That pretty much sums it up Bruce It's never going to be really fast and chasing the last couple of horsies can work out mighty expensive
That engine and whole drivetrain are nothing but miniature replicas of US Ford equivalents...you could do exactly what you'd do if you got hold of the works from a Model B, just smaller...or an English type "Special", think homemade MG TD but smaller...I have a book on doing that! Right now, I'm looking at an English Ford "elementary textbook of Automobile Engineering" from 1935, mostly illustrated with small Ford parts.
Jonny69: Brilliant....better than reading the comics. I spent two weeks in the U.K. four years ago, and it's a real joy to hear their English accent and phrases, (wouldn't that be the way English was ment to be spoken?). Any way, it's a crackin good thread mate. Keep them coming. Cheers!
Jolly good stuff!! And I've learned a couple dozen new phrases to impress my redneck buddies with, i/e "molegrips". You and Bruce Lancaster keep me in stitches. This is what the HAMB is about. Basic hands-on grubbing to get it done, without all the BS. And with the usual droll Brit humor and vernacular adding to the enjoyment. Thank you!
NO, no, no. All those dirt farmers and hotrodders who kept your bangers alive through 7 decades and depression and war were WRONG! You CANNOT build a banger without mailing your block and checkbook to a specialist in California for full boogy inserts trick rods double throwdown guides and computerized ignition. These engines are far too complex and sophisticated for amateurs to mess with. I mean really, would you change a faucet washer or mess with the aircleaner on your lawnmower??
after reading this thread, I am going to the video store and see if I can find some Monty Python or maybe some Bennie Hill(sp?).
Benny not Bennie. You Benny. Ha ha ha. I missed this the first time too but what a hoot! Cool post Johnny! Everyone that knows about these engines is dead you say? True, maybe but they did write stuff down you know. I have a couple of books on the subject which I will do my best to dig out before the Nats. Wanna see em?
Started the engine assembly this weekend. Didn't get much time as usual and having not spent much time on it recently (and a bit too much red wine the night before) I wasn't sure where to start. I decided since I got the shaft free in the spare dizzy a nice simple check and rebuild would be nice. One dizzy: Inside was pretty grotty on this one so I decided to swap some parts from the other one which I broke the case. To my utter disbelief all the screws came undone without mashing up or snapping. Testament to my use of penetrating oil? Maybe. Act of god? More likely Under that plate is the advance mechanism, some spring loaded weights and it was all grotty so that's why the shaft was tight. The screw in the top of the shaft (in the breaker points cam) releases all of that: I replaced those ones with the nice clean weights and cam out the broken dizzy and gave them a liberal dose of grease. Everything moves nice and freely now and *result* because the shaft is less worn in this dizzy than the broken one: Topped them off with the shinier plate and my new set of points: No adjustment needed - I love points! Note how I mark the cap with my plug numbers with a bit of white paint, actually it's a tippex pen but it makes working on the plugs and leads so much easier: Next on the list is the mechanical fuel pump: I've had a bit of trouble with it because the diaphragm is perished and out of shape so it doesn't pump very strongly. Basically I've got crap in the tank and though I've cleaned out the bulk of it I can't get that last little bit out so I'm relying on the filter to do the rest of the work. Because the pump is weak it only needs a little bit in the filter and the fuel flow stops so I bought a refurb kit which should solve that: So there's a set of gaskets and seals, new diaphragm and a new set of valves. Naturally I ordered the wrong one so the valves are the wrong ones but no matter because it was really the diaphragm causing my problems. See here: So I cleaned up and checked the valves, all ok and once reassembled I could instantly feel a more positive movement on the crank and much more suck and blow than before. My hangover had cleared by this point so it was onto the heavy stuff. I mucked about with the cam and tappets but the crank goes in first. Block upside down: I should point out here that cleanliness is very very very important when you are reassembling any engine, especially when it doesn't have an oil filter like this one. I used a fresh t-shirt as an oily rag so I didn't transfer any grit or muck off my other one. Have a little container with some fresh oil and a clean 1/2" brush to apply oil to the parts you are assembling. Oil the bearings and place the crank carefully into position. Then on go the bearing caps in the same position and the same way round you took them off. I didn't know the correct torque but it helps if they are all the same so I did the nuts up to 50lbs, checked everything moved freely and pinned them: The pistons go in next. They don't just slide in because the rings expand and it's difficult to work them in so you use a ring compressor tool that pulls them closed while you knock the piston into the bore. Oil up the rings really well and tighten the piston into the ring compressor: The bottom of the piston slides in and the ring compressor sits at the chamfer at the top of the bore... ...then you carefully tap the piston in with something soft, here I've used the rubber handle on the end of my mighty clubhammer: Once it's in the bore you can slide it down and line it up on the big end on the crank: Don't forget to oil it all up really well and make sure the big end caps go back on the right conrod and the same way round they came off: Again I didn't know the correct torque but I did these up to 35lbs and checked it all still moved freely. I'll be doing the valve train on my next exciting instalment, in the meantime it's all covered carefully so no dirt gets in while I'm away.
