> I've just removed the passenger side head on my 85 wasserbox and
> accidentally took the cylinders along with it.  Has anyone ever
> successfully installed cylinders over the pistons while they are still
> in the engine.  I almost had the first back on just using my fingers,
> but the oil ring is just a bit too strong for me to hold in the
> compressed position.  I was thinking there must be a simple too I could
> make such as cutting up a can or so.  Any ideas?
>

...and

> The only
> problem now is that I have two cylinders that came off of the pistons in the
> process.  I need to figure out how I can compress the rings to reinstall the
> cylinders.  A normal ring compressor is used when sliding the piston down into
> the cylinder and just slides off when you get the piston down inside.  I am
> going to be attempting the opposite, putting a cylinder over a piston and I
> figure they must make a tool to do this one but I have no idea what it would
> be called or how it would work.

Wow, two of the same thing only two messages apart!

I use a big hose clamp -- actually, I usually can't find a single one big
enough and use about three connected end-to-end.  Just go to the local
hardware store and get a few of the biggest hose clamps they got.  Connect
them together to make one big clamp.  Now put the thing over the rings and
tighten it up to compress the rings.  Grease the inside first -- I like the
"Sylglide" silicone grease from the NAPA store.  The hose clamp bands are
usually *just* wide enough to cover the rings, but try to get the widest
clamps you can find -- many are too narrow.  When the cylinder is down over
the piston, you can take the clamps apart and weasel them out.  A pain, but
it works and is cheaply available.

You can also make a clamp out of a tin can.  Cut a band out of the top of
a large tin can.  Cut the band so that it will end up about 1" wide and about
1" longer than the circumference of the piston.  Bend the ends up about 5/8".
Now you can put the band over the piston rings and close the thing with a pair
of vise-grip pliers, compressing the rings.  Tin cans are pretty lightweight
for this -- it takes some real finesse to do it right.  You can buy a piston
ring compressor that looks just like this.  My airplane mechanic simply made
his own way-back-when out of this stainless steel.  The only downside to this
sort of ring compressor is that you need a different one for each size piston.
Old VW shops typically had several, but they usually did not have the one big
enough for the Vanagon.

You can make things fancier by putting little dimples on the top edge so
that the compressor won't get into the cylinder.  Just take a pair of pliers
and bend the top edge out a bit in three or four places.

Malcolm (too cheap to buy the right tool, since I always swear the current
VW engine will be the last -- I got three in the works today.  Sigh).