Howell V-Twin

[Piston_Broke]

Hi, All! I began construction of Jerry Howell's V-Twin 4-cycle gas engine in late January 2015. I have never posted progress of any of my projects before so there may be a few hiccups. I see that Gus happens to have started building his just before I started. This is by no means a competition or a race(gus would win) but I think it will be cool to see our different methods.
I found the best priced stock from McMaster Carr which was a bit surprising considering I work for a company that orders millions of dollars of stock annually and our suppliers couldn't even come close. I have a couple machines at home but most of these photos were taken on company equipment(off the clock, of course). Cheers!

 

[gus]

Hi PistonBroke.

No worries. You will beat me to the draw with bigger lathe. Am taking my sweet time.I am struggling with a Japanese Sakai Mini Lathe and a Sakai Mini Mill. If both could talk,will hear them protesting as a bad task master stretching both to their outer limits.
Paul Swift is about to get started on a Howell V-4 which my machine tools will never be able to take on.I pass. Looks like we have three Howell V Engine Builders. I expect more to come in.

 

[Piston_Broke]

More progress this week. I cut the cylinders this morning, they took three hours each! I made my own parting tool holder for this .094 parting blade. It's really starting to look like an engine now.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Excellent work!! I'm watching your build and Gus's build.---Brian

 

[gus]

Hi PistonBroke,

You are beating me hands down!!! Will monkey see,monkey do, the drilling & counterboring of the spark plug hole. Much as I like to speed up but the mini lathe and mill just won't make it. So its slow and steady.

Good Work and fotos.

 

[Piston_Broke]

It has been a while since I last posted but I have been making progress. It's actually starting to come together! I don't work on this hobby much during the summer and there are several small parts to make but I hope to have it done before summer this year. Cheers!

 

[dnalot]

Hi

Now that is looking very nice. Beautiful fit and finish. I have the Howell V-Four plan set that I plan to start in the near future.

Mark T

 

[Piston_Broke]

I assembled it partially just for fun and to show some friends. We meet for coffee on Sundays, in the summer it is all motorcycles and in the winter, it is show and tell. Cheers!

 

[geo]

Good job I have been mucking about for3 years latest cock up is valve seat insert od is larger than the spring have to make a tool up to repair or press the out and start again , other than that problem I only have the needle valves to make.

 

[raspii]

That's some amazing work you're doing there, keep up the great work.

What material are you using for the crankcase, is it 6061 or 7075? Whatever it is, the presentation is amazing!

 

[Chiptosser]

Very nice work!!

I am guessing , you must have done some sort of media blasting to the crankcase?

:thumbup:

 

[Piston_Broke]

Thanks, everyone. I really hope I can finish before NAMES or at least have it running by then(April 22). The crank case and all the aluminum aside from the connecting rods is 6061, con rods are 7075. I actually did quite a bit of benching to get a nice smooth crosshatch pattern on all sides of the crank case. I decided to anodize the aluminum and I forgot that our supplier begins with etching which removed all the machine and benching marks. I like the finish too, very clean looking!

 

[Piston_Broke]

Do any of you know If the large diameter of the taper bushing for the flywheel faces towards or away from the crank case? Towards makes more sense but it seems like the belt pulley is awful thin to use as a clamp for the flywheel. Also, since the engine runs counter clockwise is there anything I can use to start the engine besides the belt pulley without loosening the flywheel clamp nut?


Best Regards,


Jon

 

[Gordon]

The large end must go toward the crankcase otherwise you cannot get the flywheel off. I found out the hard way when I put it on wrong one day. I made a special washer with holes to match a special starting dog in the electric drill.

 

[Piston_Broke]

I have been putting a lot of work into all the little pieces. I think I may have messed up the piston rings. After I split them, I opened them with a .150" key and heat treated the side opposite the split. I think I got them too hot and deformed the area. Now there is a crescent gap between the ring and cylinder wall. I'm trying to fix them but I think I should just remake them. If I do, I plan to cut them to the circumference plus the gap rather than cut them to the cylinder diameter and split them.

 

[Piston_Broke]

I wanted to have the carburetor parts on top of the engine nice and shiny. I decided to buy a nickel plating kit from Caswell Plating. They sell everywhere from bath tub sized systems to 8oz beaker systems for students. I bought the latter. I read and reread and re-reread the directions and went to it. I should have practiced on a few pieces of scrap but I didn't think it would be difficult. Big mistake! My first piece turned out great but after that they got worse and worse. I kept telling myself I could buff out the imperfections, wrong! I now have some better information from Caswell and would like to try again but I am very worried I'll ruin these parts. It took so long to make all these tiny parts! I used sulfuric acid to clean the parts, not something I particularly like working with. The photo of only two parts was my second attempt. Again, poor results. I have so many questions on how to fix these, I think I better send them to a professional. Oh and cooling fan progress!

 

[gus]

I wanted to have the carburetor parts on top of the engine nice and shiny. I decided to buy a nickel plating kit from Caswell Plating. They sell everywhere from bath tub sized systems to 8oz beaker systems for students. I bought the latter. I read and reread and re-reread the directions and went to it. I should have practiced on a few pieces of scrap but I didn't think it would be difficult. Big mistake! My first piece turned out great but after that they got worse and worse. I kept telling myself I could buff out the imperfections, wrong! I now have some better information from Caswell and would like to try again but I am very worried I'll ruin these parts. It took so long to make all these tiny parts! I used sulfuric acid to clean the parts, not something I particularly like working with. The photo of only two parts was my second attempt. Again, poor results. I have so many questions on how to fix these, I think I better send them to a professional. Oh and cooling fan progress!

Hi There.

Gus sort of burnt-out. Now building Stereo HiFi Sets to distress. Engine is about ready to run. Would be about 2----months. I have three good HiFi Sets going with matching speakers.Sort lost in the HiFi Jungle with good music. See you.

 

[Gordon]

I have been putting a lot of work into all the little pieces. I think I may have messed up the piston rings. After I split them, I opened them with a .150" key and heat treated the side opposite the split. I think I got them too hot and deformed the area. Now there is a crescent gap between the ring and cylinder wall. I'm trying to fix them but I think I should just remake them. If I do, I plan to cut them to the circumference plus the gap rather than cut them to the cylinder diameter and split them.

When you heat the rings they must be heated uniformly, not just opposite the split.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Conventional wisdom is that you spread the rings on a mandrel and then heat the mandrel and let the heat radiate to the rings . You don't heat the rings directly, or you get non-uniform expansion of the rings.

 

[Piston_Broke]

Yeah, going to make new rings and a fixture to send them to heat treat.


Gus, I'm starting to feel burned out too. There are so many parts in the last half dozen pages! My goal is just to get as far as I can before the North American Model Engineering Society Expo on April 22nd. After that, it's time to put away the models and get on a motorcycle for the season. I'm glad to hear you're still out there though!


Cheers! Jon