Tonight managed to get the cam in and the new timing chain on. Couldn't shift the gear off the crank as it's stuck fast on the key but with a bit of shimmying and wriggling it went on in the right position. The new chain is very tight compared to the old one so this should pull the timing in nicely. Popped the front cover back on with new gaskets and some gasket goo just to make sure. It was too much for me though and I ended up dialling in the distributor drive, fitting the oil pump and then onto the sump. Was meaning to take pictures but my extreme motovation got the better of me (and I'd have had to pack everything up to go up to the flat to get it ) Damn it's getting heavy now too. Later in the week I'll be doing the valve clearances and some final checks before I pop the head back on, then it's back in the car and fire up time!
clubhammer = swing press Excellent write up and the pictures are great, once complete, I say top of the tech section for this one.
Hey Jonny 69, yer might like to take a peek at my collection of 1172 books here..... http://www.geocities.com/teeswork2004/index.html I've five books in total. If you need any more spec. sheets lemme know an' I'll copy 'em. Dig the crazy ads and advice also given in the books! Check the Hoodlum slingin' stones! Sound & kinky advice! Swell post, by the way. Inspiring! Koops.....
Hi Simon, I didn't notice anything of concern. The bottom end was quite smooth before the top end started making noise and turning it over offers about the right amout of resistance I'd expect there to be. Hence I haven't reground it etc, didn't think it needed it. Koops, that's a bit of a collection!
That'll depend on funds really, it's a lot of signing on money to do a couple of 20 second quarters Probably then
Excellent! Been a long time since there was a small Ford running. Speak to Artiki on here. He'll put you on the list if you plan on running and you'll get 2 for 1 entry on the gate.
Remembered the camera this time so on with the valve assembly. Before I put the valves in I want to scrape off the debris that forms on them. It's a kind of carbon build up but there was quite a lot on some of the valves. I used the Dremel at first but it didn't cut through it so moved onto a blunt chisel that got through the scale but didn't cut the valve: The adjustment for the tappet is here on the top. This is shown with the cam lobe up, when it's down this is all down the hole: Getting the new spring in is a bit awkward. They are longer than the originals and a lot stiffer so I reckon the stock springs could be forced in by hand. Not these. With the valve up I hooked the end of the spring over the bottom of the stem and over the valve guide. The spring holds that in place too: Then I get the cup on the bottom of the spring compressor round the bottom of the spring and with all my strength yank the spring up into place. This is a sitting on the floor job with the engine clamped between your legs and your arms round it: Then to get the spring cup on the bottom of the valve it's a matter of jam the compressor between two bottom coils and compress the spring as normal so I can slot the cup in I tried loads of ways to try and do the valve clearances. The problem is in the valve closed position the securing nut on the adjuster is buried down the tappet bore. The other problem is the nuts are very thin and all my spanners were too thick to get in there. The only way I could see round this was to modify a couple of spanners. Got the grinder out and minimised them a bit. Before: After: This was better but to tighten them up full the valve needs to be in the open position and then the hole through the tappet is out of reach so I can't stop it turning in the bore. After much head scratching the only way round this I could think of was to set all the tappets with zero gap, then take all the valves back out so I can measure the length and subtract the gap. Then it's a matter of tightening it up at the adjusted length outside of the engine then re-assembling. I did one of them but it was getting late and a valve spring pinged down onto my thumbnail so I called it a night before I got too hurt.
nuthin worse than a gnarly nail. ok there is but i cant think of it right now. im sure lady luck will remind me what could be worse next time i work on my car
Valve stuff: Quick&violent decoking---put valves into a chuck on your drill or bench grinder--obviously with a Ford this reguires a biggish chuck and a couple feet of tape around valve above mushroom. Gettit spinning, hold a cheap screwdriver tip against it like you are turning a new valve on a lathe. Really cheap srewdriver or cheap steel rod that you know is softer than the valve. Measure a tappet, either calculate adjuster movement by half turn from thread pitch or measure it directly...now you can just measure gap, then turn over engine to easiest place to reach nuts and adjust the requisite amount by counting turns or turn fractions even though there is no gap to see. Next overhaul investigate possibility of drilling hole in tappet bore so tappet can be pinned against rotation with a nail during adjustment, if there are holes or slots in tappet. This way you only need three or four of your hands to adjust... Distributor: Checked your dimensions very crudely against a B distributor, and they match reasonably except for height of section into head--said extra height is probably the vertical space occupied by that timing adjustment sector. I'm guessing the B distributors like Mallory 11 will fit.
