A little trick that a now deceased racer showed me.
Now he use to play with Manxs & Goldies so the method needs a bit of tinkering with to use on twins but it dose work.
He used to cut some lengths of old hose to space the barrels just high enough to have the spiggot clear of the case mouth.
These were all split so that they could be removed latter on.
So the pistons were wound to BDC, hose slipped over the barrel studs , barrels dropped over the studs & sitting on the hose.
Really big Stilsons ( pipe wrench to some ) attatched to crank in about 2 'O clock position.
The weight of the Stilsons rotates the crank, gently pushing up the pistons while you have two hands to compress the rings and guide the pistons up the bores.
When in, rotate the engine to TDC, move the Stilsons to 6' O clock position, remove the hose and gently lower the barrels onto the crankcase.
It is really, really, really easy.
For A10s I used some lengths of old wooden broom handle.
Drill a hole in both ends, slip a dowel in the top and leave the bottom open so you can drop it onto the studs in the cases.
Same drill, pistons @ BDC, spacers on studs, Barrels on spacers, spanner on the crank, two free hands to play with the rings.
Turns an all day battle of witts to a ten minute doddle.
My biggest Stilsons is only 12" so I hang a 2kg diving weight off the end of it.
Done it this way with real ring compressors, Coke cans & cable ties , beer cans & hose clips and just my little pinkies.
Every time I vow to buy some proper Terrys ring clamps and make up some proper spacers from hex bar with threads & studs to hold the barrels firm but some how I always seem to end up with another shortened broom.
I read this post carefully a few days ago before fitting my A10 barrels - a job that I really find hard to do as - a) I haven't bothered to buy any ring clamps, b) I'm too weedy to hold the barrels up for ages, c ) I have arthritis in my hands, which doesn't help...
Anyway, I modified this method a bit and tried it tonight - works a treat. Thought I'd add a photo to make it easier to explain - hopefully I've attached it correctly.
I cut up four short lengths of wood each about 4 inches long. I drilled a hole in the end of each just larger in diameter than the stud diameter and not quite as deep as the stud is long. This meant that the wooden pieces would slide onto the stud nicely but would NOT rest on the gasket. This took a bit of fine tuning and I had to trim one piece a bit shorter to stop it touching the gasket. Once this was done I ensured that all were the same overall length.
I then fitted the gasket, greased up the bottom of the barrel mating surface and rested the barrel on the wooden blocks as shown in the photo. Then with mole grips on the crank, suitably tensioned with a bungee strap I fitted the rings quite easily. Still a fiddly job, but with no barrel weight forcing downwards, the chances of breaking a ring were minimal, and the stress of holding the heavy barrels was zero!
Having done the job now I'd strongly recommend fitting the pistons to the barrels first, as wilko suggested, as that would have made the job an absolute doddle. I would have done this, but I wanted to see how the method worked with the tension on the mole grips pushing the pistons lightly upwards.
Thanks so much BSA_54A10 for writing this piece as it inspired me to try something new that worked brilliantly.
PS If you are wondering why I used the wood shapes I did, it was because I had a 2 foot long strip of it lying next to my bench when I looked around for a suitable material!