Projects Giant speedster project

Hmmm... You might want to take it a radiator shop and have the whole thing checked. Once they stop laughing, you might be happy you took the time to have it tanked!

 

could have at least layed a canvas donut over and around and stuck on that gooo patch

 

Gonna be a tough job grinding all that epoxy out to fix it.

 

Marinetex is killer stuff, I sealed a power steering pump with it once, didn't even clean it that well!

 

I know Marine Tex seems like shoddy repair but I made the decision after careful consideration. Most radiator shops are not familiar with these old radiators. Remember, this was not a structural repair and there is no pressure in the system. What I needed was a water tight seal. In the past I've used Marine Tex to fix corroded out cylinder heads and water pumps. I even used it over shoddily welded up cylinders to seal many leaks. One engine I "fixed" was in a car I drove daily for ten years. I felt it was worth a try rather than risking a melt down of such a valuable radiator. If I have to remove it--well, Marine Tex turns into a beautiful fine white ash at about 400 degrees. So, the test is on. Will Marine Tex do it's job? Stay tuned. By Sunday we may know.

Jerry
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Jerry, you have a neat bunch of toys. That Singer looks great and the Franklin just oozes elegance. I had a buddy that had one of those 305s back when they were new...fun bike.

Another sealer that works well is "Pro-Seal" http://www.aircraftspruce.com/search/search.php it's used for sealing fuel tanks and other things in aircraft and works great.

 

I checking that company out now. Looks like lots of cool things there. I always been afraid to get into flying because I feared getting hooked. But I'd sure love to have a vintage biplane. BTW I just got back from filling the radiator with water. Not a drip. I'll let it cure another night with a light on it for warmth and tomorrow, if all goes well, I'm installing the rad a filling her up.

Jerry
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is there a bleed on the engine so ya know you have no air trapped?

or is the numerous connections gonna do that on first fill

 

The cooling system is so simple. There's no place for air to hide--just like filling a bucket. A friend had a crisis this morning and we're watching her kids so chances of me getting away to start the Seagrave are slim. Hopefully tomorrow.

Jerry
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I think you made the right choice with Marine Tex. It's very easy to have the radiator spring leaks everywhere just by applying a little heat. Also you need to be able to silver solder - so it's not as simple as melting some plumbers solder into the joint.

 

This is one of the things Marine Tex is designed to do. That repair will last 100 years.

 

Hey, I left the kids with my wife and snuck away and installed the radiator. Not one leak showed itself until the water got to the manifold on top of the cylinders. Then it started oozing out several pipes. After inspection I found an unforeseen problem. The clamps I bought are perfectly round and some of the cast brass manifolds aren't, hence, incomplete clamping. The worst offender I soldered and filed until it was round. I think some Aviation Permatex will seal up the rest. I you've ever used Aviation Permatex you know it isn't good until it's been sitting around open for about a year. There still may be a start up on Monday.

Jerry
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I spent most of the day fixing a tenant's toilet but I did find enough time to get a battery hooked up and set up my intravenous gas feeder. I even spun over the engine a couple of times. Tomorrow is definitely the day of the startup and extended running.

Jerry
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I'm checking every day. Can't wait to see more video of that beautiful beast rumbling to life.

 

I'm waiting for a video...!

 

Video!

Check out the new video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-45C0TJPRw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Enjoy,
Jerry
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Loved the video! So did you make a special tool to remove those cylinder plugs? Looks like big 12 pt sockets in there.

 

Cool!! Now get it fine tuned and it will sound great!!

 

Great to see it running Jerry- good luck with finding the reason it's backfiring!

 

Big nut welded to a bar. I already pulled one plug out. The valve looked fine from the top. Good thing I checked though, the heat made all the plugs loosen up. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Jerry

 

Love it Jerry, I even had my wife in here watching the vid! I know you'll get it figured out.

Brian

 

My guess is either a sticking exhaust valve or a crack / carbon track in the distributor cap causing a crossfire.

