When patience runs thin, shit gets broke

It was high time I broke something. It had been far too easy to get things apart, catalogue them and organize them for reassembly. That is until I met the true force behind any combustion engine, the piston. Thank god theres only one of these things on my little vespa. Simple enough to remove the cylinder head and cylinder, just a couple bolts and screws.

Then with the piston and connecting rod exposed the first thing is to remove the snap rings from either side of the piston on the wristpin. At this point, the wristpin itself must be removed before the piston comes free. Its tight as frogs ass underwater. The haynes manual says to wrap it with a rag soaked in warm water to loosen it up. This helped a little bit as I tried to ease it out. The book also said to use a rubber mallet, which I did. However, I got frustrated and just started banging away. When I finally realized the importacne of securing the piston while I banged away at the wristpin I got the piston out, but not with out some damage first :/ Some of it was there before me, some of it was not. Nevertheless, lesson learned, if its not moving easily, your doing it wrong.