How to retrieve piston pin snap ring from case

[jaguar]

I tell you, sometimes its best not to be too cautious. Assembling my engine I let the snap ring fall into the crankcase because it fell from my hand while I was using the same hand to place a napkin on top of the crankcase opening. If I hadn't wanted to place the napkin there then it wouldn't of happened. But maybe it is a good thing because now I can tell you how easy it is to retrieve it.
I just dabbed some heavy grease on the crank and slowly turned it and the pin came up stuck to the grease.
I fell dumb and smart at the same time!

 

[David Trustrum]

Yeah well I had just finished putting a twin cylinder 2 stroke together inc connecting the PV together & torquing the connected head. I was fitting the reed block & manifolds, but one bolt was feeling a bit hesitant so I took the block out to try the thread, & as I twisted it back out it fell right in the inlet, past the open piston & into the cases.

Time to go find a small magnet on a stick & go fishing. Fortunately it snapped onto it & I was spared the re-strip down.

 

[rickyd]

I can remember working on SeaDoo motors, cageless needle bearings, i think if i remember correctly, 22 per piston :|

 

[Boot]

I'm about to head out to the garage and try to retrieve the piece of solder from the crankcase that I snipped off in a transfer port while trying to measure my squish clearance. How silly can you get? I might just try the grease trick.

A few months ago I broke the end off a plastic knitting needle while trying to find TDC in my Virago engine through the plug hole. Miraculously, after trying everything else, I pulled it up with one of those fabulous $2 grabber snake things (which has saved me on several occasions).

Boot
Melbourne, Oz
85 Virago 1000
91 KDX200
http://www.copperleife.com/craig/bikes/

 

[David Trustrum]

I wouldn’t sweat it, normal thin electrical solder won’t cause any damage (will just snip into smaller pieces) & will get spat out pretty quick.

 

[Boot]

Thanks David. That's exactly what I decided. I'm not going to worry. I thought it would either get chewed away by the spinning flywheels or melted and spat out. Either way, it's pretty soft stuff that hopefully won't matter. I just had visions of it getting caught between the piston skirt and a port at high speed, but I'm willing to take that gamble right now with a ride coming up in two days' time.

 

[srhill]

Boot I wouldn't sweet it either. I had the spark plug threads in one cyl of a Mazda PU (aluminum head) get buggered up while trying to remove the plug, it had seized. After I retaped the hole I took a vac and got as much of the aluminum out as I could, there was still quite a bit left in the cyl. I asked a mechanic about it and he said the aluminum was so soft that it wouldn't damage anything and that most of it would get blown out the exhaust.

If there is a moral to this story it is always use an anti-seize compound on plug threads.

 

[kaw Bill]

while adjusting the valves on my Honda Civic my friend dropped a feeler guage down one of the oil passages. It dropped all the way into the oil pan. I couldn't believe it when He pulled it back out with a three foot telescoping magnet.

 

[Boot]

Well, the solder didn't seem to do any harm. I rode the bike for a whole day at all sorts of revs and didn't hear any bangs or crunches.

This could develop into a thrill all of its own. Just as the Guinness Book of Records has entries for people who've eaten bizarre things and survived (like one bloke that gradually ate an entire car, piece by piece) we could have a running competition for feeding our KDX engines with odd foreign objects.

Personally, I'd really like to run a Barbie Doll through.