It has seems like a long time since providing some update pictures. There have been a lot of little parts to make and not quite as much time to spend in the basement lately. Other than the air and water pumps, I think I have now completed the bottom end. Like the eccentric straps, I decided to add some oil cups for the connecting rod bearings. Since there was no space to add the cups directly to the bearings, I opted to attach the cups to connecting rods. So far everything seems to align perfectly with mating parts. The real acid test will be when it comes time to attach the cylinder head to the bottom end.
So far I have only found a couple minor mistakes on the plans. The supplied bolts for the drag links were too short, as it would appear Stuart changed a couple dimensions for the drag lings at some point but forgot to update the affected bolts, so I had to make my own drag link bolts. I also found that they forgot to specify or include the nuts for where the valve rods attach to the expansion links, so I will need to get into the nut making business too.
I have not decided whether to make the pumps next or get started on the cylinder head and the rest of the top end. The cylinder head scares me a bit, as there are roughly 150 - 200 holes, many of which need to be tapped.
Your comments John & Swede on taper pins will prove useful, as I need to make and install taper pins to fix all the parts to the reversing shaft. I am waiting to do this until I have completed the top end, so I can be sure to align the eccentric rods perfectly with the valve rods. I will definitely practice with some scrap metal first.
Also, since I posted my last update, I got a complete and un-started Stuart twin launch casting set with reversing gear from the late 1950's or very early 1960's, which will be my next project after completing the triple. It is much simpler to that of the triple, but should look good when done. The twin launch castings are of such amazing quality. Many of the castings almost look like completed parts ready for buffing (other than not having holes drilled). What a difference compared to the triple, in which the castings are very crude looking, requiring a fair bit of filing clean-up before I dare take a cutter to them, and many of the gunmetal castings have been very tight on metal, and even short on metal (it is almost like they did not allow sufficiently for shrink), resulting in some very careful work to make the part to specs.
Robin