Hank and I went to the Museum Sunday May 24th to work on the Whitcomb engine. We had three objectives: mount the intake manifold, disassemble the air compressor head and build a frame to jack the hood up.
We worked on the water cooled intake manifold at home. The water jacket on the manifold was cracked due to freezing. I epoxied the cracks and Hank drilled out the rusted drain plug. The exhaust manifold has six connections to the exhaust ports, three connections for water cooling to the head, and four water connections to the intake manifold. The intake manifold has 4 water connections and connects to all three heads. Just about everything needed pried up, down or sideways to get the bolts started in. All connections had new gaskets. We noticed quite a bit of rust and scale in the water jacket of the exhaust manifold. We removed the stuck thermostat and tried to get as much rust out as possible.
Monday we took the cover off the air compressor valve chamber using instructions from Andy Szabo from Arizona Railway museum. The leather seal washer was hard and brittle. Two new ones were ordered. Hank spent quite a bit of time removing some black hard carbon like crap that was blocking about half of the exhaust port. All the valves were stuck and I could not get the exhaust valve out. The others will be disassembled and cleaned. I installed the Conrader unloader and cut a copper line to attach to the air compressor head.
Tuesday Hank and I sawed up some lumber to lift or support the hood while the radiator is repaired.
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