piston circlip orientation

[pooch]

A mechanic told me to put the circlip gap at 6 o'clock position .

Said it was to do with the rapid change of direction of the piston forces on it and if the gap was at 3 or 9 o'clock it would be subject to more stress..

Is this fact or just an ole wive's tale ?

It is just as easy to put them at 6 o/clock as any other place if it is best.

The clips I have are the double holed stamped ones that need circlip pliers.

I do not trust the single wire ford style as this engine broke a clip tang off and chopped the bore..

[48-710]

G'Day Pooch,
Old wives tale or not, we have always, put the gap at either 12 or 6 o'clock position. Wether it's a single cyl diesel stationary engine or a single cyl motor cross bike engine. Just on the stamped circlips, you will see that one side has a very slight radius on the outer edge. Make sure that that side goes to the gudgeon pin so that the square side "bites" into the groove better

[pooch]

Thanks, yes, I did not know that stamped clips had different sides until recently.


May have been why a clip fell out on me 40 years ago on a fresh rebore, that hurt.

[Fordors]

The clips are quite a bit thinner in cross section then the wire retainers, would it be beneficial to use two circlips per side? Or wouldn't extra clearance at the ends of the pin matter? If so I think I would orient one clip at 12 and the other at 6 o'clock.

[jake197000]

if those are the clips that came with the pistons i would run em.if not then maybe use 2.if the pin moves back and forth too much it can hammer out the locks.i ve seen quite a few broken locks over the years it can b nasty.

[Ronnie]

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[pooch]

It is a new set of pistons/rings/gudgeons/circlips from JP in Melbourne.

They specialise in vintage pistons.

Seem to have a good rep from what I can find.

The reason I do not like ford wire clips, is after examining the broken piece, it seems the gudgeon has a radiused end and the centre can move further out than the radius part .

I found the gudgeon touched the centre of the clip at the end of the tang before it touched the round circle inside the groove.

No wonder they bust off a piece.

[Kurt in NJ]

Always check the rods , a bent rod will push the pin into the circlip

[40 Deluxe]

Originally Posted by pooch

A mechanic told me to put the circlip gap at 6 o'clock position .

Said it was to do with the rapid change of direction of the piston forces on it and if the gap was at 3 or 9 o'clock it would be subject to more stress..

Is this fact or just an ole wive's tale ?

It is just as easy to put them at 6 o/clock as any other place if it is best.

The clips I have are the double holed stamped ones that need circlip pliers.

I do not trust the single wire ford style as this engine broke a clip tang off and chopped the bore..

The tension of the circlip is more than enough to prevent any movement of a circlip with the gap at 3 or 9 o'clock. Remember, the piston does stop instantaneously. It slows to a stop as the crankshaft approaches top or bottom dead center so the 'g' forces are not as great as we might first think. This said, it can't hurt to position the gap at 6 or 12 'clock.
I think that this is another engine building myth, like the one that claims an engine won't run if the ring gaps are all lined up, or the one that says the bottom ring in a four ring piston somehow stabilizes the piston!