Robs Howell V4

[RobConway]

Inlet manifold fitted very well so decided to get the exhaust manifold done and could not resist getting a small muffler. Its still really a straight pipe as decided no baffles, so its cosmetic. Ill machine a couple of stainless steels pipes and blue the tips to finish off the tailpipe.

Would of been interesting to see how much JerryHowell charged for the casting.

So a little more work and hopefully by Easter will of completed the heads

 

[RobConway]

13 days later this arrives from China….
Excited to get the heads drilled and these manifolds attached. Oh I also did some work myself in machining the rocker arms, i did the outside profile on the cnc and cut them out and finished on the mill. So back to full DIY now and ill leave the SLM printing to the manifolds only. In hindsight the Howell text is a little large but should look good in the end

 

[RobConway]

Oh stainless quad tips, want this in my car !

Roll on the carby, it is definitely next

 

[RobConway]

Completed the carby body and other bits and pieces this month. Still have to drill the jets so a little apprehensive in drilling a 0.45mm hole. After i finish tapping the holes I will hit it with the sand blaster to remove the machining marks.

Need to design a top plate so I can mount an alternative air filter. Thinking like the attachment a 3 throat air intake from a supercharger. The flaps can act as the choke on startup.

But that wraps up another month, not much progress however simply not enough time spent in the garage.

 

[RobConway]

Chipping away at some of the smaller parts now…. Distributor Drive Housing, squared up some material on the mill and drilled / machined the shafts on the lathe before returning to the mill to finish off the features.

The dist body requires 1/4” end mill for the bearings pockets, ordering takes weeks in an all metric country like Australia.

 

[Peter Twissell]

I have an adaptor which allows me to hold a 6mm shank cutter in my boring head, so I can run the cutter off centre for odd sizes.

 

[Ghosty]

The dist body requires 1/4” end mill for the bearings pockets, ordering takes weeks in an all metric country like Australia.

Rob,
I ordered 1/16" to 5/16" end mills and reamers for doing model engines as most of the old plans(30's -60's) that I have been building use these sizes, just so I have them at hand.
Cheers
Andrew

 

[RobConway]

Rob,
I ordered 1/16" to 5/16" end mills and reamers for doing model engines as most of the old plans(30's -60's) that I have been building use these sizes, just so I have them at hand.
Cheers
Andrew

I did an order on Victor Machinery Exchange in the USA for reamers, taps and DP48 gear cutters when I got the plans. In my ignorance I thought I could adapt some parts to metric, I was incorrect ! At the time the tools plus shipping ended up maxing out my budget. The guy at VME was very good and could handle the shipping (prior to COVID). Although I was surprised at some parts being made in China... I have some imperial end mills coming from China, just a slow boat at the moment.
I should do a stock take and fill in the missing imperial end mills and reamers I suppose if I end up biulding another engine that is.

@Ghosty Do you have a good supplier for Imperial tools you could share via DM ?

I have ordered these so if there OK will buy another set of what they have -most I do is aluminium/brass so fingers crossed these will be OK.

(edit) Oh I also see MachineryHouse (HareForbes) have imperial end mills, Im sure I seached that site however they have a limited selection and the 1/4" in stock. Dont mind spending $14.00 each if I can pickup although china being $4.75 I'll be comparing the China versus H&F (still China) end mills and see if they are worth the extra in the long run.

 

[geo]

Millers tooling at loganholme (0738060966) will supply anything in the hare and Forbes catalog at a better price there on line have a vast range of tooling

 

[lantain1982]

I buy all my cutters from Tracy Tools in the Uk. Mostly Goliath brands. Shipping to Australia is reasonable and prompt.
www. tracytools.com Worth looking up.

 

[gadabout]

I buy from LPR toolmakers in Victoria, imperial as well as metric , fast delivery , quality items.
Mark

 

[johwen]

AUSEE Quality Engineering products in Victoria Phone 03 97915909 are very reasonable and good service.
Website is www.ausee.com.au.
John

 

[RobConway]

So being on the other side of the world its exciting get a package from USA.... although we dont enjoy the exchange rate and frieght costs. I got the spark plugs, TIM6, coil and another set of screws and orings just in case I lose any or nic an oring.

What I did find is that Howell is now stocking the Dist cap with the spring clips now instead of the screwed down cap, so now I have two and will use the spring clip one I think as its an easier install rather than soldering "ears" onto the dist body and tap holes for alignment.

What I didnt realise is that the coil I purchased 6-12VDC is soo dam BIG and the integrated HV cable is way too large to fit onto the dist cap. So I can solder some smaller gauge wire onto the coil or maybe look for another smaller coil all together. The current cable is actually potted into the coil so could cut and terminate a smaller gauge wire. The coil stated it was good with the TIM6 ignition module.

Anyone used this particular coil ? Although now I look at the howell web site again it is one of the smaller variety coils... The only other is a 4 wire USA made coil in a 1" tube which is not available.

https://www.model-engine-ignition.com/model-engine-ignition/coils
So looks like I will try and stick with this

 

[Cosmo]

I need plans to build the American LaFrance horse drawn fire engine 1908 please

 

[scooby]

I need plans to build the American LaFrance horse drawn fire engine 1908 please

You should try starting a new thread asking instead of posting in this one.

 

[Swifty]

Hi Rob, it’s great to see that you’re making progress on the engine. Making the radiator fins was a real pain for me, they always wanted to bend one way. I ended up coming from the opposite end, can’t recall if it was right to left or left to right, I had plenty of scrapped ones until I got it correct.

Paul.

 

[RobConway]

Hi Rob, it’s great to see that you’re making progress on the engine. Making the radiator fins was a real pain for me, they always wanted to bend one way. I ended up coming from the opposite end, can’t recall if it was right to left or left to right, I had plenty of scrapped ones until I got it correct.

Paul.

Haha, Im just about to visit your thread on valves…as Ive just completed the rockers and push rods and want to complete the heads. I left the valve cage seat square in the head and thinking Im just going to fit the valves and dont really want to pressure test now. I think it will be like a rabbit hole chasing perfection. Ill make a valve seat cutter on final assembly. Wow cannot believe your seat cutter was in the next suburb from me ! Just ~5 years too late

 

[raveney]

Anyone used this particular coil ?

Hi Rob,
I used this coil on a TIM-6 ignition for a small V-8. Trimmed the fat spark wire near the coil tower and soldered a smaller gauge hi voltage wire to it. Used a few different sizes of heat shrink to seal everything up.

 

[RobConway]

A small Kitchen reno then winter distracted my progress on the V-4 for what seems to be 12 months !. Spring has arrived so warmer in the garage so hope to make some progress.
Be great if there was a few more Howell V-4 being built. - does not seem a very popular build these days ?

This weekend was the air cleaner which is basically 4 parts that make up an internal choke ring. Thinking next Ill do the PCV which plumbs into the base of the aircleaner ti get it out the way.

The stock air-cleaner cover seemed a little small on scale. So I increased it by another 1/4” and did a brass inlay. Plan is to etch some words in the brass one day.

 

[RobConway]

Been a year since an update and wish i could say ive done alot…. But this week started the valves.

Its kind of make or break in terms of getting these to seal. I need to complete the valve seat and make a seat cutter for the cages. I have some 600 grit siliconcarbide from a gem cutting shop which i assume i can mix with some cutting oil and make a paste ?

The pressure cap i made does not have much capacity so fingers crossed i can hold some pressure for a few seconds i assume…. Lets see

Any tips before I commit to the final work on the first two valves & seat and test ?