Swifty's build of Howell V4

[Cogsy]

Not sure how you plan on doing that, but with the Peewee I plan on using a woodruff cutter on the mill and just moving the cutter in a square pattern inside the bore. I'm thinking it should be one of the easier jobs.

 

[Swifty]

Cogsy, I do have a boring head with the capacity to feed out while it's running, but I also have to do O ring grooves in the bore as well, that's just a bit dicey trying to get the right diameter. The build instructions say to mount it on the faceplate in the lathe, I'm not looking forward to that.

I think that if I build an engine to my own design, I will incorporate the O ring grooves and cooling relief into the steel liners and just have plain bores in the block.

Paul.

 

[ruzzie]

I used the face plate and it wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be.
I also put a support on the unsupported (nut) end to make it solid and to stop the chatter.
Once it was set up it all went rather quick and smoothly.

hope this gives you some ideas

Paul R

 

[gus]

Hi Ruzzie,
Thanks for the post. I have a mini lathe. Looks like I may have to give up making the V-4. Or perhaps request Paul Swift to machine a spare for me. Meanwhile I am having some wild ideas like turn the lathe into a jig borer. will be tough.
Paul may come up with his very unique method of boring the cylinder block to take cylinder liners and crankshaft. MEanwhile the V-2 is miving at a comfortable space. No rush.

 

[Swifty]

Ruzzie, thanks for the photos, they are a great help.

Paul.

 

[gus]

Hi Paul,
Gus will be watching every step you make. After taking a good hard look at Ruzzie's post I get a fair idea. My mini lathe cannot cope with the swing required to do the cylinder bores. Looks like I have to let it pass. Meanwhile I have some very wild ideas. Will take a while before I decide to give up.

 

[Swifty]

Don't give up yet Gus, I'm planning to draw up the block and see if I can put bigger diameter liners in, the liners will hold the O rings and have the cooling relief. Just have to see if there is enough room for everything.

Paul.

 

[Swifty]

I modified an old boring bar to hold 6mm dia. broken cutters, the shanks of the broken cutters make great boring tips. After grinding the correct rads and relief on the tip, I machined the internal relief. The block was then turned around, clocked up true, and finished to length as well as turning the spigot on the end. I then machined the other internal relief from this end.



Next step is to mill a cavity in from underneath.

Paul.

 

[gus]

That will be hell of a lot of aluminium to remove. Gus done his fair share. The V-4 will be double.
Will be watching every move.

 

[Swifty]

Here's the block with even more material removed.



It took ages to mill the O ring groove around the rectangular opening, 1/16"cutter running at max revs, .008"depth of cut until I got to .062"depth, managed to do it without breaking the cutter.

I went to my local industrial suppliers inquiring about some 2-56, 4-40 and 5-40 tap sets, I'm still recovering from the shock of the price they quoted, $156 for the 3 x 2-56 taps, and $103 each for the other sets of 3. I guess I better do a bit more looking on Ebay.

Paul.

 

[Cogsy]

Looking really nice Paul.

See my post here that has detail on a 'watchmakers' tap and die set that I got from Chronos in the UK for about $40-50 shipped. It doesn't have the 5-40 in it and it only has 2 taps per size but so far it has worked really well for me. I've tapped 00-80 and 2-56 in ali, drill rod and 2-56 into some horrible tool steel for my rocker arms (long story). I've also externally threaded some drill rod 00-80 with no problems. I honestly didn't think such a cheap set would be much good but I've been pleasantly surprised.

Also, I'm pretty sure the guys in Adelaide that sell on ebay have the same set (At least it looks the same) for about the same money, but as they've provided horrible customer service in the past I refuse to deal with them and Chronos has been really good.

 

[Swifty]

Thanks Al, I will check it out when I have a chance. I've just had a cup of tea and a short rest, now it's back into the garage to do more machining on the block.

Paul.

 

[Swifty]

Here's this afternoons effort, I'm deviating from the build guide and not using a rotary table for machining the rest of the block, it holds securely in my 6"vice and I'm using my 45 deg setting square to get the correct angle. Before I did this, I turned up a spigot that fits neatly into the main bore, has a flange to clamp against and also has a 6mm reamed hole for a location pin. You can see the dowel at the front, I picked up the centre of this and also the edge of the block for my datums. I worked off these datums to mill away the material not needed.



Next step was to rough drill the cylinder liner holes and bore to finished size, I don't have a 1"reamer but that's no problem, the boring head that I have is excellent and its easy to achieve the size required. I swapped over the boring bar for a 20mm dia. cutter and bored the required steps on top of each hole.



And here we have the first side done.



Paul.

 

[Cogsy]

So if you're boring a 1" hole for the liner then I'm guessing the final bore size is around 3/4"? What is the bore and stroke of this engine?

I'm assuming you couldn't find a BIC lighter so went with the matches

 

[Swifty]

Ha Ha, no I couldn't find one of those giant bic lighters, so just grabbed a box of matches that I had in the garage. The cylinder bore is .875" and the stroke is .812". I was thinking of changing the design a bit to allow me to put the O rings that seal the sleeve on the sleeve itself, but it's too tight to do that, so I will make it as per drawing.

Paul.

 

[Lesgsy]

Your pictures bring back some good memory's, machining a big lump of Ali like that into an engine block gave me a lot of satisfaction.
Hope it all goes well for you to
Les.

 

[Swifty]

Thanks Les, I've bookmarked your build so I can refer to it.

Paul.

 

[gus]

Thanks Les, I've bookmarked your build so I can refer to it.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

SOS SOS.

Please advise how to book mark.

Your current post has given insight and confidence to build V-4 in 2016. Gus will be 73 and hopefully still alive and healthy.

 

[lvn71]

I started the V4 about 4 years ago but lost 2 years because of some life changes. I am down to just the distributor left and plan on putting the whole thing together this summer. I own the gear cutters DP48 # 2,3,and4 and will lend them to anyone who needs them. I also have extra babbitt for the Shaft Oil Bushing (sheet #45)

 

[picks27t]

How to make a counterbors