Torque converter

Locomotives need a way to apply power to a load (of cars), exerting a force on the load until the rolling friction is broken and the cars start to move. You dont want to do this by 'slipping the clutch'. In our Whitcomb gas mechanical loco the power is exerted through a torque converter. Whitcomb called it Hydro-Motive. I so fortunate to get a copy of the operation instructions for the Twin disc torque converter. The torque converter is basically two fined plates which operate in oil. The instructions recommend light turbine oil or 10 wt oil. I am planning on using 10 wt. hydralic oil. Our model is a 24 HU-00 which takes 18 gals of oil. The book says to fill it until oil comes out of the fluid over flow level hole. Apply a small amount of lubricant through the fittings every 50 hours. I wonder when that was last done ? I hope that the seals are still good after 67 years.

Good neighbors

The pistons in both engines were stuck. I called Bill R. at Cliffstar about pushing the pistons out with a hydraulic press. Bill said that Cliffstar would help us anyway he could. I took the blocks over to Cliffstar and they put them in the press. They were able to get two pistons out. Two need a bigger press. Thanks Bill and his excellent mechanics.

Fill the crankcase

There is a big cast iron strainer basket in the bottom of the crankcase. Somehow this got broken on the locomotive. One of the first things that I did when I started on the rebuild was to take the good basket out of the spare crankcase. Over the years the copper screen that surrounds the basket deteriorated probably because of acidic conditions in the crankcase. New screen was found and wrapped around the basket. When I went to put the basket in I found that the copper pipe to the oil pump was split. Whether that was what caused the engine to sieze or whether that happened after the engine siezed, I dont know. I spent a whole day just removing the good pipe and oil pump from the spare crankcase and installing the good pipe and new basket in the Whitcomb crankcase. I began to wonder, could the oil pump pull up the new oil when the copper pipe to the strainer basket had air in it. I thought of a way to prime the oil pump and fill the pipe with oil. I stuck a piece of plastic tubing up through the strainer into the pipe. It was downhill to the oil pump. I forced oil in the tube and filled the pipe with oil. I filled the crankcase with 15W40 oil and Lucas oil stabilizer.

In January 2008 I went to the museum with the idea of getting 4 pistons out of blocks. I have freed up several stuck engines by using a hardwood dowel and pushing down on alternate pistons. My friend Al and I had found some hardwood logs about the right size to fit in the cylinders. I laid the block on the floor and put a 6.5 inch log in the cylinder and hit it with a sledge hammer. Ray helped me. Only one piston would budge. We agreed the rest would have to be pushed out on a hydraulic press. I took the pistons to Al's house to soak in solvent. After 3 or 4 days in the solvent we tried to get the rings loosened up on the pistons. We started tapping gently on the rings after a half hour it was obvious the only way to get them out to break them out with a cold chisel. It was a tough job and even cleaning the groves was tough. The good news is we had 2 good pistons.
I got prices on piston rings from several auto parts stores in my area. Prices varied from 21 to 27 dollars per ring. the 6 cylinder engine takes 24 rings. Quite a bit of money. I called Hastings Piston Ring company in Hastings Mich. I talked to a technical specialist named Dawn. Dawn gave me a special price for the museum. Ray gave me the OK to buy the rings. Al and I put the new rings on 2 of the 6 pistons.

update on the cylinder heads

The Leroi engine has 6 cylinders, with the blocks cast in pairs. There are 3 blocks and 3 heads, with over head valves. In November 2007 Ray, James, and Jerod helped me load 3 heads in the trunk of my car. I took the 3 heads home and took the valves out of the heads. There were different style valves, different springs, and different conditions from useless to excellent. This is evidence of past maintenance and limited availability of parts. One head was excellent. The seats in the head were excellent and the valves were excellent. I ground the valves, reassembled and painted it. The other 2 heads were pretty rough so I took all 3 back to the museum hoping to find 2 more excellent heads. There were no heads any better in the freight house, so again I came home with the 3 next best heads. I took the bare heads to Jeff Gardner at Gardner competition engines. Jeff is a friend of mine and agreed to grind the valve seats in the 3 heads as a contribution to the museum. THANKS JEFF. The valves are over 8 inches long and were too big for anybody's valve grinding machines. I called my friend George. George has a machine shop in his garage and builds 7.5 inch locomotives, steam, gas and electric. George put the valves in the lathe and a small grinder on he tool holder. He resurfaced the best 8 valves. Eight were needed and we used the best 8. The rest of the valves from 2 other heads are too rough to be used. As it turned out 2 of the heads from Jeff were in better shape. Out of the Whitcomb parts in the freight house we were able to rebuild 3 heads required for the engine.

The Air system

The Leroi engine has a seventh cylinder That acts as an air compressor. Because I overhauled the brake controller and installed new copper air lines to the new air gauge, I asked James if he would run air to the air tanks and see what happened. One snowy day in early March, James got the air compressor out and put 30 pounds of air in the locomotives air tanks. James found a few air leaks with his hearing and feeling with his hands. A few joints were tightened up and the system held air pretty well. We worked the brake handle. The red needle in the air guage showed air pressure in the brake cylinders. Working the clutch pedal sounded like it was doing something but the clutch cylinder seems to be stuck. The brake cylinders that move the shoes are stuck also; But it was thrilling to see something operational on the loco after 40 years of not running.

Feb 2008 update

After Ray and I removed the last engine block, the crankshaft turned a little bit. My goal at the end of stage 1 was to turn the engine (just a crankshft now) over with the starters. The main bearings have to be dry of oil. I want to get some oil to them. I took empty 2 liter Pepsi bottles and hooked plastic oil lines to them. I connected the lines to the oil fittings on the side of the engine. The oil went in the motor, Im not sure that it got to the main bearings.
Other things that got done were that I found an 2 and 5/8 inch ammeter that fit in the dash (it is separate and larger than the dash gauges). I ran 10ga wire from the battery to the ammeter. I got 2 battery cables from the freight house and put them through the dash. The ends need drilled for a larger hole. I used some 3/8 copper tubing from the freight house and flared the ends and connected the air pressure gauge to the main tank. James is going to check for leaks in the air system in the spring. The starter switch on the dash was wired to the starter solinoids. I used the extension cord from the frieght house and used my 4.5 inch electric grinder to remove the old rusted off headlihgt bolt. I got an old 11 inch headlight and put a 12v sealed beam lamp in it. A row of light switches that I thought was OK turned out to be rusted to pieces. I got new toggle switches to replace them.