Alastair

The Father of a good friend of mine is a keen model engineer. He says that it is not possible to make a single traction engine model. You always make two but one of them is in the scrap bin. Well making the blanking plug for the timing case of the Renault engine was a bit like that. I miss-counted the teeth on one of the change wheels and, consequently, cut the wrong thread. However, it all, turned out all right. As I said above, the shape is entirely of my own invention as nothing important is going on inside the plug i.e. it is not providing a support bearing. Having said that I decided to make it look important by giving it a dome. I did this using a profile I had made for another job. The next stage is to remove various broken off studs in the cylinder block. Does anyone know the whereabouts of a radiator for a 1911 Renault? Mine is missing (weighed in for its scrap value we think). The condition is not important as I am considering making one but I need something to start from. Otherwise that too may end up with castillations and a big blob on the front!

In the 1960s Marconi installed a 1.5 Meggawatt transmitter somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The prime mover for electrical generation was a Deltic Diesel. A problem arose with the governor system designed to control the power output to match the electrical demand. If someone came to the microphone and puffed into it (as we all do) the result could be a broken crankshaft because the demand on the electrical supply doubled in a millisecond. The rapid opening of the throttle was too much for the engine. Other than that, my Father, who was associated with the project, spoke highly of the engine.

I got a little ahead of myself when I started this thread. I had already had the bearings done by Fields Engineering Services in London. Before I did anything else I had to drill out four of the nine studs in the front flanges of the crank case and sump, where the timing case fits. Strangely, they had all broken so as to leave half their threaded portion in the holes. This turned out to be a blessing. I drilled three 8mm bolts down their centres to act as drilling guides and was able to use the remaining thread to hold them in position. When the pilot holes had been drilled, I had the awkward job of aligning the crank case and sump, in turn, absolutely vertically at the pillar drill so as to drill the final size holes for the thread inserts. I was concerned that the studs would be on the wonk and the timing case would not go on, if I got this stage wrong. It all turned out all right. Anyway to return to yesterday, I commenced to make the closing cap for the timing case where the cam shaft is supported. I am of the belief that I never take exercise and have the lack of fitness to prove it but the first task yesterday was to find a bit of brass that was big enough for the job. All I have is a bar 68mm in diameter. This was too big for my power hacksaw so I had to cut the desired length off by hand. It took me 45 minutes of continuous sawing hence the comment about not taking exercise. I needed 50mm diameter but that was all I could find in stock so I am going to be up to my knees in swarf. I have no idea what the original cap would look like so I decided to flute the flange both for looks and to help installation. To do this I mounted the piece in a dividing head and drilled 10 holes. Then I ran out of time for the day.

So I have had an adventurous time with the Renault engine over the last two days. I have no information on the engine and have never worked on one with a separate crank case but how difficult can it be!! The main bearing locating pegs are in the sump half so the crank shaft must be assembled with its con rods first then, with its bearings, dropped into the sump. The crank case is surprisingly heavy for cast aluminium so has a tendency to drop suddenly when the two long centre main bearing studs are located in the holes in the sump. I did all this after I had used instant gasket on the flanges. I did up the main bearing nuts and the twelve sump flange nuts and bolts. It was only then that I noticed that one of the con rods, instead of coming up through its designated hole in the crank case top, was poking out of the hole for the cam followers. I removed the whole lot once more and, by means of a cunning set of pieces of string through the little ends, I got it re-assembled and buttoned up. I knew that the oil pump drive shaft had to be loosely dropped onto its hole before the cam shaft went in so I approached the engine with this and found that it has to go in the sump half before the crank case is lowered on as it will not pass through the top deck. I undid it all once more. The oil pump drive shaft now in place in the sump, I assembled the crank case once more and buttoned it all up. I fitted and timed the camshaft. All the while I had a bad feeling. There was a spare cog that the chap who sold me the car told me was a spare timing cog. I was puzzled as I could neither see where it might go, nor could I see what it might mesh with nor could I think of anything that needs driving other than the oil pump and magneto, both of which are catered for. Then the penny dropped, the cog was not supposed to mesh with anything. In fact it is an oil thrower to be fitted to the back end of the crank shaft. I stripped the engine once more and fitted it. It was a rattling good fit as the machining of the rear main bearing surface had also reduced the diameter of the crankshaft where the thrower was supposed to be a press fit. I used some Locktite but am certain that at some future time I will be posting news that I have had to take the engine out in order to fit the thrower more positively. I am now making a missing brass plug that is suppose to enclose the front end of the camshaft.

A little progress over the week end. There was a hole in the cast aluminium sump where the engine had obviously been stored against something metallic that had reacted with the aluminium. I had been pondering on how to fix this and was coming to the conclusion that patching it would be safest. However, I had some Lumiweld sticks around so decided to give it a try. I used a propane blow lamp and played it on the sump for a very long time before it was up to temperature for the repair. It is quite difficult to get the Lumiweld to wet the surface of the aluminium but persistence and lots of scratching the surface through the molten Lumiweld, using the stainless steel wire supplied, managed to do it.

Thanks for the link. I already have the handbook for the Renault carb.

Many years ago I bought the remains of a 10HP Renault dated November 1911. Now that COVID 19 has struck old projects come to the fore so I have turned my attention to the engine. The remains came with a splendid Renault carburettor weighing almost half the weight of the engine. I have yet to get to grips with it. However, also included in the deal was another carburettor made by Harno. It is bronze bodied and of 28mm throat diameter. It has a bottom fed float chamber and an unusual air inlet system. This comprises a central tube of about 8mm diameter surrounded by a spring loaded valve filling the rest of the inlet port. The compression of the spring behind the valve is adjustable by means of a splendid knurled nut. The carburettor has a conventional butterfly throttle, which therefore limits how old it must be. Does anyone know anything about Harno carburettors? I cannot find them on Google.

I have a 1911 Renault and the exhaust manifold has a female thread for attachment of the down pipe. The thread is almost non existent and obviously a very non standard size. Does anyone know whether the Pyro Putty mentioned above set hard enough for me to cut a viable thread in it?

I too use molasses. I read somewhere that the molasses made for human use is not as good as that used for horses so I buy mine from the local feed shop by the gallon (at a much reduced price). I once asked a friend of mine, who worked for a large engineering company, to ask his company chemist why it works. All I can remember is the statement "Of course it works!" followed by such complicated chemistry that I could not understand it. Alastair

I have been following this thread since the beginning in awe of your skills. Now the suspense of starting the engine is becoming unbearable

Hello. This is my first post. My interests have been for vintage cars until recently when I bought a half share in a Ford F60S artillery tractor. I spent my working life in radar and weapon systems and we had an interesting radar on the Essex mud flats that would see over the horizon. It was situated at 51-42-41N, 0-56-30E (you will see a thin white line running North South showing where it was). The site was a firing range in WWI and a firing/bombing range in WWII and for a number of years afterwards. Disappointingly, Google Earth used to show clearly the four posts in the sea that defined the range and the narrow gauge railways that serviced the targets but I have looked today and they are no longer visible. I think the closure of the range was partly due to a RAF pilot killing himself by flying too low and hitting the sea wall. Artefacts from the narrow gauge railway are preserved in the Burnham on Crouch railway museum where you can also buy a pamphlet describing the history of the range.