HIS MAJESTY progress update

Having done the last outing of the season this last weekend the engine was unloaded into the garage on Sunday to allow me to get the bits on it. Had today off so stripped off all the stuff that was on for cosmetics and got on with attaching the cylinder properly. For those who have read other posts or know me (Colin!) building is not what really floats my boat... it is a means to an end and having looked at this heavy awkward bit of steel and read other posts about bolts etc I wasnt looking forward to it with much enthusiasm.

Anyway it was a really sunny warm morning and Ken Bruce was on in the background so I set about it! By lunch time the whole assembly was bolted down without a single cross word Having ran a tap through each hole last night the studs went in really easy and once the tension started to squash the gasket the final row of studs lined up and just went in with fingers initally. I was so happy I even phoned Steve to say how much I had enjoyed it I was even more pleased to see the next box arrive and I might even attempt to put the weighshaft on this weekend. The cylinder components are almost all in and everything just slipped into place without any issues at all. The only tiny adjustment was having to run a bit of wet and dry 400 grit on the piston rod to get it through the gland. As I have been telling all those who ask me at the last few dos the quality is second to none... STW you really do a very good job at machining this stuff.

I will say however that Lynn's idea of covering holes to stop stuff falling in MUST be heeded... whilst fitting the LP valve I dropped one of the brass screws and nearly fainted as it shot off down the exhaust hole Fortunatly with the aid of a torch it could be seen just resting in the passage and using a small piece of really sticky double sided tape and a stick I managed to fish it out and sat there crying for a few moments. Then pugged the hole with tissue and taped up all the others.. DO IT before you drop something that goes too far.... You have been warned.

If I get more progress done this weekend I will take some shots and post them up but really looking forward to the next few months now, once this tricky bit of lining stuff up is out of the way I think it wont be that bad for the following stuff.

Cheers for now Kev.

Hi Kev

I am fair glad and pleased that you have enthusiasm to carry on building.

Just thougiht I'd say I've had another enjoyable morning in the garage.. fitted the main bearings with almost no effort and tears, rotating smoothly on the crank. Then tackled the weighshaft which again proved no issues to set for the valve rods however it is worth oiling up the setting tools as this makes life easy. Then tried the lower slide bar on the LP cylinder. Again a thing of beauty to look at and fits with relative ease. I would say however if you haven't fitted the piston rings then dont before you've set the slide bars, I haven't and it feels very easy as I'm able to take the pistons in and out to help fitting and don't have to worry about the piston rings getting caught in the passages. The rings and pistons can go in once its all set up as they screw into the crossheads. Haven`t gone any further with this now as I don`t want to spoil a good thing and theres other bits to get on with round the house etc.

I think I'm finding this easier as it not so heavy it`s difficult to lift and awkward to work with. It is time consuming but its so nice to see things rotating and connecting as they should. Once again the machining is so well executed. Can't wait till it's running on air...

Going to paint up the weighshaft and crank next before I take pictures.

Hi Kev and all

I have also been doing the weighshaft. I had to trim the cleading slightly to get it to fit otherwise perfection.
Allignment tools fitted and were straight and plumb. I have fitted the slides these will still need some adjusting but I do not have the required tin beer can.

The low pressure bigend fitted without fuss and little fettling and provided a spot on allignment with the con rod.
High preasure bigend is being somewhat problematic. Lots of filing of the crank cheeks to even get the bearing in so far 2 hours spent and I still can not get it right to the "bottom".

Interesting that you chose to file the crank cheeks. I went for the other option and gently took the outside of the bearing down by rubbing it on 400 wet and dry with oil checking every few minutes so as not to overcook it. Only took about 1/2 hour that way and was much easier with the bearing held in the big end strap and the paper on a sheet of glass.

Hi Kev.

I guessed that the crank was off as both big ends fitted the low pressure side perfectly and strangly enough both did not fit the high pressure end. That being the thinking. Spent another 2 hours this evening. bearings now sorted

Funnily enough both my bearings fitted the HP side almost without modding but wouldnt go near the LP side. Perhaps that shows what is meant by tolerances??

Yup. It don't take much especially the quality of parts we are getting.

lynnr wrote:Hi Kev and all

The low pressure bigend fitted without fuss and little fettling and provided a spot on allignment with the con rod.
High preasure bigend is being somewhat problematic. Lots of filing of the crank cheeks to even get the bearing in so far 2 hours spent and I still can not get it right to the "bottom".

INTERESTING!!!!!

I just found a problem with my crank last weekend and returned it this week while in the area. I had fitted ther LP connecting rod and was able to turn things over . However, when it came to the HP connecting rod the crank bearing would not go between the gaps. I took a vernier to all the parts and found the following:

LP Crank Web gap = 16.5mm
HP Crank web gap = 15.5mm
Crank bearing = 16mm

As there is also a radius machined on the edges of the crank bearing to match up with the radius machined into the crank for strengh it did not make sense just to file the bearing down as it would not have fitted at the edges due the the radius.

Steve suggested they would make a bearing sutiable for the HP side that fitted the narrower crank web which would be a fine solution. It just means I have to polish the machining marks out of another set of crank webs.

Brian

Will the crankshafts that have not been sent out be checked for this?

Kev

Just fitting my cylinder, slidebars, pistons con rods etc.
Cylinder was a touch awkward to fit with studs at the edge of the flange: on retrospect, would have benefited from these holes being 0.5 mm bigger.

Motion support bracket went on with no adjustments needed.

Slide bars were fIne with standard shims and one 10 thou extra on top of LP upper.

RH crank bearing needed one shim to move it over to centre big ends on crank shaft.

Big end bearings fitted with minimal reduction in width. Bearing straps are made of some strange stuff: it made sparks when I was finishing them on the linisher.

Happy Christmas, indeed.

Tim