Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines
The Regular Stuff: Chat, Buy, Sell, Off Topic, etc. => General Discussion - Scale Model Gas Engines - Hit & Miss - Throttle Governed - Non-Compression – etc => Topic started by: RedRyder on January 27, 2025, 08:58:58 pm
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It's Alive!
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Bonjour Gil,
What a beast ! I imagine how happy you are when you see this engine running. It is not a toy, it is definitely a little engine.
Nest step, a scale 1 Hit & Miss engine ;) ;D ?
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Wow ! That engine sounds (and LOOKS) great when it runs. Way to go man. That is a beauty !!
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By golly that was alright, I was smiling the whole time Gil, with enthusiasm & hopefulness that she would take off & stay running. :D
I think that table has met its match with that Beast though.
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It Started...!!!
After much fiddling and fixing I got it to fire a bit.
This engine was built as throttle governed as opposed to hit and miss.
It has a simple liquid fuel carburetor. I attached a propane gas demand regulator to the fuel boss and opened the needle valve 4-6 full turns. After messing with the air flow I got to actually run for some seconds.
Finally, after working on it for 3 weeks, this is a good milestone.
Video below.
Enjoy!
Gil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWNsfPsZwp8
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I did a bit of math on this piece, 1842 hrs. @ $25 per hr = $46,050. ...Wow !
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I made a new gasket and massaged the 2 mating surfaces a little flatter with a flat surface with 400 paper and WD-40.
This improved things but not to where it would run.
I discovered the intake valve was still leaking when I poured alcohol in it.
Went to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and picked up some coarse and fine valve grinding compound.
I believe I lapped the valve in pretty good. The valve guide is sloppy and may cause further issues. (I hope not)
Made a new gasket and assembled it with high tack gasket sealer on both sides of it.
While it won't harden, I am still letting it set up overnight. I'll check the bolts to see if they need a little more torque tomorrow.
At some point I will need to tackle the governor which needs a new center shaft as it is useless as is.
Gil
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That is one substantial hunk of iron you have procured for yourself there Gil!
Looks like all your efforts have done wonders and like others I now look forward to seeing it running!!!
Thanks Daniel. I look forward to the same.
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Looks terrific Gil, I bet there's a few hours of cleaning there!
Yes... a few hours and then some! Thank you.
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I can't wait to see it running! :)
Me too! Not yet...
And not because I haven't attempted to at least make it pop.
It has some issues needing attention. First the side shaft (camshaft) was severely out of time. I have eyeballed it into a decent position which required a SWAG (Sophisticated Wild Ass Guess) To avoid lifting the crank shaft out of the main bearings or remove the camshaft brackets and all I has to loosen the cam gear and twist it out of position. Then I adjusted the cam rotational position and backed off (retarded timing) to what I felt was a good place to twist the screw gear back on the shaft and hope it lands correctly in relation to the drive gear on the crank shaft.
Next issue is compression leaking from the intake plenum which is part of the cylinder head. I cleaned up the valve seat and that apparently wasn't the problem. I believe there is enough of a dip between the 2 cast parts of the head with the intake valve that even with a new gasket, the compression still leaks.
Then there is the original ignition which was a Lucas ML Magneto.
The end cap and housing has the worst case of zinc pest I have seen.
In one picture you can see where the magneto drive shaft and gear stick out the front of the engine base near the exhaust valve. There is just enough room to put a similar gear on the side shaft for a chain drive. The chain is included in the parts box that came with it, the mag and other odds and ends.
Fortunately I can use a battery and buzz coil in place of the magneto while I try to acquire parts to restore it (the magneto).
Pictures below.
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That is one substantial hunk of iron you have procured for yourself there Gil!
Looks like all your efforts have done wonders and like others I now look forward to seeing it running!!!
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I can't wait to see it running! :)
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Looks terrific Gil, I bet there's a few hours of cleaning there!
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The brass tag indicates the builder spent 1,842 hours on this build.
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That cleaned up really nice! 8)
Thanks, Nick!
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That is one "Girthy" engine Gil. I wish I had seen it up close at the show, it looks like a real neat piece of Iron.
Thanks, Bruce!
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That cleaned up really nice! 8)
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That is one "Girthy" engine Gil. I wish I had seen it up close at the show, it looks like a real neat piece of Iron.
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I have been busy cleaning, cleaning, and more clean up!
Before
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After a healthy dose of clean-up work... Still needs a lot more.
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