slid into the cylinder. The sleeves prevent the ends of the rods from
scoring the crankshaft.To install the rings, Herman cleaned the grooves on the pistons and
used a ring expander to place each ring on the piston. This can also be
done by hand, but the chances of breaking a ring increase.
To properly orientate the piston rings, refer to the packaging for the
rings; often, the packages read “top” and “middle.” Also, the top side of
the ring is usually marked as such or has a dot or logo on it.
Once all of the rings were installed on the pistons, the piston was
lowered into the cylinder. The crank journal was protected from the rod
bolts by placing rubber caps over the rod bolts before each piston and
rod assembly was lowered into position. A piston ring compressor was
placed over the rings and the piston was carefully lowered into position.
Herman watched the rings to make sure they did not slip out of position.
The piston ring compressor may need to be tapped with a mallet so that
it can be lowered into position. When the piston was lowered all of the
way into position, Plastigage was again used to check the clearance of
the rod journals as he did on the crank. It is recommended to check the
tolerances for each piston and rod journal. With the pistons in position,
their clearance to the cylinder wall was measured with a feeler gauge
and compared to the specifications in the shop manual.
Camshaft
Like many 1950s-and-later domestic cars, this Cadillac engine is of an
overhead-valve design, so it’s wise to install the camshaft after the
cylinder heads have been assembled.