That's not a bad idea, I hadn't thought of doing that. Cheers for the tip. There are holes in the tappets. Good to know - noted
This is the final installment of my engine build and I will take you through some final checks and how NOT to fit an engine to a car. Late Saturday after shopping etc I found a handy dodge doing the valve clearances. I took the valve springs back out and figured that the best way would be to stop there and do the clearances by pushing down on the tops of the valves. Then I could just poke the tappets up and adjust: Then check with a feeler gauge and adjust again if necessary: Basically I adjusted these tight to the lowest gap I could get away with, a tight 12 thou. The reasoning behind this is there's going to be a little wear at first as the cam and tappets bed in and because this is going to be a very tricky job once the engine is in the car I hope the total wear won't exceed the maximum gap of 15 thou. With a bit of luck it'll settle somewhere in between. I'll skip most of the assembly because it's all nuts, bolts, gaskets and rope seals but to make life easier putting the engine in you can use a clutch centering tool. I don't know how you spell centering in real English. This lines up the clutch with the bearing in the back of the crank or flywheel and when you're trying to line up the splines on the gearbox shaft if the clutch is in line with everything it will slide on a lot easier. It's basically a ground shaft with a pair of tapers and you pick the two sizes to suit the crank and clutch spline inside diameters: I've used a 100E clutch friction plate as it has springs in it and appeared to be identical dimensionally. The Pop one is solid and is a bit rough taking up drive. This used one on my spare 100E engine has plenty of meat on it and no scoring so I scuffed it up a bit and on it went. Sunday I had reserved as engine fitting day. First I had to run through a few last minute double-checks just in case anything was going to go wrong. First a dry turn of the engine to check everything is clear. I put some blu-tack on the the tops of the valves: On goes the head without the headgasket, secured by a few studs and nuts: In with the spark plugs and turn the engine over a couple of times by hand. Then take the head off and see how thick the blu-tack is on top of the valve. Mine is just under 1mm, exactly as calculated. I could probably go closer if I wanted because the thickness of the headgasket will raise the head further but I don't know how much valve bounce this engine suffers from, even with the uprated springs, so better to be on the safe side... Later it's time to fit the engine. Here's NOT how to do it. Don't do this by yourself if you can help it becuase it's so much easier with two people and don't attempt this without an engine crane. Engines are heavy, this one is about 85Kg, and as I found out I don't make a very good engine crane. I put two luggage straps round the engine, deadlifted it onto the crossmember, then got up onto the chassis rails and deadlifted it onto a trolley jack: The it's a matter of wriggling it onto the splines on the gearbox shaft and sliding it into place. A hard job with no crane. I postitioned it close and I could feel it was on on the splines so I used a couple of long bolts in the back as guides while I shoved it on and used the bolts to nip it onto the dowels: Then it's on with the head: And finally it's in place and nearly everything back on: I knocked it all on the head at 11:30pm on Sunday, didn't quite get it ready to fire up unfortunately. However there's always Monday night after work... Did I mention IT RUNS!!! Get in. You'll be wanting some videos: http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0806.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0807.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0810.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0811.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0814.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0818.3gp http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/pop/videos/21-08-07_0832.3gp Had it up to about 65 on the way into work this morning. It's exceeded my expectations and there's only more to come with the twin carbs and exhaust!!!
This has been one of my favorite posts on here in a very long time! Thank you for showing how it's done on a real budget. Should be required reading for any youngster that wants a car but is broke!
Bump from pits of hell I should have done this when I built the engine but the clutch is on its last legs and shuddering the car to hell when I pull away. There are 3 things that can cause this and I plan to remedy all of them because I don't want to have to pull the engine out again once I'm done. First is a warped or worn friction plate. That's the disc bit here with the springs in the middle: I can get a new one of them and I'm going to replace it. Second is a warped or worn pressure plate. That's the spring loaded cover that goes over the friction plate and again I can get a new one so I'll replace it. Third potential problem area is the surface on the flywheel and I can get it refaced to make sure it's flat. Since it's on the lathe it would be rude not to get rid of a bit of excess material wouldn't it? I got my friend to shave my spare down a bit: So the clutch mounting face and the back face were trued up by the same amount so the clutch depth remains the same. I got him to machine down the ring round the outside that locates the clutch and the ring-gear so it's just a minimal lip to locate the clutch and a chamfered step to hold the ring-gear. Then on the back face I got him to machine a few millimetres off the surface all over and chamfer the squared-off back edge right down: That's a lot less weight on the outside edge so it should spin up a lot faster with no loss of strength. It's not as light as an aluminium flywheel but it was only £20 compared to £200! All I know is it's over 2.5Kg because the scales for weighing the mail can't take it
The Jalopy Journal