 

I'm thinking sticky valve too.
Very cool video.
Nice work!

 

It'll be interesting to see what is causing the miss/ backfire. I know you'll get it figured. That's awsome the neighbor comes to see what all the rackets about.

 

Very impressive Jerry! That thing is truly a monster!

I'm thinking sticky exhaust valves myself. They don't seem to backfiring on every cycle, sounded rather random or uneven. "Home made" valves? ...must have been a post that I missed. That is quite impressive: Don't have 'em? Make you own!

A dear friend of mine has a rather large collection of odd-ball cars including a 1909 Brush, 1917 Hupmobile Model N and a 1906 Holsman "Auto-buggy" Model 10 Stanhope Runabout and they are the same way....if you brake something, you have to make a new one. I love that about them...you learn a great deal that way.

Now, you just have to get the rear wheels back on and roll her out side for you next video!

 

I really liked the vid. You're a natural, I felt like I was in the shop with you.

It's progressing along really well. I'll miss the updates once it's done. Got any future projects?

 

Backfiring

I was a mechanic for about 30 years, owned my own shop with 3 mechanics for 18 of them. I've seen a lot of weird problems but so far this one is defying me. I always try to logically figure out the problem like a detective--based on the facts. This method isn't as good as an instinctive mechanic. The best mechanic I ever knew would just blurt out the answer to an engine problem. If you asked him how he knew he couldn't tell you. But back to the mystery. Here are the facts:
The engine back fires out the exhaust on 5 and 6.
I pressurized the individual exhaust pipes with air and there's no leakage at the exhaust valves.
The plugs look fine but I swapped them with cylinders 4 and 5 just to be sure--no change.
The firing order has been checked and double checked.
The timing has been triple checked although timing affects all cylinders
The cap and rotor are new.
The spark is blue and hot.
I removed the intake to check for induction leaks, although air leaks make a cylinder run lean and therefore pop out the intake
Here are some other clues.
You have to prime the engine with gas to start it. I can't get it to start with the choke. But I don't think it's running lean. Usually that makes it backfire out the carb. If it were running rich I think it would not require priming with gas. Backfiring out the exhaust seems to suggest: The ignition timing is late and the mixture is still burning when the exhaust valve opens. (but this would effect the other cylinders too) The mixture is overly rich and explodes when the valve opens and it hits the oxygen in the air. (seems like this would affect the other cylinders as well) I have also seen hot spots develop in an engine that would pre-ignite (post-ignite?) the mixture. I cured one of these by pouring water from a coke bottle into the intake with the engine running at 2500RPM. No lie!
I have also seen a worn out distributor fire the plugs at different times, some early some late. I haven't checked this yet. Anyway, I'm just rambling, going over stuff in my head. If you have any suggestions. I'm open too them.

Jerry

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Jerry,
Is there any point at which your ignition wires are in close enough proximity to cross-fire from one to another?

 

Jerry, I've ruled out ignition issues when I had just one or two cylinders with issues by re-clocking the distributor so that you have to move the plug wires to different cap locations. Not sure how much you can turn your distributor, but it may be worthwhile, just to rule out any distributor-related issues. For instance, if I have a 6-cylinder that has a misfire on cylinder #1, I'll rotate the distributor 60 degrees and move all the wires back one terminal on the cap. Now cylinder #1 is firing from a different lobe on the points cam, and through a different terminal on the cap. If the problem moves to another cylinder, I know I have a distributor related issue. If not, I look elsewhere. Of course this doesn't rule out the plug or plug wire, but they're easy enough to test by moving them to different cylinders as well.

I'd really lean towards sticky exhaust valves, because of the irregularity of the backfiring. What did you make the valves out of? Turn down some Caterpillar Diesel valves? I've read a lot of the posts, but probably missed the valve building issue.

"EDIT" ezdusit, good call! As hot as that spark looks in the video, that could well be something to look at.

 

valves too tight?
plugs gas fouled?
tried another plug wire?

(Anyone ever tell you that you resemble Groucho Marx?)