Ageless 9 and 18 Radial

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Broke my first 4-40 tap in the 9cyl front cover. Was able to clear and re-tap. I thread milled 95% of the 4-40s on this project (several 100's of holes) and never broke anything in the hole. I tap 12 4-40 threads and break a tap... I did not know how to thread mill before when I made this part at the beginning of the project. I very much dislike hand taps.... :) Rant over.
 
I tried using two cheap 12v windshield washer pumps as oil priming pumps in series. My pwr supply is 24v. Works great for about 2 min..... then I let the smoke out out of the motors... LOL. They burned up quick trying to pump 0w-20 oil... I located a better option for small gear pump. Waiting for the mailman.... Again. Live and learn.
I was goingvto suggest a small gear pump. You get really fancy an build one based on the race pumps. Driving it might take some creativity . In your case an external drive would be ok I think.
 
Have assembled the engine cores. Everything is going together very well. Using assembly lube as I go. Crank is pinned and loctiting. Distributor driveshaft and drive gear and impeller on the nine cylinder is assembled. I have to wait to install the cam gears until after all the cylinders are installed. I’m gonna set up the cam timing last. My next step is to set up a break in station with full oil oiling system to motor the engines slowly and break them in.

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Look Great !
 
Installing the 27 cylinders on the two crankcases. It takes me about an hour or more to install each one. They are held on with 216 3/16” 4-40 brass nuts. Using 3/16 micro wrench’s is very challenging at times but I am pushing through the hand cramps. I am having to hand fit each part of the piston/rings/cylinder assembly. My mini sherline lathe sure comes in handy for trimming pistons trying to get a good fit. After installation of each cylinder I motor the engine with the steppers to start breaking in the rings. Taking a break and resting my sore hands tonight 😂 - 15 of 27 cylinders are complete.
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Hi Pylon, Thought a lot about the cylinder fasteners. I did not want to use Loctite so it is not too difficult to swap cylinders. Not a fan of steel on steel without thread locker or lock washers. I decided against the lock washers. I think that if I use steel, the nuts will start coming off with vibration. The brass is softer and tends to snug and bite better when tightening. It is very difficult to tighten these nuts and get an even torque. Steel is stronger but I think the brass will stay in place and provide plenty of security. Time will tell.
 
Great progress but did you consider using steel nuts for greater security ?
I purchased an electric screw driver with 1/4” hex drive it allows using many smaller hex drive things every screwdriver even some small sockets It rotates atvtge push of a button and gas reverse ball end Allen drivers of several lengths . I got it on Amazon just make sure it’s 1/4” hex drive I got two different nes that hav something around 3/1 drive that don’t fit anything I have . I wrote a discouraging review on one of them and received a new version at no charge. I doesn’t have a lot of torque or speed but you can give a twist to lock the fastener untill you get a better wrench .

Byron
 
Installing the 27 cylinders on the two crankcases. It takes me about an hour or more to install each one. They are held on with 216 3/16” 4-40 brass nuts. Using 3/16 micro wrench’s is very challenging at times but I am pushing through the hand cramps. I am having to hand fit each part of the piston/rings/cylinder assembly. My mini sherline lathe sure comes in handy for trimming pistons trying to get a good fit. After installation of each cylinder I motor the engine with the steppers to start breaking in the rings. Taking a break and resting my sore hands tonight 😂 - 15 of 27 cylinders are complete.
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I appreciate what you say about the difficulty involved with tightening the nuts on the 18
cylinder block. When I built mine I first made a set of custom wrenches designed especially for them. They've come in useful during a few other builds - Terry
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I appreciate what you say about the difficulty involved with tightening the nuts on the 18
cylinder block. When I built mine I first made a set of custom wrenches designed especially for them. They've come in useful during a few other builds - Terry
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Very nice! I like the knurled knobs. Did you make the crows feet by hand or are they stamped? Those wrenches look great.
 
In the Navy we used to torque large fasteners using the "star" method......... You pull on the wrench until you see stars. LOL. I am going with the snug feel method on these guys after I make some wrenches. :)
 
I appreciate what you say about the difficulty involved with tightening the nuts on the 18
cylinder block. When I built mine I first made a set of custom wrenches designed especially for them. They've come in useful during a few other builds - Terry
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That’s pretty innovative. I have a set of micro combination wrenches that I use on my steamer . Eventually I’ll build a mini toolbox to hold them , more for looks than utility . My little electric pencil size 1/4” hex drive screw driver is perfect for my project I get special attachments as I need so it’s pretty universal . I have my “ universal” tool box on the table that has the current tools being used. You eventually know where each tool is so they are handy no need for 10 grand tool box slide around on the table works fine .
Byron
 
LOL, thanks! I own a Tormach 15L and 770MX. I also have Grizzly 12x36 lathe and medium knee mill. I have sherline machines too.
I like your work.

how much oil pressure do you have?

I may have noted earlier. Our top fuel engines use a semi dry dump oil system. I say “ semi” asthey have quite a large main pump that drawsfrom a tank ther is a scavenge pump but much smaller. Probably backwards of road race or performance cars. The scavenge pump does pick up oil from the pan but it only sprays against a sidecwall ofvthe tank so air is still part of the return. There realy is not much effort in providing for air separation as it isn’t needed. The oil is changed after every run then the tank is filled with about 3/4 ofvthe total volume the balance goes into the pan. More or less to keep the pump system primed snd lubricated ther is about 10-12 quarts in the tank and 3-4 in the pan oil pressure can get to 200psi. The runs only last about 3 seconds at full throttle then it takes 30 to 60 seconds to shut down at the end ofvthe race during that time most of the rest of the oil is returned to the tank . By the time the car gets back to the pits to drain the oil a good share of the air is already out as.is. So there isn’t much of an air separator. You could probably use the same type of system . As I recall there is a built in oil pump that you could possibly add a second stage. Then just have a bench or stand mounted oil tank. Maybe a couple quarts capacity .
my father in law flew corsairs in the war and he said the oil tanks would be almost empty after a mission so the full size used a huge amount of oil. I think they were about 50 gallons . No wonder there was oil all over the lanes . They probably leaked as much as they burned . LOL CORSAIRS DIDNT HAVE ACREAL FLOOR IN THE COCKPIT SO HE said there
WAS ALWAYS OIL IN THE BELLY OF THE PLANE .
 

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