New Project 1911 hupmobile

[jeff10049]

I bored out the pin end of the rods to accept the slightly larger dodge pin for the pistons I'm using. Next I need to make a fixture for babbiting the big end. Getting close to assembling the engine

[MiniDave]

Exciting stuff!

By the way, Happy Birthday Jeff! 

[jeff10049]

Thanks Dave, Hopefully, I'll be driving this thing before the next one.

[jeff10049]

Time for an update, I made a fixture for pouring the rod big end bearings after tinning the rods they were poured with babbitt.
Next was boring them to size on the mill.

[jeff10049]

Next the rods were mounted on a mandrel in the lathe and the side clearance cut and a chamfer added for the crank radius. The radius required some hand fitting and then plasti gauge was used to check clearance all are within .001-.0015 right where I want them. The plastic gauge went over the oil hole that's why the center is not compressed in the pictures.

[jeff10049]

Then a check to make sure the pins remained parallel to the deck they were all perfect.

[MiniDave]

Wow, this is some real precision building Jeff!

What do you use to scrape the plastigauge off the crank without damaging it? That is some tough sticky stuff!

[jeff10049]

Keeping the big end parallel to the pin when boring did take some careful fixturing.
 For the plastigauge, I have always used a little brake cleaner on a paper towel; it dissolves the plastigauge. ATF on a towel also works well. I have been told removal is unnecessary, but I am not comfortable leaving it on.

My next challenge is valves the stems are worn .007  the guides also. Guides are easy I'll just get them lined with new ones. Valves are proving to be a bit hard to find I can get Ferrea Blanks for about $450.00 Id like to spend less I really don't need race-quality valves. I do however want stainless as the seats are not hard and stainless valves and cast iron play well together and hard seats are not needed with stainless valves and modern fuel. I ordered some Dodge Viper v10 exhaust valves that are stainless and long enough to cut off the retainer groove and thread them for the factory threaded retainers they are slightly bigger but non-issue to cut them down. The cost is only $13 each so if they work I'll be happy. I hope they are a nail head style valve the pictures show them to be and say 10 degree angle.
 
The last valves I ordered were 2.2 Chevy right size and long enough but they were tulip style that will shroud the port too much for flow with the very low lift of the cam.
Before that, I ordered some valves that could work only to find they were cast and that will cause seat recession I don't want to put hard seats in as it's not easy and the factory seats are near perfect.
I think if I strike out on the Dodge valves I'll suck it up for the Ferrea blanks. It's tempting anyway as I can order them with a slightly larger stem and just ream to size and not do guides. The catch with that, is I'll need to turn down the ends of the stem to size for threading 5/16 for the retainer.

The dodge valves arrive tomorrow we shall see. 

[MiniDave]

Fascinating stuff......can you machine the Chevy valves to a better profile on the lathe? If they're stainless, it seems they should be machinable. I'm not working with pics or any real knowledge here, just spitballin.....

[jeff10049]

That is a possibility but the heads are also dished so I was concerned about getting too thin on the head.

The dodge valves arrived and the head is a Nailhead style rather than tulip they look great and should work well but I ordered the wrong part number and got the shorter stem ones so they will be exchanged with the long stem version tomorrow. Then I just have to cut down the head from 1.630 to 1.500 and trim and thread the stems. I think I'll just take the cylinders to the machine shop for the guids I don't have the right reamers and it's inexpensive to have guides installed. At that time they can re grind the valves and touch up the seats for me.

[jeff10049]

well, the Dodge valves arrived the stem is hard to thread with a die I did one and the die was done the valve might be ok if the stem didn't bend.  Cutting the head diameter down went pretty well with carbide tooling.
 So I will try single-point threading the stem on the lathe with a carbide inset threading tool if that works the valves should work out if not I will have ruined $50.00 worth of valves trying and return the rest and spend the big $$ on custom blanks. Iv'e threaded valve stems before but these are a harder material.

[jeff10049]

The valves threaded nicely in the lathe got 6 done waiting for 2 more to show up. Also drilled the holes in the stem that are used to hold the valve from spinning when adjusting them.