Doing up the wristpin ends of the rods

This time we’ll show prepping the small end of the connecting rods.

Here’s a little homemade jig for pushing out the old wrist pin bushing and installing the new one. by tightening up the green nut on the left hand side, plug on the right side puts pressure on the new bronze bush pushing it out to the left. The best technique I’ve developed to date is first starting the old bush out without the new one in place yet, then reassembling the jig so that the new bush can start in the small space (1/16”) the old bush has vacated in the rod. That way the new bush has a nice straight start into the little end of the rod. Once in place, the new bush is considerably smaller than it needs to be and will get hand reamed to size.

Here’s the reamer used to size the wrist pin bushing. The reamer handle might seem somewhat larger than necessary to get the job done, but it’s something I got at an auction and never used for anything. However, I was having problems getting a smooth finish on my bushings. Trying this large handle, I found that the extra mass made my rotating motions smooth and improved my bushing surface remarkably. The result is a very smooth final finish.

Here’s another shot. Again, flipping the rod occasionally so the ream starts from the opposite side helps maintain an even diameter on the hole being reamed.