Duke,Get a lathe, and learn how to use it.-YPS all I maintained earlier was that your problem could easily be solved by spending the 167 sterling + all your other expenses.However, you like doing it the hard way. Good for you.
Mark,I do this springer thing because I want to do things myself, see what works and what doesn't, McGyver myself out of mechanical binds, learn and develop my skills as a home tuner, some day maybe fixing some springers for other people. Buying a kit doesn't accomplish any of that. Also, a minor point, but I'm not sure if you really understand what a kit bought overseas ends up costing to me. It's not only the listed price and a little for shipping, it's list price, overseas shipping plus VAT and customs fees. It's also about five to six weeks of delivery time, with the customs taking their sweet time. Going down that road, it would be Christmas time before the 80 moved forward!In general, I'm not keen on buying a gun for a couple hundred and then spending well over 50% more to sweeten the gun up internally. It just doesn't seem right, or proportionate. YMMV.
Thanks Ron, very interesting!Concentrating into the "added stuff" in the chamber floor, I hadn't thought about the obvious contra issue: voids left in the bottom seam, creating extra lost volume.Looking up the 290 Loctite: it's a middle-strength thread locker. You said it's wicking. Is that the only reason to use it here? Of course, a well-behaving springer doesn't bang the piston against such fillings but lands the piston on a diminishing cushion of air, so no super strength or hardness is needed. Care to share your methodology here, as any work done at the bottom of a narrow 16" tube is a specialty job of kinds?