Help With Wire Locks On Pistons

[420Adriver]

Ok I thought this would be the easiest part of my engine build but it is way harder than I thought it would be. How do you get a wire lock spiral fed into a piston to hold the pin inside. I have assembled all of the engine by myself just got done honing the cylinder walls and was ready to drop the pistons and rods in and connect it to the crankshaft. These are je pistons, I have done spiro locks before but these wire locks just don't want to thread in. Any advice towards getting them in?

 

[AuntiesTSI]

When I was assembling mine I got about the first half of a lock in the grove and covered that area with my thumb with some slight pressure down to hold it in. Then I took a dental pick type of tool or a REALLY thin screwdriver and worked the rest of the lock in using the grove in the piston pin bore as a small amount of leverage while moving it around the grove. Make sure you can keep some pressure on the locks as when you get a little more in they seemed like they wanted to pop out, that is until you push that last little bit in.

 

[BISHILVR]

Squeeze them down and push them in (with your fingers) its tough, but it can be done.