I agree with you. Those 2 plates are 5mm 6061-T6 aluminum, but I think they will flex during operation. To fix that, there will be a cover plate with a flange machined into it such that screws will come thru the existing angled plates, into the cover plate, and lock the structure securely together. That plate will pilot over the snout of the crankshaft and support the bearings for the gear train. The gear train will have the main gear on the crankshaft, then up to an idler gear, then up thru another gear on the end of the camshaft on the right, then across to the left to the balance shaft, then again to the left to drive the roots blower at 2x overdrive. The location of the camshaft and the balance shaft will be a mirror image of each other, but will rotate in opposite directions. The camshaft and balance shaft will both have eccentric counterweights. The timing of the cam and balance shaft weights will be such that when the crankshaft counterweights are at the very bottom, the cam and balance shaft counterweights will be at the top. The crankshaft, camshaft, and balance shaft all rotate at the speed. That is how the 1-71 Detroit Diesel manual describes it, so I think it will work.
Thanks, Lloyd
When we have limitations in the tools and materials in our home shops, sometimes the "methods" play a much stronger role in the project. And sometimes the "method" is getting a tool to do something that it was never designed to do. Excellent observation.
