Yesterday I was seeking advice on techniques for installing an
overdrive hydraulic accumulator piston in the housing. As I have
never done this before I was having difficulty compressing the 4 small
steel rings while they are fed into the housing cylinder bore. I
solved the challenge myself. In truth I may have only duplicated what
others have done before but it worked and it may be worth sharing.
I visited an automatic transmission shop and showed the owner the
Healey OD accumulator piston and housing tube. After a little
searching he produced a small metal ring with the exact same bore ID
as the accumulator housing. The ring was only about a half inch long
but it was perfect for compressing the rings. I began by carefully
installed the rings on the piston. I used motor oil to assist in
finessing the rings into position on the piston. I then lubricated
the bore of the housing with the same oil. I then used the small
metal ring to compress the rings on the piston to the OD of the
cylinder ring segment. I used dissecting needles to compress each
ring individually . When the ring was sufficiently compressed I fed
the piston into the bore of the compressing ring and moved on to the
next ring. Once all four of the outer rings were inside the metal ring
I positioned the bottom of the piston so it was just barely showing at
the bottom of the metal compression ring. This allowed me to use the
piston bottom to locate the piston directly in line with the
accumulator housing bore. A little added pressure on the piston and
it slipped into the housing without the chance for the rings to
expand. Previously, I had lubricated the cylinder bore with the same
oil. The piston moves relatively freely in the housing and at this
point it is only a matter of a day or two before the my Healey will be
back on the road. That is assuming.....assuming I have put the
gearbox and other components of the OD together correctly.
Marks3
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