Wooden piston stops?

Nothing I have tried so far has allowed me to get the pistons on my KZ750H3 back up into the block, except hose clamps, which I broke two rings with because the clamp head hits the bottom of the bore first and cockeyes the clamp. I've tried popcycle sticks, wooden sticks to ease the rings in...everything, but the pistons move around and the rings pop out again.

Recently I read a post on some forum where the guy made some wooden stops to go under the pistons to hold them steady. He made his 1/2" thick. I tried this and the wood just flops around under the piston. But I like the idea. What did I do wrong? Seems they should be thicker.

do the middle two pistons first and rotate the crank back around so the pistons are making solid contact with your wood blocks and the pistons won't be able to go anywhere. also make the piece fromone piece of wood just make it wide enough to go between the cylinder studs and cut a v or u shape in it long enough and wide enough to go around the rods just like a tuning fork.

I understand how to do it (but thanks). I just am not sure what deminsions the wood should be (how thich from top to bottom)? My manual (the kawasaki one) doesn't mention anything but the factory tool.

Ever heard of actual professional ring compressor sleeves?

Theyre really thin and easy to use, and cheap.

..and thier pro!

polkat wrote:

Recently I read a post on some forum where the guy made some wooden stops to go under the pistons to hold them steady. He made his 1/2" thick. I tried this and the wood just flops around under the piston. But I like the idea. What did I do wrong? Seems they should be thicker.

I got some little paint stir sticks from Home Depot and cut them and stacked them to make the piston rests (duct taped them together). Worked really well.

polkat wrote:

I understand how to do it (but thanks). I just am not sure what deminsions the wood should be (how thich from top to bottom)? My manual (the kawasaki one) doesn't mention anything but the factory tool.

These are the ones I made. I placed them under the two center pistons and I did not have to turn crack to get the outside pistons. They made the job so very easy. Just take your time and do one ring at a time, cylinder weight did all the work.

So I used 3/4 in thick ply wood 2" inch wide and 5" inches long, cut the same 1/2 grove down the middle

I just used a set of wooden piston stops to put my cylinder on. They were 5/8" thick, about 1 1/4" wide, and 6" long. Like someone else said, rotate the crank until the center two pistons rest on the stops. After I got the center two pistons in, I was able to get the outer two in without removing the stops.

Here's what they look like:

Wow! What a difference those blocks made! Got my block down in about 10 minutes, and didn't even need the blocks installed when doing the outside cylinders. Crank turns free and no odd scraping sounds, so I guess I'm home free.

Thanks everyone!