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  1. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    With the main bearings bored to size it was time to fit the crank shaft and finally see something come together. A couple of spots of bluing compound were applied to the crank shaft before assembly to give an indication of any high spots that required scraping. With the bearings assembled, the...
  2. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    With the babbitt pours successfully done the next job was to trim the risers off. The plan was to use a slitting saw but I wanted to be sure the bearing shells wouldn’t move during the process so an improvised clamp was made up to ensure the shells stayed in place during the cut. View of the...
  3. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    I’m using a tin based babbitt with a pouring temperature of around 430⁰C. While the low melting point makes working with babbitt fairly easy it is important to be careful with the temperature. Obviously, if the metal is too cold it may start to set half way through the pour resulting in an...
  4. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    With the bearing housings bored and keyed everything was now ready to pour the actual bearings but finding a source of babbitt was not as easy as I at first thought it would be. I visited a couple of different bearing shops with no luck and it was only when contacted BRS Bearing Remetalling...
  5. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    The main bearing housings needed some anchor points to prevent the babbitt from moving. Using a 6mm end mill two keys were milled on either side of the crankcase and one on either side of the bearing caps. The 100mm ER11 chuck came in handy again for this operation. Cutting the babbit anchors...
  6. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    With the crank shaft more or less done it’s time to make somewhere to mount it. This meant the next job was to bore the main bearings. I wanted the main bearings of this engine to be of the cast white metal variety so the bearing housings will be bored out to 1.125” which allows for the bearing...
  7. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Thanks for the kind comments gents. Hi Jim, the engine was actually designed by a mate of mine and there are no drawings as such, the details are all in his head. He only ever had a few sets of the castings made and although I believe he did sell a couple of sets they were never commercially...
  8. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    With the web assembly complete it was time to press the main shafts in to complete the crank assembly. The aligning pin was removed and the 0.625” disk positioned so it was beneath the holes for the main shafts. The disk served two purposes, the first to support the webs so the crank pin would...
  9. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    First step in the assembly was to press the crank pin into the first web. The press fit was fairly tight so the hydraulic press came in handy for this. Some newspaper folded a few times was used to protect the crank web surface. Pressing the crank pin into the first web. Crank pin installed in...
  10. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Well it's been a while since I've posted any updates but this build is still progressing albeit at a glacial rate. Working on other projects and having to travel a lot for work doesn't help but I have managed to inch the Billabong engine along a little bit. To fabricate the crankshaft I wanted...
  11. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Hi Gabby, No mate, the thread hasn't ended I'm just a bit slow with updates and I'll probably still be working on this engine in five years time the way things are going. I don't think the castings are commercially available, Len had enough made for the engines he built himself and he sold a few...
  12. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Next job was to start work on the crank shaft components. Two pieces of 3” x 1” BMS were cut to the appropriate length for the webs and welded together at each end so the two webs could be machined at the same time. Stock for the crank webs welded together and ready to machine to...
  13. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    It’s been a while between drinks but I’ve been getting a bit of work done on the engine when time has permitted. The holes for the cylinder to crank case studs were drilled and tapped so the cylinder could finally be mounted, although I have yet to make the final studs. To drill the...
  14. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Apologies for the overdue update but there has been incremental progress on the Billabong engine. The next job to tackle was some of the head machining, particularly establishing the location of the combustion chamber and water galleries. Unfortunately I didn’t take any progress photos of...
  15. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    I got some shed time on the weekend and used it to cut the water galleries in the cylinder. The casting was mounted upright on the rotary table and a 6mm carbide end-mill used to cut each of the four galleries. I had done a few mark-ups on paper to try different layouts but in the end just went...
  16. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Thanks Herb and Gus for your kind comments. I have certainly watched and learned a lot on this forum so anything I can contribute in return will only ever be a small repayment. A "pro" is certainly not me, just someone bumbling my way along trying not to make too many mistakes. Cheers, Greg.
  17. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    I still haven’t made up my mind how the water galleries between the cylinder will be laid out (yes I’m too chicken to commit just yet) so in order to try and keep things moving along I decided to finish mounting the main bearing caps. These had already been pilot drilled so it was...
  18. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    There is a surface on the head where the side shaft bearing will mount. This was machined next so it could used as a reference to orient the head on the cylinder. With the head sitting directly on the mill table this surface was indicated in as close as possible and clamped down so a few clean...
  19. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    I need to get the head fitted to the cylinder in order to work out where to cut the water jacket flow through points so the next job was to start the basic machining of the head. The cylinder mating surface, which will be the primary reference needed to be cleaned up first and again as this is a...
  20. K

    Building A Billabong Engine

    Thanks for your interest Al, knowing how Len squashed his hand is the main reason I'm doing a lot of the machining on the mill rather than the lathe. My lathe is smaller than his and given the size of some of these castings there's no way I'd take the chances of trying to swing them in it...
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