Stuck in the engine

I went up to the museum to put the cotter pins in the connecting rods. You use a tire iron in the flywheel to turn the crankshaft until a connecting rod is accesable thru the hand hole cover. It was a tough job reach through the hand holes and turn the nuts one way or the other to line up the cotter pin hole and the castle nut slot. I often had to use a hand mirror to see the allignment. I was laying on my stomach on the running boards of the engine, with my head close to the crankcase and my arms inside the crancase. Someone droping off news papers told Steve there was a guy stuck in the engine compartment back there. I got them in but I am still working on the air compressor rod.

I decided to use the flat tappets instead of the roller tappets because the roller tappets froze up so fast. When we put the tappets in their holes we found out that there was a misallignment between the cylinder castings and the crankcase. Hank machined the tappets to fit. The machined tappets went right in and the pushrods went on. I bought 5/8 inch studs, cleaned the threads in the heads with a tap and installed the 18 new studs. I disconnected the pipes to the sand dome in preparation to removing the hood.

April 11 2009

We made 2 brake linkage pins from 1 1/4 inch bar stock. I made a clock, and an armrest to replace the rough old 2 x 4 bolted to the window. My son Dave came up to help lift the engine blocks. New base gaskets were cut out. We lifted the blocks to the walkway beside the engine. The rod caps were removed and the nuts put on to keep the shims from falling in the crankcase. The pistons were pushed to the top of the cylinders and the crankshaft turned until one of the two journals was at TDC. It took 3 guys to lift the blocks and put them on the crankcase. Steve helped us with the first one and James helped with the other two. The pistons were tapped down until the rod was on the crankshaft and the nuts were put on. They are not wired yet.
Hank and I put the last of the brake linkage together with the 2 new linkage pins. We had to use crow bars and jacks as the brake shoe and heavy linkage arms wanted to go every way but line up. Hank and I put the rebuilt heads on. I decided to go with newer type of tappets. They would not fit in the crankcase. Hank will machine them. much more work is needed. Donations are needed for hoses, belts, batteries etc. The radiator needs removed and the bottom tank welded.