Milwaukee Midget

[Milwaukee Midget]

Okay, then – the entire reciprocating assembly is good – everything on the high side of tolerances.  I can work with that. 

Harvey, I took your caution to heart and taped off the bearing face to prevent contamination, then removed the material from the back side.  I'm at .0025 endfloat.

Dropped the block, crank and flywheel off at C&S.  They're skimming the block, tapping the oil galleries for threaded plugs and inserting the cam bearings.  Also, the pins are being pressed onto the crank flange, and they're giving a quick once-over to the mating between the flywheel and the crank.
It all should be done when I get back to Wisconsin.

Occurs to me I have some bags to pack.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Back to the build.

Crank, flywheel and clutch are off for a balancing act - pickup on Saturday.  Block is shaved, cleaned and, hopefully, ready for assembly . . .

BUT . . .

Seems I've got a tight center cam bearing, or perhaps a bent cam.  It turns, but I need the gear on it in order to have enough leverage to make a revolution.  The cam has three support bearings, and when I slide it in from the front and the back of the block with the corresponding journal, there is no problem.  I'll drop the cam off and have it checked on Saturday.  If it's straight, then it's either alignment, a crooked bearing, or a poorly sized bearing, though it doesn't read bad.

I'm overwhelmed by the new and old friends I met last week at Speedweek.  Lynda is my new "Mom away from Mom".  We sat at Lands End for better than an hour on Thursday night, chatting.  She had her daughters there, with their kids, and I got to thinking - What could be more cool than to be playing at Lands End as a kid?  I'm sure they take it for granted now, and as kids are wont to do, probably will poo poo it as they hit their teenage years.  But it's my hope that as they get older, they realize just what golden days they've had there. 

It's a special place to begin with - Lynda and the troops makes it more so.

More to follow - much more . . .

[Milwaukee Midget]

There are few people who cut as gregarious a swath as Dr. Goggles.  Outgoing, bright, witty, talented.  Watching him work the room at the 200 MPH club banquet was nothing short of amazing.

And in equal parts, we have Grummy, whose stoic outer veneer imparts one with the feeling that you are in the presence of an oracle.  I got the sense that if Grummy said the sun was not going to rise tomorrow, I’d be wise to stock up on firewood.



And Simon was the one who insisted that the good Doctor make this trip.  Simon’s a photographer from Sydney who is a contributor to Street Machine Magazine.  Seems I got a picture of him doing what he does best – here setting up a picture of Gene Winfield –



There are a few mythical characters who are very closely related to the tools of their trade.  Thor and his Hammer – King Arthur and Excalibur - Jimi Hendrix and his Stratocaster.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you – Gene Winfield’s torch –



I cemented some friendships last week.

[Freud]

Midget.......You picked a great crowd.

It was my joy to meet you.

FREUD

[Kiwi Paul]

Chris--The Torch set I can understand--but a pic of Adams butt...hmmmm...

[Milwaukee Midget]

Midget.......You picked a great crowd.

It was my joy to meet you.

FREUD

The pleasure was mine, Freud.  I won't make WOS, so keep an eye on the Granite Falls team for me.  They've got a great mentor in you.

Chris--The Torch set I can understand--but a pic of Adams butt...hmmmm...

I could superimpose one of Tony's avatars into the photo . . .

[Sideshow]

I could superimpose one of Tony's avatars into the photo . . .
[/quote]

Wont hurt

[38flattie]

Chris, are you giving up on the year, or are you going to try WF?

I'm waiting to hear how that cam checks out today!

Thanks again for the shocks!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Chris, are you giving up on the year, or are you going to try WF?

I'm waiting to hear how that cam checks out today!

Looks like the salt is out this year - Been behind the curve since the day I ordered the crank. 

I'm not mad, but I am frustrated.  The part is EXCELLENT, and excellence is what I paid for.

Mel at C&S threw the cam on the blocks - it's straight as an arrow.  He coached me through the procedure for scraping the bearing.  Here's the deal, and Mel agrees.  It turns well enough that it would probably break itself in after a strong pass, but caution dictates that any relief I could build in today would help alleviate doubt.  I've got enough variables in the air to have one that I can clearly fix hanging over my head.

I'm an amateur at this, so I second guess myself a lot.  But between this forum, my friends who race vintage and SCCA, and a machine shop that hasn't steered me wrong, I am confident that this will be a pretty darned strong 5 port one litre lump when I'm done.

[Buickguy3]

   Chris,  You are being very smart in your approach to the Salt. My race partner and I have been racing [NHRA[ UGH], and the Salt for 53 years this year. We have been running antique Buick junk since the 50's. We learned all that we know from old "crude" mechanics. We learned things like "don't touch the bearing surface" or you will risk contaminate it. It's all good learning. The other side of it is that you can over think a lot of things. Crankshaft end play is one of them. Usually when you put the crank in with a new set of bearings the endplay is minimal. Grit your teeth and assemble the crank/bolck and torque the mains, and close your eyes and hit the crank squarely on the front snout with a five pound Compothane hammer. And then when you catch your breath, smack it on the flywheel flange in the opposite direction. Usually, you will have nearly the proper endplay in one "smack". Just trying to help out.
  Doug 

[dw230]

Just like water Doug. The crank will seek its own level(clearance).

DW

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well, Doug, there have been days when I really, really wanted to take a hammer to it! 

The thrust bearings are already handled - today, I'll work that cam bearing.  I've got my miscellaneous assembly bolts soaking in solvent, and I'll lay out the gaskets and make sure I haven't lost/misplaced something.

Have you ever doped up a gasket, only to realize that the part that you need to hold the gasket - you know - like, oh, the water pump - is nowhere to be found? 

Yeah, I don't want to do that again . . .

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well, that wasn't too difficult at all. 

Plugged off the oil hole in the center cap with a pipe cleaner, filled the lifter holes with paper towels, carefully - oh so carefully - gave a light drag across the bearing with a Stanley razor - dragging, not cutting.  Vacuumed out the shavings, wiped down the gallery with a rag and some Seafoam.  An infinitesimal amount of shaving - cam turns just right.  Muscle memory from the last build tells me it's right.

I'm going with it. 

 

[Milwaukee Midget]

. . . and as I couldn't get to sleep, I went ahead and assembled the pistons and rings.

Ordered a few missing pieces - cam retainer and cam oiling restrictor chief among them.  Crank and flywheel will be picked up on Wednesday, parts should arrive by week's end. 

Labor day weekend - three days - let's see if I can have this short block together by next Monday.  I'll know then how much I can shave from the head, and how long my pushrods will need to be.

[Anvil*]

Have you ever doped up a gasket, only to realize that the part that you need to hold the gasket - you know - like, oh, the water pump - is nowhere to be found? 

Yeah, I don't want to do that again . . .

On gaskets, I like to coat both sides with a thin coat of Gascacinch and let it dry. Just assemble between clean surfaces. It seals and a light rap will get parts back apart, usually without tearing the gasket. Intake gaskets I also make sure the outer edges are coated because I've spent too much time fussing with intake surface one time trying to seal a leak only to find a flaw between the layers in the gasket itself.

Note you'll still think it's the gaskets on Harleys, British bikes, Italian engines and air-cooled VWs unless you seal the porous castings first. Then the gaskets work just fine (just like they've always have).