You are welcome Eric, just wish I could do a bit more.
Anyway, as I said, here is the last post. I have in fact done a fair amount to this engine, but I haven't catalogued it all. But I will point out the bits on the following pics.
When these engines are mounted into a model boat, most builders don't have machining facilities, so they do their best with what they have. Most put a couple of bearing beams stuck to the boat's framework, with a nut epoxied under the beams at the bottom of each mounting hole. They work great for a while, until you come to remove the engine. Over time, the wood absorbs all the oil and crap from the running engine, and eventually the epoxy loses it's grip. So when the mounting bolts are turned, the nuts turn with them, and the engine can't be removed. So the whole lot has to come out of the boat, usually making a bit of a mess of the internal woodwork.
In the pic on the left are the bearing beams that were still attached to the engine when I received it.
So as a gesture of goodwill for taking so long with this engine, I have made my customer a metal bedplate that can be fixed permanently into the boat, and the engine can be screwed and unscrewed from it when needed, I have also put a few extra engine mounting holes in it to allow a bit of fwd/backwards adjustment.
The next few pics show the finished engine.
I retimed the engine meticulously, and struck a fine balance to get it running the best it will ever run with this porting and linkage setup.
As you can clearly see, the new end and top plates have been fitted with acorn nuts, and the engine is sitting on it's new bedplate.
I modified the top of the lubricator by putting a large countersink into the top threads. This helps retain the o-ring seal and stops it being blown out of position by the pressure and also the screw top doesn't need to be tightened down too hard to form a seal.
This back end view shows the main bits I have made. All there was in the beginning was the fwd/rev lever, and even that wasn't fixed on in the right position. So as mentioned before, a link and friction system was designed and made, and it works perfectly. It allows the lever to go up and down, but stops the lever bounce that is usually associated with this type of linkage.
Also notice the linkage coming down from the lever.
This was designed and made to allow a servo to operate the fwd/rev lever, and by positioning the bellcrank where it is, allows a much easier connection to the servo. The link rod was made adjustable to allow very fine tuning of the linkage.
So basically gents, that is how I do it. It is a shame I have had to take so long over it. I just hope the customer is pleased when he receives it tomorrow.
So here is a little vid of it running, sorry it is not up to Ralph's standard, but it is the best I could do at the time.
Bogs
