Henry Ford plumbing part engine

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Hey folks!
I'm building a model of Henry Ford's kitchen sink engine from Leon Ridenour's plans. It's almost finished (the gas tank is in the mail), but on the compression stroke i hear air is escaping from the cylinder. It may be that the spring holding the exhaust valve is too weak, but more likely is that the piston ring isn't sealing effectively. This is my first model so i don't know how much compression to expect from it (there is moderate resistance on the compression stroke when i turn it over by hand), should i be worried?

Thanks!
sorry the picture is sideways

 

[Cogsy]

At a guess, if you can hear the air escaping then it's probably a bit too much of a leak. You can try putting it at the bottom of the stroke then block the intake and exhaust ports, then turn it up to the top of the stroke. This should help diagnose the leak. If compression is much better, your valves are leaking, if there's no change, it's somewhere else (head gasket or rings most likely).

On the two I.C. engines I've built, the valves seem to fully seal themselves quite quickly, once you can get the engine to start firing and trying to run. Compression also increases quickly (at least with cast iron rings) with the first few hundred pops. Once the engine is running, compression normally increases once the engine runs in over the first couple of hours running.

I'm sure you'll get it to run, but it can take a bit of fiddling and patience.

 

[Barnbikes]

My father has built a couple of these. The key to a actual running engine is the fine mesh screen and use a heavier the called for flywheel.

 

[vascon2196]

I have built 2 of these...my second Ford engine actually made the front cover of Home Shop Machinist magazine!

I would suggest removing the piston ring and replacing it with an O-Ring. At least then you can rule out air leaking past the piston.

Once I replaced the piston ring with an O-Ring the compression went through the roof! I have had the O-Ring in my first engine for 3 years without a problem and it is a regular Buna-N O-Ring.

I also put some Form-A-Gasket sealant on the exhaust valve spring set screw because some air was leaking past there too.

If you have a little compression, you can always make it better...you will have a good runner in no time. Also, a heavier flywheel will help.

 

[halftide]

Thanks the for the replies everyone!
It's not in the picture but I do have a cast iron flywheel heavy enough for the engine.
Where would I buy an o-ring? That seems like a great idea

 

[vascon2196]

I purchased the O-Ring from my local Ace Hardware store or you can but O-Rings from Sears Hardware.

I brought the Piston into the store and hand picked the O-Ring I felt would work.

Hope it works!

 

[halftide]

--update--

The gas tank finally arrived and i've been trying to get it running for a few days now. At this point i'm pretty positive that the main issue is the exhaust valve not sealing correctly. It seems to go through phases where it seals just fine and i can get a few pops out of it, but at other times the air just runs right through.

Has anyone ever heard of putting a gasket on a valve like this?

 

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a few pictures of the exhaust assembly

 

[halftide]

FINALLY got the engine to run for about 30 seconds yesterday. I couldn't be happier
My plan in the longer term is to rebuild the exhaust push rod so it can handle a stronger spring (right now it flexes), but for now i'll just be fine tuning the carb.

 

[vascon2196]

Awesome!

Hope you post a video!

 

[halftide]

Here's a link to the video of it running:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNFyGlYNSgs[/ame]

Let me know if you want to know anything else, thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Blogwitch]

If anyone from the UK is contemplating building one of these engines, I have at least a couple of drive flywheels from 'Hobbies' fret saw machines. I was going to build one at one time, but unfortunately my machining days are now over and I am trying to get rid of items that would only end up with the scrap man.

As far as I can remember they are about 12" diameter.

They are free to anyone who can pick one up from my house. I am not into posting any more after being ripped off by a few fellow modellers and besides, it would be very difficult for me.

John

 

[halftide]

One last thing, does it make sense to anyone that occasionally I get shocked?
i can't figure out where it's coming from

 

[vascon2196]

Great job on the engine!!!

I would get shocked from time to time when I first built my engine. I grounded the engine by connecting the negative wire directly to the frame.

See the attached document for how I wired the engine using a 6V battery and an old Ford Model T buzz coil.

View attachment HENRY FORD ENGINE ASSEMBLY.PDF