As I type I'm reminded of the old Monty Python segue: "And now for something completely different".
This next series of steps with the M96 is really the only part which has caused me to stress out, because I've never done anything like it. I've seen the apt reference that installing pistons 4-6 is akin to building a ship in a bottle.
I needed a lot of practice. And practice I did.
Getting the wrist pin retaining clips in is challenging enough just sitting on your wood bench with good light. If it doesn't seat perfectly there is a very high probability that it will jump out during the first engine run and sod things up for good.
So I got a
bunch of practice with my tools. After marking the tool for depth at each cylinder location I started installing piston #6 (the furthest one) and went through the process.
In my first 10 attempts at inserting the the retaining clip for cylinder #6 I got it properly seated 1 time. That was not anything like a good enough average to bother with breaking out the Drei Bond. So I kept at it, fine tuning my technique, polishing the segment of the tool which has to mate up perfectly with the piston before "firing" the wrist pin. Finally I began getting it consistently and now I can tell just by the feeling through my hands that it is seating property.
Next, I rotated the case half so I couldn't see inside because that is cheating and I wouldn't be able to do that with the case halves together. Here is where my earlier practice paid off because I was getting pretty good at setting up the wrist pin clips in the tool just using my fingers.
Cylinders 5 and 4 were much easier. If anything the tool runs a little sloppier the more it comes out of the case and it would be easy to mess up if you get complacent.
Next I cleaned both case halve joining surface with acetone, then got out the Drei Bond and made a bead, then had my youngest son help me by guiding the timing chain and connecting rods while I lowered the case half onto the other one.
I hurriedly got screws in all the locations and then used my air ratchet wrench to bring the case halves just snug. Then I whipped out the torque wrench and got all the case half screws to spec, in the order the book says. I'm not ashamed to admit that I use a sharpie pen to write the torque sequence directly on the engine. When I'm done an acetone rag destroys any evidence that I suffer from CRS.
Now I have to position the engine so that the cylinder bores are upright and I can rotate the crankshaft. Then we'll see if I really practiced enough.
Hybrid Mode
