Howell V-Twin questions

[Gordon]

I am presently building the Howell V-Twin. Gus is also building it and I do not want to horn in on his thread but I have a couple of questions for anyone who has built this engine. They sell a kit with O Rings and Bearings but I wanted to see if I had some of them or if I could obtain them locally. There are a couple of bearing houses in town.

It states that there are 20 O rings and 15 bearings. I have been through the drawings a couple of times but cannot find that many. Does anyone have a count and size on the bearings and O rings? The bearings especially would be nice to have as I am building to check fit etc.

Gordon

 

[Swifty]

Hi Gordon, I'm building the Howell V4, and I purchased all the O rings, bearings and fasteners from the Howell web site. It saved me a lot of time and money in trying to source the parts.

Paul.

 

[Jasonb]

See attached for bearings. If doing it without the cooling fans leave off the last two sizes.

 

[Gordon]

Thanks. I was missing the bearings for the cooling fan. I will do some checking but the price on the Howell web site seems kind of high.

 

[Cogsy]

Make sure you're comparing apples to apples with bearing prices. I don't know what brands you're looking at but for critical bearings you really need brand names. I use cheap Chinese stuff for non-critical applications at times and the variations in tolerances are astounding. I always use quality brands for cranks, cams, really any internal bearing. For fans, water pumps, etc the cheap stuff is probably fine though.

I've had Chinese bearings out of the same packet range from a loose sliding fit to a press fit on the same shaft. I also opened a few up and found pressed metal cages instead of machined cages in 'precision' bearings.

 

[Gordon]

After looking at the bearings involved it looks like buying them from the website is probably the way to go. I can find them but not from one source and even then the cost savings is not that great.

Thanks for the replies
Gordon

 

[Gordon]

Some more questions on the V-2. I am having a problem getting the gear case working properly. Does anyone know the reasoning behind having the cam drive gear assembly being .005 off from center? This is hole B on the drawing sheet 15. I am running into problems with gears being too tight in some places and too loose in others. The C/C between the gear assembly and the gears on the cams calculate out as being .006 too far apart and that looks to be what is actually happening. The gears are too far apart and jam trying to climb the next tooth. The other gear centers calculate out correctly and they seem to mesh OK.

I am going to remake the gear case and would like to change it to what I think it should be but before I do I would like to know if I am missing something. I originally made the gears using a M .5 cutter and thought that was where my fit problems were coming from so I remade them using a home made hob but the results were the same.

How is the spline gear held into the crank shaft? I assume that it is loctited in place but it is not really specified.

A note for anyone else building this engine. The cavity for the gears in the case should be made oversize. There is no reason for a tight fit and it just makes things harder to make it run freely. I find the drawings somewhat difficult to follow because operations are shown on separate sheets and in the notes so when I think I have everything done I come to another sheet and find that I have another operation to go. I also find it confusing when dimensions are to three decimal places which do not translate out to any common measurement and then I find that it could have been .020 different without any problem I am used to seeing different tolerances on fractional, two place and three place dimensions and rounder off to a standard measurement when possible. Oh well onward and upward.

 

[geo]

Gordon
The howell kit is a very good buy quality gear

 

[gus]

I bought all the bearings locally and they were Japanese Bearings. The acid test will be this Friday if I can complete the prepping.

 

[Harglo]

Some more questions on the V-2. I am having a problem getting the gear case working properly. Does anyone know the reasoning behind having the cam drive gear assembly being .005 off from center? This is hole B on the drawing sheet 15. I am running into problems with gears being too tight in some places and too loose in others. The C/C between the gear assembly and the gears on the cams calculate out as being .006 too far apart and that looks to be what is actually happening. The gears are too far apart and jam trying to climb the next tooth. The other gear centers calculate out correctly and they seem to mesh OK.

I am going to remake the gear case and would like to change it to what I think it should be but before I do I would like to know if I am missing something. I originally made the gears using a M .5 cutter and thought that was where my fit problems were coming from so I remade them using a home made hob but the results were the same.

How is the spline gear held into the crank shaft? I assume that it is loctited in place but it is not really specified.

A note for anyone else building this engine. The cavity for the gears in the case should be made oversize. There is no reason for a tight fit and it just makes things harder to make it run freely. I find the drawings somewhat difficult to follow because operations are shown on separate sheets and in the notes so when I think I have everything done I come to another sheet and find that I have another operation to go. I also find it confusing when dimensions are to three decimal places which do not translate out to any common measurement and then I find that it could have been .020 different without any problem I am used to seeing different tolerances on fractional, two place and three place dimensions and rounder off to a standard measurement when possible. Oh well onward and upward.

Hello- I share the same issues as you have about the drawings. Ive progressed to where ea cly will fire but don't know how time with respect to ea cly any one can offer some tips here?
thanks
Harvey

 

[Gordon]

I don't remember how I finally resolved the timing. I do remember being very confused and not being able to reason it out. I finally did get it to work. I no longer have the engine so I cannot look at it.

 

[Harglo]

Hi Gordon, I'm building the Howell V4, and I purchased all the O rings, bearings and fasteners from the Howell web site. It saved me a lot of time and money in trying to source the parts.

Paul.

Paul
Im to the point of getting ea cly to fire. If you have finished your JE Twin V as cly one on the Left from ignition side is coming up to TDC to fire WHAT should be the valve positions event/s of cly two on the right? Plus have postive pulse coming out of the intake valve port. Intake valve is holding a mystrey.
Harvey