lo-fi

Lol, I'd love to make one for the S1, but I doubt you'd like the price

Bit overdue for an update... I decided that the only way forward to keep the lot together it to thread the ends of the shaft and make some nuts. I've never actually done any thread cutting in the lathe, so no time like the present! The bar, in all honesty, is a little big for my little ML10 lathe, but you gotta pee with the pecker you got: I also didn't have the correct change gears to be able to cut a metric thread (my lathe has an imperial leadscrew), so it's a person I'm not that keen on thread of 35mm x 16tpi Luckily 35mm is a nats nadger from 1"3/8, so let's call it that... I'm afraid I was concentrating on not stuffing it all up and not taking photos, so there aren't many. The results aren't half bad if I do say so myself: There's a big nut on top of the bollard and a slimmer nut under the gearbox. The large nut at the top takes a little ali extension to retain the top cap. It's sat proud on a spacer ring so it's accessible with a spanner, rather than being sunken and needing a huge socket: I machined up a nice little bolt to finish the capping off: I finally got the fairlead finished too. This took some head scratching to design something that would support the sides whilst allowing the roller to turn. I opted for a piece of pipe with machined cast iron caps which gets tensioned by a piece of M12 threaded rod running through the whole assembly. Phosphor bronze bushes are a press fit into the CDS pipe the roller is made of. I like simple and rugged, and PB on cast is hard to beat: Again, I was concentrating on the job, not taking photos. Sorry. The protector ring which sits under the bollard was too tall. My ghetto solution. Ahem: And applied paint liberally: Fitted up: And that's the point I realised I forgot the add the motor to gearbox adaptor supports. Ho hum. That's where we're at; seems like the never ending project! TTFN PS: sexy capstan rope arrived while I was on my travels in France:

I cut the pipes off, used the existing connectors blanked and plumbed the oil cooler into my remote filter setup, which is just like a sandwich plate. I couldn't find much either. The consensus seemed to be that the special end pictured is to do with diverting flow to the cooler. I have yet to try with just a plain old blanking plug, but mine sits at 40 psi with my current setup, so I'm happy. If you've got a distributor and serp belt, you have an "intermediate" cover.

I think some of the early engines you had to set the static timing with a mark in the bellhousing... If you don't have the marks we'll have to figure it out

Dead simple if you've got a timing light.

Hard to get a datum on very much that's useful on the windscreen hinge, I'm afraid. I'll have another go later. Unless the camera is tricking me, I'd say that the bulkhead is tilted back at the moment, meaning the joint for the windscreen seal is too wide. Test fit a door maybe? The bulkheads almost always try to lean back, I've found. She's looking lovely, sure you're very proud!

https://www.instructables.com/id/Myford-ML10-Lathe-Chuck-Soft-Jaws/ Few bits of scrap ali are all you need.

You learn something every day! It's handy stuff, I've been getting offcuts from an engineering firm down the road for years and made all sorts out of it.

Ah. That's a good idea; running retarded can make it appear as though it's running quite rich. Depends how far out it is.

Electric would be an after market modification, the originals are mechanical and driven off the cam. Might be worth popping the carb off and removing the float bowl to see what's what. The floats are just thin brass or plastic tanks and can crack or spring a leak, meaning they don't cut the incoming fuel off when it reaches the correct level. That'll lead to over fueling regardless of what you do with jets or mixture adjustments. Same goes for the little valve - could even just have some crud stuck in it.

Is the choke definitely releasing fully? The mixture screw on those carbs is just for idle, if I recall correctly. Float height is usually set with the carb on the bench, float bowl off, upside down. You bend the little tab that pushes the float (fuel inlet) valve shut until the actual floaty bits are a specific height above a datum point listed in the rebuild manual. Do you have an electric fuel pump? If so, are you running a regulator? Most pumps drive far more pressure than the poor little float valve can resist, so fuel gushes in even when it's closed. Same problem if the float valve is pitted or jammed and not fully closing.

Ali is nice and easy to turn and way softer than the bearings so much less chance of scratching bearings if something doesn't go quite right. Delrin or Acetal (machinable nylon type stuff) is good too; it's easily strong enough.

Yeah, you can't get big gobs of it on a thread like you can grease, but it coats well. Seems to be all you need. Graphite, like copper, flashes off and you're left with the graphite. It's the weapon of choice on hotter parts of steam engines with steel studs in cast iron or bronze and can literally last decades.

Graphite grease is good for stuff that has a hard life in high temp. Best (I may have said before) is milk of magnesia, particularly on stainless.

