Kiwi Mk II

[Richard P]

Hi there, I recently joined the forum and have been viewing and enjoying some of the content posted by you all.

I have been enjoying getting into the hobby of model engineering for the last 2 to 3 years, mostly making workshop tools and a couple of steam engines. I thought I would take the plunge on a more challenging project and make my first IC engine.

I have chosen the Kiwi Mark II from Hemingway kits as I had had some reasonable success with some of their other (non-engine) projects. While researching how to go about it, I stumbled across Vince Cutajar's thread in this forum which has been invaluable in helping me make progress. I started work at the beginning of December and have been investing quite a bit of time in it.

In this thread, my plan is to share some of the major milestones along the way to (hopefully!) producing my first working IC engine!

 

[Richard P]

Here are are some shots of the work on the crank case.

 

[Richard P]

Here is the other side of the crankcase and timing cover.

 

[Richard P]

Finishing off the timing cover. Milling and boring the cylinder platform.

 

[Richard P]

Machining the engine bearers and getting to work on the cylinder liner.

 

[Richard P]

The cylinder casting was out of spec. so I had to reduce the diameter of the fins quite a bit to fully clean up the casting.

 

[Eccentric]

Wow, you are making quick progress and the engine is looking great. The Kiwi Mk2 is a classic Westbury and one of my favorites. I will be tagging along for the ride.

 

[Richard P]

Wow, you are making quick progress and the engine is looking great. The Kiwi Mk2 is a classic Westbury and one of my favorites. I will be tagging along for the ride.

Thanks, quite a way to go yet!

 

[Saddo]

I built mine from Hemingway's castings and followed the words and music from Westbury's original articles, it turned out to be an easy starter and good runner. It's a lovely engine to build enjoy.

 

[Richard P]

I built mine from Hemingway's castings and followed the words and music from Westbury's original articles, it turned out to be an easy starter and good runner. It's a lovely engine to build enjoy.

Hi thanks, yes I am enjoying using the articles as well as the helpful advice found in this forum. One decision I have is what to do with the ignition as there was no spring steel or tungsten points in the kit. What did you do?

 

[Charles Lamont]

One decision I have is what to do with the ignition as there was no spring steel or tungsten points in the kit. What did you do?

Many people now use a magnet, Hall sensor and electronic ignition instead of points.

 

[Gedeon Spilett]

yes, electronic ignition with Hall sensor (Rxcel or the likes) is a neat solution, but if you are in a vintage mood, you may found easily on ebay new contact breaker for moped or motorcycle or car, complete, with spring, isolated breaker arm and tungsten points that you install in such way that the cam follower lies on the engine ignition cam...if you already have the ht coil, condenser and battery !

 

[Richard P]

Thanks for the pointers ('scuse the pun) on ignition options. Here are some shots of the work I did on the cylinder head before Christmas. I misread the drawings and ended up putting an extra fin on the head, but I think I just about managed to improvise my way around the error. Hopefully the extra cooling will be beneficial given I had had to trim the fins to under spec because of the casting.

 

[Richard P]

And here are the valves, guides, collars and collets. I had a bit of bronze spare so upgraded the collars from MS for a bit of bling. First attempt at machining valves, so pretty happy with how they have come out. And they seem pretty air tight in their seatings even before any grinding, so all quite positive.

 

[vcutajar]

That's a lot of progress. You'll be finished in no time.

Vince

 

[Saddo]

I had an old set of car points which I cannibalised, and an old modelec coil purchased years ago. On my Mastiff I've used a magnet and hall sensor with a Minimag setup which is extremely good.

 

[methuselah1]

As far as points go, Kirk at Hemingway has a stock of the ones ETW specified, but you might not like the price... He also has a stock of tungsten discs if you want to do a home brew. He doesn't advertise these on the website.

If you want to go down the ready-made route, you'll find that Ford model A points are still readily available, and inexpensive.

The Kiwi II is a fun project, and well proven. It does have a bit of a reputation for running hot, though, so you often see pictures of them with an additional fan, to help with this.

When it comes to the cams, you can do them the ETW way, or make harmonic cams. M.E.N has a program to help you do this (camcalc) but because of a coding glitch, you can only use it via internet explorer - not firefox...

 

[Vietti]

Tungsten point discs can be made quite readily by slicing TIG electrodes with a Dremel abrasive disc.

 

[methuselah1]

Reeves 2000 sell spring steel by the foot. Not much of a selection, but you'll need some for the float bowl cover clip, regardless of making points. It's inexpensive... But getting the bends in the right place for the carb clip is tricky. I made up a simple bending fixture for mine. I punched some holes in it while I was there, for flexibility as well as aesthetics.

 

[Gedeon Spilett]

"Tungsten point discs can be made quite readily by slicing TIG electrodes with a Dremel abrasive disc. "

good to know that, thanks for the tip...
i have failed to cut disks in 3 mm tungsten carbide tool bits !
silver contacts work well with small engine but don't last long.