Hello, John Talley here with partzilla.com, and welcome back to an engine build that we've
been doing on a 2005 Honda CRF450R. Now today we're going to focus in on
installing the piston and a new cylinder. Now what i've chosen is part of a kit from Wiseco,
and the piston we're going to be using is a forged one. Now if you want to check out that kit,
look at the link in the description below and it'll show you the entire kit that we've been
installing on this particular engine. Now we did go back with just a standard bore size,
but I do need to go and check the ring gap clearance because it's a little bit different with
the forged Wiseco piston. Now as far as the tools we're going to need, any basic tools that will be
required I will call those out as we go along. But you will need a ring gap filer as well as
a good set of feeler gauges. Beyond that, just a little bit of contact cleaner, oil, assembly lube,
and maybe some coffee depending on what time it is when you decide to do this project. Well now that
we've got our tools and our parts assembled, let's go ahead and dive into this thing.
Now per the Honda spec, they're looking for a ring gap in between 10 and 12 thousandths,
but we are going by the recommendation from Wiseco because you know, this is their piston and it's
going to behave a little bit differently than the factory Honda one. And looking at the chart,
we're working with an ATV dirt application, and they want to see a bore times .004.
Now we need to convert our 96 millimeters to inches, and that works out to 3.78. Once you
do that multiplication, the gap that they want to see is .015 inches, or fifteen thousands. So
they want a little bit bigger gap compared to the Honda. So let's go ahead and put in our top ring.
We'll use our piston to square it up about three quarters of an inch down into the bore
and see where this one ends up.
Let's bring it down to 10. Eleven. Twelve is barely getting in there. Thirteen,
that's pretty much gonna be a no-go. No, she is really close. 14 is starting to catch.
So it's really close. We only need to take off a couple of thousands. So let me get our grinder
clamped down in a vise, and then I'll show you how to file those down just a little bit.
So we're set up and ready to go here. The real trick is, you want to make sure that
you're doing this at a perpendicular angle. And I typically put it in the same orientation as it's
going to go in the cylinder, and we're just going to work on this one side. Now keep in
mind we're only having to take off a couple of thousands, so this is not going to take long.
That right there is probably going to do it. Now before we put it in the cylinder,
I want to take a file and just gently chamfer that edge to get off any filings
that are hanging on from that process. We're just basically cleaning it back up,
because we don't want any sharp edges or jagged edges. Drop her back in.
Use the piston to square it up.
Now let's take a peek. So we knew 13 was going to clear.
14, and we want 15. It's just a little bit tight, so let's do a little bit more
and then we'll come back and check it. Working on that same edge, same side, same direction.
See if we're at our magic 15 now.
That's it. Just have to be patient during that process. Now here's where there's a
little bit of difference in between what Wiseco recommends as a general rule and what Honda
specifically has for this unit. On the Wiseco diagrams, they want you to use the top ring
pointing toward one end of the, the piston wrist pin. Second ring going over to the other side. And
then they've got it spaced for the oil ring. With this particular setup, there are actually only two
rings: we have a top ring, and then we have an oil ring for this particular application. So I'm going
to go with what Honda recommends, and they want the top ring to be facing toward the exhaust side,
which is right here. So the top ring is going to go there.
Now for the oil ring itself, it is going to be facing this direction, so we want the oil
here. And then the two rings the top and the bottom that hold it in place
are going to go
here-- the first one, the top one. And then the second one's going to be in line
this direction. So that's the way we're going to put it together.
Now that we've got that established, let's go ahead and get this put on the connector rod.
Go ahead and put a rag or a towel like I'm doing, just in case one of these wrist pin
circlips decides to not cooperate. I'd rather not have to fish it out from the bottom end.
So we're going to go ahead and pop in the circlip on this side, get some lube on there,
and then we'll attach the other circlip from this side. But the orientation, the Wiseco is marked
where it's pointing toward the exhaust side. Now on a factory Honda piston, it actually has
an end for the intake, which is over on this side. So don't do it backwards. I usually start with
the, the end of the circlip all the way at the top. You do not want it over in that little gap.