Yeah, they're not tall and chuffing heavy. Probably not the one if you're just looking for a bit more space. A mate of mine has one, but he takes a 9x9 tent with him to camp in.

That's the way with a "dead" center. The alternative is a "live center" which has a bearing in it, so the pointy bit rotates with the work. Grab a set of center drills - a lathe essential. They're the correct tool for making the whole for a center as well as starting a hole for a twist drill. I can't figure out quite what inserts they are, I'll have a look around some charts. Edit: Still can't say for sure, you'll probably have to carefully measure a few angles, then have a look here: http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-insert-d.htm To figure out what holder, the biggest factor is probably the size shank the machine can take.

Have you got the manifold on the bench? Can you weld? If so, the absolute best way is to chop the studs so a ~1/4" is left sticking out, then weld an oversize nut on the end getting as much heat into it as you can possibly manage. The end of the stud being half way inside the nut is perfect as it let's you pool weld in and get plenty of heat. Ideally the whole nut will be red hot. Leave to cool - if you try turning while hot it'll just shear - and turn back and forth. If you try just wrenching it out one way its bound to break. If you can't weld... Two nuts to form a lock nut, wind them up tight, heat the manifold with the most powerful torch you can muster and try the tighten/loosen/repeat trick. Short of that, it's the old cut off, drill and tap routine. They're not usually inclined to come loose without heat, if at all. Good luck!

Pretty much. A bit of ezstart doesn't hurt, gets it firing which burns some of the schmoo off, puts a bit of heat into it and off she goes. All else being equal, of course. Bowie is right, some lifters may have drained. She may well be quite tappetty for a while. Good luck!

Atf has detergents in it which can help clean the bores, valves and everything else that's covered in corrosion, sticky dried oil goo and suchlike. They'll run way worse than 50 psi down, so either the timing is wrong or its not getting the right amount of fuel if it really doesn't want to go. Plugs out, few drops of atf or diesel in the holes and get cranking it over. Pop the plugs back in and have another go.

Run it, it'll pick up as everything seats and scrubs the crust off. Short of ripping it apart, that's about your only option. Not uncommon being recalcitrant after sitting a few years. Agreed on the atf if you have some.

Nothing special needed to strip an LT230, just normal spanners stuff. You can certainly easily strip to assess whether there's much worth keeping. Given that they're cheap and plentiful, it's probably not worth rebuilding unless you've got spares on the shelf. The 77 does require a couple of special tools iirc, but have thumb through the manual

Thanks chaps I've been tempted by those, I think my next (longer) set of earth leads will have them fitted.

Got a few bits done over the past couple of days, just getting the support bush and fairlead sorted. I love machining Meehanite (cast iron bar with no hard spots or defects): There's also something immensely satisfying making a massive pile of lovely uniform chips. A lovely fit on the new bush. My phone died and I didn't take nearly enough pics: The carrier for that bush may look thin, but it's some kind of uber-tough 4140 or something. It gets supported by a rolled ring that will be welded itself. I didn't want the potential distortion in the actual bush carrier, so we'll see how it goes, I'm happy with it. Here it is on the lathe getting tacked nice and square: I don't like welding on the lathe, but sometimes it's the only way. Covering everything in WD40 and the bed with a piece of sheet steel seems to protect things nicely. Anyway, I had to stop to do the fairlead supports. If I weld all the gubbins in the middle I won't have a flat top I can clamp down to the bench while welderising various bits in. If it's not clamped down firmly, it'll distort, and having got this far and kept it flat, I really didn't want that. Plasma cutting going well with a new skookum earth lead. This is right on the limit of my machine: Finishing with the grinder: I kind of want a cast look, so not looking for perfection. Setting up to drill the locating holes: I hate drilling rectangular holes... Used the angle as a guide, which worked well: Setting up with locating dowels making sure it's all square: Captive nuts: In they go: A a bit of finishing to do, plus I need to machine up some ends for the roller, but I'm quite happy with that. Now I can complete the centre (and motor) support stuff, finish welding it, paint it and get it on the vehicle.

If I'd gone ahead with my install I'd have had a water heater, helper pump and matrix on a circuit that could either be joined to the normal heater circuit or isotated from it. A two or three valve design would work. That way you get an extra heater matrix off the engine too, which is ideal for the rear of the vehicle.

Is it one of the old cork gaskets? Sometimes crisping it with a plumbers torch can help shift it, but mind the fumes!