Started finishing the rockers today. I'm not real happy with some of them so I may make a second batch. I won't be doing much any time soon. Work is getting busy!
Started finishing the rockers today. I'm not real happy with some of them so I may make a second batch. I won't be doing much any time soon. Work is getting busy!
Cross lifters off the list. Both sets are complete. I am hoping to get back to rockers this weekend.
That's great work Steve and truly inspiring to see it progressing bit by bit. I liked the novel idea of the captive circlips for the valve spring retainers.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Skippy. The clip idea was not mine tho I cant remember where I saw it. It does work well
I was supposed to work today but the job was postponed until next week so I woke up and spent a quiet day in the garage. I made another batch of rocker sides. I tossed all the bad ones in the melt bucket. Then I used the CNC mill to make a new fixture. After the fixture was done I started loading the rockers while the mill was still on and ran the pieces right away. The results were much better. I am alot happier with this batch.
Hello All!
Well, I'm one step closer to having the rockers done. I managed to mill the slot in the nose of the rocker. I had some boo boo's along the way that I managed to fix sorta. Good thing these are hidden under valve covers!! I have three things to do still. I need to cut some clearance in the nose for the spring retainer. The rocker will pop the retainer off if i don't. Then the tail will get counterbored and threaded to accept a 2-56 screw. This will allow the pushrod to push on the screw instead of the aluminum rocker.
I am doing all this because I wanted to make some cool rockers. A much simpler rocker could be made in 1/4 the time. What the h7!! was I thinking.
wow! This is amazing! Will it run when its done?
Hello All!
Decided to do something easy tonight. I made the rollers for the rockers and the pins to pin the rollers. The rollers were a case of drilling the center and then parting them off a piece of 1/8 inch droll rod. The pins were just parted off a piece of 1/16 drill rod.
Tolerances are dependant on the part. Some pieces +- ten thousand is fine and some parts need to stay within a half thousand. Say a 5/8 piston made from 6061 aluminum i make .6240 to .6235. I only give myself .0005 tolerance. If its not between those two sizes it goes in the scrap box. Same with a valve stem. Other pieces like a roller on a rocker can be almost anything. A roller .005 under size is still useable. Depends on the piece.
Hello All!
Made some progress in the way of the rocker pivots. They were a little trickier than i thought they would be. These things are only .156 round and .250 long. Made all the barrels first. Just used .156 drill rod and parted off the pieces and used a file to break the corners.
I was able to set the barrel down on a parallel. I had one that is just smaller than the height of the vise jaw.
I started using a center drill to spot the hole but the drill kept wandering anyway. I did'nt know this but found that if i used the center drill to drill as deep as it took to make a starter hole that was just smaller than the drill, It would follow the spotted area and worked much better.
Then Just a drill bit to get the hole in it.
I don't have the nuts done yet but I could not resist putting 8 rockers together just to see what it looks like. Of course the valves would need to be put in also. Everything looks ok so far. I have also used some JB weld to patch up the water jacket fiasco and hope to complete the heads by the end of next week?
Steve,
WOW!
As a massive gearhead and a beginner machinist this is an amazing project. SO much awesome on one page... Thank you very much for documenting it here for us to see. It is much appreciated.
What kind of mill are you using? Also, when you finish this project I really hope you do decide to sell your plans / files. You can count me in for a set.
JGRO Complete - G540, 380oz Nema23s, 1/2-10 ACME, 30"x14", Craftsman router
Joes 4x4 R&P in progress
Steve, I have been following your thread on HMEM. I didn't realize you had one going here to. I have to hand it to ya. Very nice machine work.
Do you have the solid model files available? I would like to try one of these engines.
I do have all the parts modled. I wont be releasing anything until i have a running engine. Along the way I have made some subtle changes to 6 or 7 parts and i'm sure that will continue. When all the parts are made and working, I will look into getting some drawings made.
Sorry!
Steve
I finally did it!!
I finally had some time to get the rocker arms done. I put a few together and tested the amount of actual rocking motion and of course, Not enough. I started the day re-cutting the slot by just a few thou. I might have gotten away with what I had but the pushrod length would have had to be exact so why fight it.
Then the counterbore was done. I had a club member regrind a #2 counter bore bit so the pilot was a few thou smaller than the tap drill instead of the clearance hole. I was able to then counter bore the bottom for a caphead screw.
Then all that was left was the tapping of the holes in the tail. Thru hole with 1/16 of material, what the heck. I used the "speed tap wrench" to get the job done.
After that I started to make the adjusting nuts but after 2 I didn't feel like doing them. I wanted to have some fun instead of the production line stuff that has been going on lately. I decided to make the air cleaner lid after looking at JPeter's V8. He has a cool air cleaner on his and I was thinking "I want one of those". So I spent the rest of the session watching the mill make me one.
Sorry about the crappy picture.
Looks a treat! A good number of people want plans, yahoo groups you say?
Cheers, Dirk.