[Lochlin]

Given how busy I have been with work and personal projects I haven't been able to touch this cart in awhile. I was able to get back into it today, though. I have the cart rewired and the starter spins as it should both forward and back. When I tried to spin the engine however, I encountered a conundrum involving the piston / cylinder.......

The piston and rings are too tight in the cylinder and the starter won't turn the engine.

If anyone has encountered this before, please let me know. Here is the deal, the piston is original, the rings are new. The new rings were gapped perfectly right out of the box .015. However, when I put the new rings on the piston, visually, they looked bigger than those on other carts I have worked on. When I say "bigger" I mean that the new rings seemed to be protruding father out from the piston grooves than I am accustomed to (see pic). When I placed the piston / rings in the cylinder felt tighter than normal. Still, I got everything seated in the cart only to find out that the starter won't turn the motor. Yes, I had the cylinder nice and lubed up. To confirm that it was, in fact, the cylinder that was the problem I took it off completely then tried to turn the motor. The motor turned over like a champ without the cylinder on it so the bottom end is fine.

In doing some online research, I found a lot of posts in a variety of forums where "piston / rings are too tight" is noted. Most the causes / solutions are non-sensical, though. One post about a 2 stroke motorcycle caught my attention, though. A forum member claimed that "piston / rings are too tight" problems are caused by mismatched parts, ie: new rings on an old piston or old rings on a new piston. Basically, this poster claims that (in my case) the 30+ year old piston is no longer "OEM" given the years of wear and tear and that new OEM rings might not work with it. Hey, can't hurt to try it. I ordered a new piston with matching rings and will try that. I can't fathom why that wouldn't work but, if not, I will get an entire new top end kit which will almost certainly take care of things.

In the meantime and while I wait for parts to arrive, I started the body work. Removing 30 year old clear coat isn't easy so let the sanding begin.