andypugh

Imagine my surprise when heading off to the Magneto Builders with a flywheel strapped to the back of my R1 to pass a sign for Stow Maries. For some reason I had been thinking it was in Dorset rather than Essex and 20 minutes from my front door! I went to have a look to see if anyone was about working on the Fiat, but the signage made it pretty clear that callers weren't welcome on a saturday, so I carried on home. FWIW the re-magnetisation of my flywheel means that I now have a running Ner-a-Car engine :-)

It is not as daft as it might seem, many vehicles of that era used a purely "thermosiphon" cooling system, relying on natural convection. In fact in the book "The Bennett College of Motoring" from around 1914 seems to be of the opinion that such systems are superior.

I have seen the concept, but not in a bell bearing. http://www.timken.com/en-us/products/bearings/productlist/roller/thrust/TaperedRollerThrust/Pages/TTVS.aspx is the same idea, but taper-roller.

It is possible that limescale and rust have been sealing those cracks since shortly after the engine was made. It might be easier to live with them than to fix them.

Just ordinary mild-steel TIG rods (not sure if they are any different from oxy-acetylene rods).

Faced with a lot of 3/16" steel rivets to install in a small chassis (non-miltary, a Ner-a-Car) I decided to make a rivet squeezer. The same approach could probably be applied on a bigger scale for chassis rivets (and, in fact, this device could almost certainly handle hot-rivetting on 1/2" rivets.) http://bodgesoc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/hydraulicrivetsqueezer.html

It smacks of desperation, but I am having decent results with my current restoration (not miliatary, not truck) filling in rust pits with TIG and grinding back. (if anyone is interested in a off-topic restoration, http://bodgesoc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/1921-ner-car.html I plan an update tonight. Err, this morning)

And, more recently, Landrover.

It's been years since you asked this question, but I have been using it recently on the Ner-a-Car. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Dn4MvZsycmAR-2H80DSkLNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink The picture shows a number of parts as they came out of the tank after a wash and a scrub. They had been in the tank for about 3 weeks. The right-most part was in reasonable condition, and is cleaned to silver metal. The other parts were all rather pitted, and are shiny where scrubbed and darker in the pits. Some part have immediately rusted on exposure to air. It's probably best to fish the parts out and wash them on a sunny warm day. Anyway, it definitely works, and the black treacle solution seems like an easier thing to dispose of than a similar quantity of phosphoric acid.

I reckon metal-spraying would be another solution, though possibly a bit expensive. I recall using a special-purpose water-hydraulic solid tyre press several years ago (belonging to an old-truck man, but I can't recall the name.) It did the job it was built for very well. Strangely enough. Last I heard I think that press was looking for a new home. I imagine it found one.

The wheel OD can be very easily and accurately measured with a tape measure. Preferably a Pi-tape with a vernier section. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-USA-PI-600-900mm-Outside-Dia-Tape-4-Lathe-/390313145714?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item5ae079f572 The tyre bore is more difficult. It probably isn't circular, for a start. Readings at several positions with an internal micrometer is probably the best way to get an idea. While I am spending your money: http://www.machine-dro.co.uk/digital-dial-vernier-calipers/1000mm-40-digital-caliper.html

It is too late now, but it just occurred to me that any Sarah the Chemist ought to be able to borrow a cork borer. Or, in fact, supply pre-bored corks by post. Curiously they only seem to exist on eBay Germany: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Educational-6-Piece-Nickel-Cork-Borer-Set-/121293988776?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c3daf63a8

I can bore square or hexagonal (or pentagonal, for fun) holes on my lathe.

That doesn't necessarily make that the best solution. You made that purchase before I made that offer and you may now be falling for the "sunk cost fallacy". Your ideal fix is to re-bore the cavity to the current shaft centres to only-just-round then see what the gear diameters end up at, then make (odd) gears to suit. Perhaps the gear blank will be useful in the future?

"Strongback" is a phrase that my granddad used to describe some of his tools. (I am the first non-engineer in my family for 3 generations). One of them was a thing for straightening things, with screws and V-blocks. I think it is a generic term for something that bolts pass through to deform something weaker. Like pulling a leaf-spring together.

I will bow to her experience if it was one of the Sarah the Chemists, rather than Sarah the Mathematician. :-) http://www.dkirubber.com/materials.asp says that "fluorocarbon" is resistant to swelling in gasoline, but doesn't make the same claim for PTFE, (which I thought was a fluorocarbon)

This might be an unpopular viewpoint, but some piles of metal really are just scrap, and that is how I would classify this collection. My Ner-a-Car is _slightly_ better, in that I have some bodywork and the right type of engine. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cfj87PbrK5q8NiE7Q4iVUtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink

I can make you some bigger gears. I have a hobbing machine and hobbed gears "just work" even if the tooth shape is strange. In this case you can probably get away with keeping the pitch circle the same and just having more Addendum. What is your tooth-count and shaft spacing, and what OD do you need to suit the un-shimmed cavity? I will be cheaper than HPC, I do this for fun :-)

I think that would be a better bet, and more original too. Crumbs of cork in the fuel system could quickly become annoying. A lump of PTFE might be a good (and less original) alternative.

That's posh! On the 1916 Dennis (not military) I play with the oil serves to prevent brake wear. Or, for that matter, braking.

I would be very surprised if they were tapered bushes, as tapered bushes would tend to lock up under cornering forces. (unless the adjustment was swapping thrust washers around).

Http://www.Northleachsteamshow.co.uk (I know nothing more than that a friend is one of the organisers, and that the Cotswolds are pretty)

I have a CNC lathe sat idle most of the time. I ought to be able to make brass caps to suit the threads on the inner parts of your bulk purchase. I know exactly the style you describe, though a google images search has not turned up a single one (There is a similar-looking variant with a T-handle, but those have an internal piston and/or spring). I think you are referring to the type with a screw-down cap and a T-bar on top to make them easier to turn when slarted up to the eyeballs in lard.

They screw into a threaded hole. The greasers are in two parts, a part which screws into the shackle, with a second external thread on the outer portion. Then the cap has an internal thread. You fill the cap with grease and screw it down onto the greaser body. One turn every day gives you a bit of grease until the cap is empty, then you remove it, refill, and repeat.