APS/Ω Gas turbine bike build

[tauruck]

Well done Anders.

[JimL]

Hooray...you've made my day! 

For the FIRST time in my life, something I voted for finally happened!  It feels pretty good, I tell you.

(picture a Snoopy happy-dance...but I'm too old for that)
 

Thanks for putting us in your project, we really enjoy it.

JimL

[Mobacken Racing]

Thank you for following the build and commenting, the build thread would be very boring without you guys.

Yesterday I picked up a set of spiked tyres for the bike that a guy here in Sweden has made, I managed to make three holes in myself from the spikes while I was loading them into the trunk so they are sharp...



I checked the To Do-list and found that most of the modifications were made, so I started assembling the gearbox.



The new ceramic hybrid bearings were installed on the power turbine shaft.



With the first one fitted I pulled the seals and washed all of the grease away with kerosene.



Here the gearbox is assembled, I have some shimming left to do to get the gear mesh play perfect but that will have to wait until next time.


 
Cheers!
/Anders

[saltwheels262]

I managed to make three holes in myself from the spikes while I was loading them into the trunk so they are sharp...

not counting my nose and ears, I have 3 holes myself.

[wobblywalrus]

The Triumph had a problem with cylinder and piston wear a few years ago.  The bores and pistons looked great after the last tear down.  They were the best I have seen in any engine I have ever had, and the motor was run for two years at Bonnevile and it had lots of dyno runs on it.  A few changes were made like switching to big foam air filters so it is hard to say if any one thing was responsible for the improvement.

The pistons, gudgeon pins, rings, bores, and bearing shells were treated using a process by www.wpctreatment.com  It was done in So Cal.  The process is Japanese so it might be available in Europe.  This might help your gears to last longer.

[Mobacken Racing]

not counting my nose and ears, I have 3 holes myself.

If I didn´t know better I would think that you are flirting with me. 

The Triumph had a problem with cylinder and piston wear a few years ago.  The bores and pistons looked great after the last tear down.  They were the best I have seen in any engine I have ever had, and the motor was run for two years at Bonnevile and it had lots of dyno runs on it.  A few changes were made like switching to big foam air filters so it is hard to say if any one thing was responsible for the improvement.

The pistons, gudgeon pins, rings, bores, and bearing shells were treated using a process by www.wpctreatment.com  It was done in So Cal.  The process is Japanese so it might be available in Europe.  This might help your gears to last longer.

Very impressive results, if I find any wear on the sprocket teeth I will look into this treatment! Thanks for the idea!

[Mobacken Racing]

Last night there was a big christmas party at my work, hundreds of finely dressed people I had hardly even met before, lots of food and a well known band that would entertain us after the dinner. After the main course I couldn´t stand it any more so I sneaked home, found a beer in the fridge and went out to the workshop instead. A bit less crowded there.



In the pic above I am modifying the exhaust housing for the power turbine a bit to make clearance for the oil line to the gearbox, it also makes the gas passage a bit smoother than before. Below I have fitted the housing to the gearbox and thread locked the bolts in place.


 
Here the freepower assembly is put back in the frame, since the gearbox anchors the entire engine package it needs to be firmly mounted.



To allow for some thermal expansion of the oil tank I filed the mounting holes a bit, John suggested this earlier but I kind of forgot about it.



Since I take the oil for the gearbox from the regulator before oil filter I fitted one of the steel mesh filters that Ernie so kindly sent me earlier, this turned out very neat and I can easily open the filter to check for debree after the engine has been run.



With eveything attached to the oil tank I could fill oil, plug the main oil line to the gas producer and test the gearbox lubrication. It worked like a charm, no leakage past the piston ring seal and a steady flow of oil through the hose from the gearbox sump down to the oil tank.



Cheers!
/Anders

[grumm441]

With the first one fitted I pulled the seals and washed all of the grease away with kerosene.




 
Cheers!
/Anders

Anders
I'm not convinced the washing the grease out with kerosene is a great idea on a high rpm bearing. Something to do with the dye and the residue left by the Kerosene
I generally use Shellite as it's doesn't have any of that stuff,

I used to dread Christmas. having to spend time with a family that I can take on or two at a time but not as a whole group. And then their is her family...
now I've worked out that the only people that bother me on christmas day, in the workshop, are the security company.
Great day for porting heads
G

[saltwheels262]

not counting my nose and ears, I have 3 holes myself.

If I didn´t know better I would think that you are flirting with me. 

loloutloud .

[manta22]

Grumm;

The best all- around solvent that I've found for grease & oil is Stoddard Solvent. VM & P naptha, MEK, trichloroethylene, or even methylene chloride is a good solvent.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

[ChrisLenahan]

Having been the chief inspector in a turbine overhaul shop before - do not clean titanium parts with trichloroethylene.  Every manual I have seen for a turbine engine carries a warning not to use it on titanium parts.  they can react and form a poisonous gas.  Same goes for Magnesium.  Look up the MSDS sheet on it.  It works great as a solvent but so did gasoline with Tetra Ethyl Lead.

[Stainless1]

Lets face it, all the good solvents are bad for grease and humans.  Used all the good ones when I was working airplanes... didn't affect me at all.... didn't affect me at all.... well it didn't seem affect me at all.... OK, it didn't kill me yet.... 

[wobblywalrus]

We used a few of those solvents in the highway department to dissolve asphalt out of pavement samples.  Comparing the before and after weights and volumes told us the asphalt content of the pavement.  Use of some of those and especially trichlor when I was a mechanic gave me an overexposure allergy.  The reactions I get to new rugs, cigarette smoke, and a few other common things are pretty bad.  It is best to avoid the toxics so there are limited long term effects.

The local industrial supply should know about some safe solvents that clean well.   

[Mobacken Racing]

Grumm441: I´ve never heard that kero can leave any harmful residues in bearings, the RC turbine builders run oil mixed kero through their bearings as lubrication and they run their ceramic bearings to >120.000rpm. I´ll keep it in mind though in case I need to do it again, I have better solvents on the shelf that I just didn´t think about using.

A couple of hours ago I went to the shed to do some modifications to the interstage duct, something that has been bothering me is that I didn´t make any alignment edge on the V-band flange that connects the gas producer and the interstage duct. This makes assembly a bit difficult since I need to manually align the flanges while tightening the clamp, and even the slightest offset cause a restriction to the flow.



To fix this I drilled a pair of holes in both flanges for spring pins, before anyone comments on it I covered the turbine exit before drilling to avoid getting any metal shavings into the engine.



Here you can see the holes, the fit is very snug and will ensure a perfect alignment of the flanges. Neat!



Next up was to fit one of the high quality Fluke thermocouples a guy here in Sweden sent me for free, I will use both the old thermocouple and this one to see if there is any difference between the two.


 
Before I called it a night I cut away some material from the air box entry, this way I should be able to remove the gas producer from the frame without having to pull the entire freepower section backwards a centimeter.



Cheers!
/Anders

[Mobacken Racing]

I tried my best to take a picture of some TIG welding last night but failed miserably, perhaps if I had two more hands...



At least the welds got done like they were supposed to.



Boy does it feel good to put the bike back together after having had it scattered all over the workshop for a couple of months!



To get the V-band flange to align properly I made some schims out of a beer can and fitted them under the gearbox mounts, who said beer drinking was all bad?



Now we are talking! Perfect alignment and with the two spring pins the V-band flange fit couldn´t be better.



Here both the new Fluke thermocouple and the P4 probe are fitted, the only empty space in the frame is starting to fill up.



Finally the engine is back in the frame, next up is to make a couple of new mounts for the gauges and get the rear fairing done.



Cheers!
/Anders