scratches) if you are using vice to hold the rod-piston in position when putting the rings in.