The engine is back in the frame

Thanks to the assistance of my wonderful wife, the engine is back in the frame where it should be.  I took the heavy part, she took the light end, and we dropped it down onto the rubber engine mounts.  I have to bolt everything together yet, but its still progress.

The folks at J&J Cycle Barn in Manchester, PA were kind enough to put an inner tube in the rear tire for me after I gave up after it burst the second time.  Thanks to Joe and Jenny.

The next step will be mounting the exhaust, fitting the elbows, wrapping the exhaust header with fiberglass tape (to hide all the welding patches I made).  After that all the electricals need hooked back up, and the carb fitted.

Ahhh the carb.  The slide is too worn and it goes lean.  I'm sure of it.  Still waiting for the replacement slide from England.  Poor fellow sent it in the mail a month ago, not sure if its lost, or stuck in customs.  I've never had to wait so long.... I'm afraid its lost.

Tricks in the TAIL - American Encounter

The 2008 Carlisle Import show, was the site of the TEAE spring B.A.S.H. (Bring A Sunbeam Home) rally.  We were fortunate to run into some other rear-engine cars that were a product of economical pressure brought on the Suez Crisis.  Matt Cotton, a long time Simca enthusiast, saw our Imps and initiated a photo shoot opportunity with us and a fellow that drove his Fiat 850 all the way from the Midwest.

All rear-engine where Powell Tucker said the engine should be.  All water-cooled.  All a litre or less.  All economical.  All cool.  And all in the same place at the same time.

Which one was made where?  Can you tell?  Italy, Scotland, France?



The similarities were stunningly obvious.  We couldn't get the NSU guy to bring his over, but you'd see it there too.  The Simca was the 4-door with a little more interior room.  The Fiat was absolutely stunning.  It was a fresh restoration and a very good one at that.



Here's a brave lad, drove this Fiat from the Midwest all the way to Pennsylvania and only lost his fan belt once.  I think his name was Brian (correct me if I'm wrong).



The Simca had the biggest motor at 1000cc.



We even spied a gorgeous Dauphine.



While in the French section, we couldn't help but check out the RE5 Turbo.



The real treat was the smallest of them all.  The Subaru 360.

Engine and Gearbox mated

Today was a good day.  I got my lovely wife to help me put the first two clutch retaining nuts on while I compressed the springs by pressing the pressure plate while the front of the engine pushed against the wall on my workbench.  The clutch pulled together nicely, and I felt it lined up well too using my makeshift alignment tool (deepwell socket with the bolt stuck through it to center the clutch).  The gearbox slid right onto the mounting studs.  With a little persuasive jiggling of the output shaft with the gearbox in 2nd it slid together.  Ahhh,  I'm a happy guy.

Now I just have to get the tires sorted out.  Frapping Chinese tube blew on the rear tire already.  The front one still doesn't want to seat in.  I'm just going to take it to someone, and have them put a tube in.  I can't deal with it anymore.

So, I started some cleanup work.  I finished cleaning the frame, and preparing it to receive an engine.  The foot rest rubbers were pretty faded and ugly.  Then I remembered what Burt Munro did to hide the cracks in his tires.  Shoe Polish !!!  And quite appropriately its Kiwi.  I brushed some on and worked it in till the rubbers looked good... not new, but appropriately good.  The stuff will inevitably wipe off on my trousers.

Clutch and push rod

Since I don't have any copper washers in my workshop to fit the sump pan, I started working on the clutch.

The thrower seems to work good, so I put the flywheel back on.  The clutch lining was full of oil and grease, so I tried to wash that out as best I could with brake cleaner.

The big project was creating the new push rod.  My workmate Mike had already made the pushrod receiver that I tack welded to the square hole in the pressure plate.   I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to come out and get jammed in the shaft somehow, hence the tack weld.  It shouldn't, but I didn't want to chance it, and I didn't want it to start turning either, since the shaft into the pressure plate is round instead of square.

I took Wilhelm's full length measurement (225mm) from the surface of the pressure plate to the end of the rod and cut the 1/4" drill rod that had bought to fit.  I squared up the ends in the lathe, gave them a slight chamfer and then polished them up to a high shine.  Drill rod (aka silver steel) is fairly hard so that took a while.  I test fit it in the gearbox and it looks right.  I can drop the rod in after the gearbox is mated to the engine.

I decieded against a ball bearing at the clutch end for now.  I can always cut the drill rod more and fit the ball bearing later if I think its not working right.

The next fun part will be to compress the clutch springs enough to put the nuts on.  I guess a few clamps around the flywheel and pressure plate may do the trick?

Cam Chain Tensioner Plunger - Fabricated

Well, with no stock specs for the cam chain tensioner plunger, I attempted to make mine "to fit".  Which meant assembling and disassembling a few times, and a few times in the lathe.  Thank goodness I bought a self-centering chuck.

I started with the hollow brass slug that was the bodged part.  I threaded it partway from the outboard side, relative to the engine.  This way if the set screw were to back out, it would not fall into the engine.  The set screw gave me a tunable platform for the inner-small spring to push against.  I then proceeded to remove material from the slug until it got me an equilibrium on both springs.  This way the tensioner could float properly as the chain moved.  This was all hit-and-miss machining.  I didn't even measure it in the end.  I just took a little more off until it fit.  I tuned the set screw in until I got the right travel on the springs.

The book said that the locking bolt should be tightened at the minimum position of the plunger.  With that set, I buttoned it up.

The next task will be to try my hand at metal spinning in the lathe to make a suitable crankshaft oil slinger disk.

Bodged Cam Chain Tensioner

It appears my cam chain tensioner has a bodged plunger.  I checked out the parts drawing closely and its certainly not like the one shown.  Once I had fitted the new chain from Stewart Engineering, it was apparent that the bodged tensioner no longer worked correctly.  The tensioner assembly cannot be screwed into the block, since the bodged plunger is too long and has no smaller spring.

I've asked on the Classic Glory list to see if anyone can get me some dimensions.  Just my luck the part is not presently available new, so I'd have to fabricate one.  Lucky I have that lathe.

The good news is that the head and head gasket went together flawlessly.  The new stud in the back went in easily, and I managed to set the valve timing like a pro, thanks to the Sunbeam Owners Bedside Book.

Ring, Ring, Ring

The book says there should be a mark on the compression rings to show which way the TOP is.  BZZZZ, Wrong !!!!  Not on these.

So I got out the micrometer and tried to measure the taper.  I did my best and tried to find which side was consistently the smaller width to show which the narrower taper should go up.  (No one wants to pump oil into the cylinders)  I just hope the castle nuts for the big end bolts line up nicely to get the cotter pins in.

Here's the box from the rings.

Here's the box from the new cam chain.  I'm not THAT far yet with all these interruptions, but I will be soon.