A start on the block

I sometimes sit and think - I must write something on the blog. But what to write? Even when I've 'pottered' in the garage, its not alway easy to see a tangible result.

Not so true this week as I've a little to report and some tangible results. The title sort of gives it away, I've made a start on the inside of the block (well, finished it really).

Below are a string of photographs going through the process from start to finish. When you look at the final result (a bit of half painted casting), its difficult to see why it took you 10's of man hours to do (but it did).

The first picture (previously published) shows the underside of the block after it was steam cleaned but with the liners still in place, along with the cam followers and liner bottom collars.

The next one is the same view (but 180 degrees round). All of the components have been removed and the casting degreased.

The next stage after de-greasing - attacking it with the wire brush(es). Most of this is done using a variety of rotary brushes to get in to all of those important little places.

Isn't it shiny!

The final stage - painting! Now it's a case of making sure that all of those nooks and cranies get painted. The other side is making sure that you don't fill/get paint in to some of the holes (the cam follower and cylinder head oil drain holes in this case)

The final result is a painted (internally) block.

What next? A fair guess would be more: cleaning, wire brushing, painting!

Bottom end ready?

A little more progress to report (work does get in the way!)

The bottom end is now ready for delivery to the machine shop!

All of the internals have been painted with Glyptal enamal. Aparantly it seals castings and aids with the smooth flow of oil. From my point of view, it will make long term maintenance easier with regard to oil changes as the sludge will be easier to wipe out. This will be aided by the newly finished sump:

While I'm posting a few picci's, here's a close up of the front crank journal and big end bearing:

You can see why it needs a re-grind and new white metal bearings.

A bit of news on the gearbox front as well. Just when you think you've got it sorted in your mind, a fellow rebuilder contacts me and say's that he's heard a rumour that PRM are currently developing a 260 gearbox with a 1:1 ratio.

Not backward in coming forward, I contact PRM who do indeed confirm this to be the case. Currently, they do not know time scales. It is in its final stages of development but will require extensive testing before being released to the market place.

This would be an ideal solution for me. It can handle the torque and would mean a 21" prop with 1.5" shaft and stern gear. I wonder if they want to give me one to test?

"The Black Beast"

Sorry I've been away for a while. Had a fight with the old flu virus. Unfortunately it won. I knew I must have been ill because I couldn't even drag myself in to the garage. Still, back in the land of the living now.

As per all rebuilds, there is always that boring stage of cleaning, stripping (paint, that is) wire brushing, cleaning, stripping, wire brushing, that seems to go on forever. I think I may have mentioned this before! Well........ its still going on.

However, hears a little taster of what it may look like in the future:

The observant amongst you may have noticed that its black! Not the traditional colour I hear people say (if indeed there is such a thing) and I am half expecting to be strung up for such heresy, but I think it will look the biz when finished. The daughter has already nick-named it "The Black Beast".

I've just got the internals of the crankcase to finish off (cleaning, stripping, wire brushing - you know the form!) and then the whole bottom end, crank and conrods is to be shipped off for a re-grind and new bearings.

A couple of other bits 'finished' are the water pump casing and the Auto-Klean disc strainer (a posh and very effective oil filter).

Hopefully you can see the contrast between the black and the brass/bronze fittings. I have an image in my mind of the black castings set off by all of the brass/bronze and copper fittings. Hopefully it should all come together.