T head engine by Brian

[brian Rupnow]

Damn, I just lost an entire post.---Here we go again. The tig welding turned out very nice. No, it's not the perfectly overlapping "fish scale" pattern that a professional welder would lay down, but it works for me. A bit of clean-up on the lathe and it should be a beautiful thing. I simply can not afford the $$$ for brass, so I will be painting the gas tank and the flywheels in some complimentary colour.

[brian Rupnow]

And it's a lovely thing, what a bit of lathe and file work will do to finish off a welded gas tank.

[Ringo]

Indeed it is, it is a lovely thing Brian

[Tim Clarke]

Looks like Brian has found the best use for a Horrible Fright drill press vise!

[nickel-city-fab]

Damn, I just lost an entire post.---Here we go again. The tig welding turned out very nice. No, it's not the perfectly overlapping "fish scale" pattern that a professional welder would lay down, but it works for me. A bit of clean-up on the lathe and it should be a beautiful thing.

That tank is explosion-proof. It sure ain't gonna leak in my lifetime! So I wouldn't worry about the welds too much. Yep sandpaper is my friend

[Toolguy]

Where do you put the gas in?

Edit- I know it's not done yet, just kidding. Great looking engine!

[Tundra Twin Track]

And it's a lovely thing, what a bit of lathe and file work will do to finish off a welded gas tank.

Tank Looks Great Brian really like the captive Band holding the Tank,just curious about outlet and filler hole for tank are they hidden in Pic.

[brian Rupnow]

The outer diameter of the crankshaft bearings have been coated with J.B. Weld and located in their bores. Before it has had any chance to set-up, a 1/2" diameter cold rolled shaft has been ran thru both bearings, and the two halves of the crankcase have been reassembled with locating pins and bolts. The two 25 tooth gears were finished this morning and then slid over the ends of the shaft to make sure that they mounted and meshed properly with the camshaft gears.---They do!!!

[brian Rupnow]

The gas tank isn't finished yet.

[Willy]

Looks like it'll be running by the weekend!

Slow down, you're making the rest of us younger fellas look bad.

[mattthemuppet]

Where do you put the gas in?

you fill it first, then weld the 2nd end cap on

Looks really good Brian, I can't tell from here that you didn't make it from one piece. I need to get myself a welder...

[brian Rupnow]

Things are going to slow down for a little while. One of my old customers has come foreword with a request for some new welding fixtures for one of the big three automotive companies. It's design only stuff. Fabrication will be done elsewhere. I'm not sure just how much work there will be, but probably not much.---It would be nice if there was a couple of weeks work---that would buy me a new metal cutting bandsaw. My current bandsaw is an old woodcutting saw that I modified to cut metal. It works, but it is painfully slow.

[nickel-city-fab]

Brian -- in case you need metal on the cheap, I have just found a local yard that will sell scrap.
Myles Auto Salvage in Niagara Falls. Phone: (716) 297-4050 5460 Lockport Rd Niagara Falls, NY 14305
Looking forward to the border opening again, maybe it'll make life easier.
Bummer I don't have a passport.

[brian Rupnow]

The welding fixture is completely designed and sent to my customer, who has to go to his customer for "design review". After that has happened I will complete it and make detail drawings.---Now--Back to my own stuff. I finished the welding fixture design about noon today, and spent the rest of the day machining valve cages. In a perfect world, they would be a press fit into the head. In the real world, you can't press them too hard because they are made of brass. So, they are coated with #638 Loctite and lightly pressed into place with my shop vice. After they set up for 24 hours or more I will drill the intake and exhaust port thru the cylinder head and the valve cages at the same time. I have not used my special valve guide cutting tool yet to prepare the seats to mate with the valves. That is just about the only thing left to do to the valve cages. I will make the valves later today or perhaps tomorrow. I did stop by my metal suppliers today and picked up a foot of 1 1/2" diameter "stress-proof steel to machine a one piece crankshaft from.

[brian Rupnow]

Todays nifty trick was to machine a pair of tappet guides. They set between the 50 tooth gears and the sides of the engine frame. They have a 7/8" clearance hole on center to clear the cams, and there will be a 5/16" i.d. sintered bronze bushing pressed into the hole in the top of them to guide the tappets which ride on the cam. The cam is attached to the side of the 50 tooth gear.