I know that may be the easier way to do it, but it's not the right way.
And then you just walk it in with your thumb. Now let's go ahead and put a little bit of lube
on the surface where the wrist pin is going to be. Same thing for your connector rod.
Get some on our wrist pin.
Now we can start the wrist pin. There she goes. Now we just need to get this other clip in.
This is the fun one. And we are going to be pushing against the piston we do not want to scar
it up. It's on that edge, I don't want it to dig in, so we're going to put a little cloth down here
where I can get some force in on it. Same scenario,
just a little bit tighter. Push in one end and then start walking the other edge around.
I am going to reach in and carefully bring that clip in with a screwdriver. There we go.
There she went. Just tap on the side of it make sure it seated in place.
And now we can get our rings on. Some people do this before they put the piston on.
I don't have a problem with doing it afterwards. So let's get our oil ring,
the center part on first. And the only thing you want to be careful of here
is to make sure that they don't overlap like this. That needs to butt together,
which they're trying to do.
You get back here. There.
Get back in there. All right. Now rotate, rotate it around.
Let's get one of our oil ring keepers, this one's going on the bottom.
So we're going to face it this way.
And these is okay to spiral on-- and we do not want to do that with the top ring. There we go.
And this one's going to be in this orientation.
180 degrees out.
All right, now you can see how you can compress it in.
So that tells me that those two ends are butted up together now.
Now for the top ring, we want to take a little bit of oil, just wet your fingers,
and go all the way around the ring. You really don't have to get carried away with this.
Now we also are looking for that end mark, and we want it facing up.
Now if you've got a ring expander, great.
If not, you just want to pull it the minimum amount to get it to clear.
All right, now we're pretty much ready to go. I'm going to take just a light layer of oil
and wipe it on the piston, especially on the skirts.
Next let's do one final cleaning on the cylinder, because I'll bet you'll be
surprised even out of the box, it'll still need a little bit of cleaning.
And our last order of business before we put this together,
we're going to wet this down with some oil and just wipe it on the inside of the cylinder.
Because I just want a thin layer of oil, that's all. I've seen a lot of builders,
they'll just glob a bunch of oil in there. That's not the way I do it because I want there to be
a certain amount of friction on startup because that's what's going to get your
rings to seat properly. If you've just got gobs of oil in there, that can't happen.
Now we've got our dowels in place, and do not forget this little water passageway--
that little collar that goes in. And now you're just gonna gently lay in your gasket.
Looking good. It's time to get a cylinder on here guys and girls.
All I'm doing here is just squeezing in the rings. I get the front edge to go in first
where the the gaps with the ring comes together, and then start working it in toward the back.
Take your time, do not force anything.
The rings are up in there. Now, let's go and bring that chain up. I'm just going to hold that like
that and then seat it. I lined up on our dowels, but she's biting me a little bit. There she goes.
Touchdown. Now at this stage, there's really only one bolt to hold it in place,
and it's just this eight millimeter over on the side.
The real trick in all of this is to be patient and not to force it, because those rings are so thin
it's it can be easy-- if you get in a hurry to bend one of them and then you pretty
much have to order another set and start over. So take your time doing this part.
And we're going to torque that one to seven foot pounds.
We want to finish off this video by bringing it up to top dead center.
That's probably pretty close.
And we are at top dead center, and you verify that by matching up this timing mark with that
dot right inside here. And you can also verify it on the other side by looking at the rotor
down in there or within those two timing marks. Now we'll go verify this again when we actually
go to do the camshaft installation. All right guys, that's going to wrap
up this video. Next up is going to be the head installation, and if you need help doing that,
why don't you reference this units playlist and I can walk you through that process. Well if you
need any parts for your machine, come see us at partzilla.com and we can get you taken care of.
If you have any questions or comments about this video, leave them in the section below and I'll do
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