Sorted some 0.5 mm base joints today so thats the deck height addressed. Those circlips where really bugging me it seemed so inelegant to pry them in with pin nosed pliers not to mention the risk of losing them somewhere awkward. I did some googling and found tools from harley davidson and tomski racing . The tomski ones are available from pelican and seemed effective. However I wanted a cheaper option.
So an old gugeon pin and some off cuts of mild steel were pressed into service to make my interpretation. I made a guide to fit the bore of the old pin tightly and slide into the bore of the new ones smoothly, then I bored a piece of steel to the size of the gudgeon pin hole in the piston and cut away its end to clear the features on the sides of the JE pistons.
Now all I have to do is load the circlip into the steel ring by hand square it up in the bore with the insertion tool made from an old pin and some steel rod.
The clip is now captive and cannot spring out into the garage or engine.
Now simply locate the assembly over the piston hold the steel ring and sharply push the insertion tool through the ring, the circlip is carried forward perfectly into position with no cursing or blood.
Note the trials on an old piston
Chuffed with that result....
snaps of the deck height checks and the new tool.
andy